#stuartadamson

This one came out a million years ago and was the soundtrack of my high school days. I haven’t played it in ages because frankly, I don’t need to—every note is emblazoned in my brain from playing it so much back then, and I could probably mentally listen to it right now all the way through without moving a muscle. Nonetheless, when I spotted this familiar logo yesterday in a $2 bin, I had to take it home, as much for the amazingly preserved WLIR sticker on the shrink wrap as for the music itself. I’m guessing this copy was a giveaway for an event or a radio contest—WLIR was such a legendary force in Eighties alternative, so this is a unique artifact!

I got some obscure Skids special editions a few weeks ago that I never posted, such as this double-7” for “Masquerade.” The Skids were a melodic Scottish punk band in the late 70s; they were pretty good and had a fair amount of success, but ultimately became a rock history footnote after sideman Stuart Adamson left to form Big Country, which went on to international success.

The other recent acquisition of The Skids—the UK single of “ Circus Games” with a sleeve that unfolds into a massive poster with decidedly unfocused art direction. The band looks like four complete strangers waiting for a bus; randomly throw in family photo album snapshots, plus the lyrics printed sideways across the bottom, and you get a busy mess that I doubt any kid put on his wall. Great music though, and that’s the part that matters. 


Bought this classic Scottish punk album back in the fall of 1986 without having heard a note of it, and I love it to this day for so many reasons, especially for the torn price sticker from Second Coming Records in Greenwich Village, which was my favorite record store ever. Still, what a great album; I picked it up because it was the former band of Stuart Adamson, the leader of Big Country, but here, he just plays guitar. U2 has often said this was an influential album for them (it came out in 1978 as they were getting started) and you can see why—the Edge copped his early playing style from songs like “Of One Skin” (and then took it to the next level). The hallmark of this classic album is “Into The Valley,” with its unintelligible vocals and arguably the greatest riff of all-time—so freeing and joyful, like so much of poor Adamson’s work. R.I.P.


So Here is a minor mystery around another 1980s radio concert for a band I loved back in the day—Big Country circa 1983, playing at The Ritz in NYC (today known as Webster Hall) on the King Biscuit Flower Hour. I saw sooo many shows at The Ritz, but not this one as I would’ve been a little kid. If you scroll to the last photo, there’s a page I found in the record that might have been for someone winning this record (from the King Biscuit Show? From a radio station?). The record is marked up as previously belonging to a station in Colorado, and the sheet for the possible winner includes a phone number (covered up) with an Arizona area code. I guess I could call the possible winner’s number but how lame would it be to call up a stranger and say, “Uh did you win a record 25 years ago?” (Answer: Super lame.) And how did this record wind up in NY anyway?


Ah, the eighties—when even rock ballads about economic hardship and domestic abuse were required to have an extended remix. Great song though.

A UK Greatest Hits package from 1989 or so for Big Country. Say what you like about Phil Collins’ Big 80s drum sound, but nothing on the planet is like the explosive drums on “East of Eden.” Holy crap—it’s like cannons going off.

11/04/1958 | Happy Birthday Stuart Adamson #stuartadamson #bigcountry #skids @bigcountryofficial https://www.instagram.com/p/CcM7qK5sqtT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=