Big Country-Peace In Our TIme (1988)


 

Artist: Big Country

Title:  Peace In Our TIme

Label: Reprise

Format: CD

Cat #: 9 25787-2

Year of Release: 1988

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1988

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 4/6/22

Sell Price: $4.99

Discogs Last Sold: 4/3/22 M/VG+ $8.09

Low: $1.00

Median: $5.00

Average: $5.22

High: $8.09

Current low price: $3.23

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 16

Have/Want:  133/7

Where Sold: Bellingham, WA

Time it took to sell: 7 years

Where and When Bought: consignment collection

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: D+

Sad To See It Go: No

I was looking forward to hearing this after a recent barroom conversation about the band with the consignee a month or few ago, I'm really only familiar with "In A Big Country" and ignored the band all these years otherwise.  Guitarist/Vocalist Stuart Adamson had genuine punk pedigree in the Skids before this band.  Stuart sadly had depression issues and hung himself in a state of extreme drunkenness at the end of 2001.

Unfortunately, this album is marred by late 80's "ready for Letterman/Leno" over-production.  Anything cool about the band is smoothed out and buried here. Sitars and mandolins buried in a droning 80's rubble.   I looked at what the critics said historically about this after my first listen and it was pretty much panned universally.  The material just stays in the sub-U2/Springsteen zone and the instrumentation that made their early hits are buried and washed over.  That this was considered "alternative" in 1988 was true.  Unfortunately, this was the boring side of the genre.  I have a funny feeling this is the worst place to start--album number 4 of the 8 released in Adamson's lifetime.

There were a couple tracks that were ok.  The title track has a nice anthemic vocal/lead chorus for a good cause.  Tellingly, when the bonus tracks on the webstream not on the original release kick in the quality rises.

Start somewhere else.


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