Summarizing the status of the petition about Robin Millar’s The Seer
We have a new Big Country song! “All Lay Down” – the new Big Country song, released without fanfare or prior warning as a video on YouTube!
The guys discuss this way of releasing a song or album, and slightly dissect the song itself
The Deluxe editions!
What do we call them? Remasters, deluxe editions, re-presents…
The presentation – the artwork and presentation, even retaining the same initial fonts from the original releases, beautiful CD pressings with artwork, the incredible liner notes with new & unknown factoids – they look great!
Covering The Seer, with the guys paying particular attention to the Restless Natives individual b-side tracks, the two versions of Song of the South, the instrumental Hold the Heart, the original two-part Restless Natives, and especially the mysteriously titled “I Will Run For You”.
Noteworthy facts/stories from the Seer liner notes: the surprising mention of a “superior” version of the album existing, stories of Kate Bush visiting the studio, and Stuart’s funny comment made during (!) the recording of the “Look Away” solo.
Covering Peace In Our Time, which collects the R.E.L. sessions neatly, along with a “stowaway” from the Damascus sessions… Special attention given to Made In Heaven, which is substantially longer than the version we had before. Stuart’s solo acoustic versions of PIOT and Broken Heart also make their CD debut. The title “Cuts Like A Spoon” provided initial excitement, but is in fact the same track as “Wolfman & the Clown” from Rarities 6.
Noteworthy facts/stories from the PIOT liner notes: Tony talking about being out on the town in LA during recording & the inspiration behind the bass-line of King of Emotion.
Covering No Place Like Home, now with the original logo reinstated. Discussion on the 10-track vs the 12-track version of the album. Special attention given to some of the demos, especially the evolution of the song that became “Into the Fire”. We get the early version “Gypsy Girl”, originally released as a Bruce demo. We already had “Celtic Dream” v1 (the instrumental demo). Here we also get “Celtic Dream” v2 (the band outtake). This charts the development of a BC song really well. Also, the new & unique versions of “Freedom Song” and “Keep On Dreamin’” are two of the real gems of all these remasters (according to Svein).
Noteworthy facts/stories from the NPLH liner notes: Tom picked up on the statement “one of the most underrated albums of the 90s”. The guys discuss this. The liner notes give a better appreciation for the bravery involved in making the album, and shows that the band knew what they were doing and the direction was a conscious effort - not as much a result of confusing times or feeling around in the dark as we may have thought. We learn that Chris Kimsey was originally slated to produce this album.
The sound quality. Is it that much different/better than previous efforts? Svein did a “Pepsi challenge” in headphones, which showed a clear preference for the 2014 version for The Seer and PIOT, with more even results for NPLH. Tom has blasted them in his car and is positive that all the new versions are better.
Which of these releases (not albums) are our favourites? Tom and Svein rank and discuss.
We shiver and shake at the realization that the slate has now been wiped clean, and what lies before us is the enormity of Steeltown. To set us up for that, we end the episode with a Steeltown-track from a virtual Big Country tribute band All of Us.
“Where the Rose Is Sown” – cover version by BC tribute band All Of Us.
Special secret surprise: “Steeltown walk-on tape” – to be used by Big Country as the intro music on the as-of-then upcoming Steeltown tour 2014.
