When "In a Big Country" first came blasting out of stereo's in 1983, it seemed like Big Country the band would be the next big thing. Unfortunately, their often political/social music had a hard time finding an audience in the greed of the 80's. Although they never repeated the success of "In a Big Country", those of us who followed their career still delighted in songs such as "Fields of Fire" and what I consider to be their best song ever, "Look Away". Lead singer Stuart Adamson's tragic death on December 16, 2001, makes the fact that they never duplicated their early success even sadder.

For those of you just looking for "In a Big Country", you might want to try to find that song on an 80's compilation. This CD is truly for the Big Country enthusiast. The songs all pretty much have that same Scottish beat, which may have also hampered their success here in America. Continued chart success depends on the ability to change with the times. Irish rockers U2 have stayed in the mainstream because they have experimented with different styles of music and different sounds.

As I grow older, it seems somewhat sad that so many artists I idolized in the 80's pass on without much notice (Robert Palmer, Laura Branigan, etc.) It is bittersweet to put on this CD now and listen to all the energy and youthful enthusiasm this band put into their music 20 years ago. For fans of this music, buy this CD and enjoy the memories of a time gone by.

I only give the CD 3 stars because the band really did not have enough hits to warrant a higher ranking.

I can not say enough good things about Big Country. Music that stirs the soul, with awesome guitar work, meaningful lyrics, and drums that just drive. This CD stays in my CD changer.

One down side to the Best Of, is the drum work in the beginning of "In A Big Country" is cut short.

Aside from that criticism, I highly recommend The Best Of.

One of the best tracks on this CD is "Just A Shadow". Giving this song a listen is more than worth the price of the CD.
Give it a listen!

In my listmania list I placed The Best Of Big Country as No. 1 for music with meaning.

In the days when I listened only to hits from the 1980s, it was natural that I would want to hear Big Country, whose hit "In A Big Country" was one of the most played songs from my childhood.

However, that relatively melodic piece, which seemed to epitomise my native Australia if by no means through intent, was ecstatic compared to the rest of the material on this compilation. Just about every song - even the power ballad "Chance" - appears to sound the same. Based around loud guitars and dance beats, Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson succeed only in turning daceable pop into unpleasant, loud, tuneless noise. The way the band claims to make guitars sound like bagpipes is quite interesting on the title tune, but the rest of the songs are so loud that Big Country could never have pretentions to be an "art" band.

Even the song "Broken Heart (Thirteen Valleys)" which begins soft enough to have some really serious feeling and depth to it, descends into the shallow, loud guitar noise that typifies so many songs Big Country produced during the 1980s. There seem to be no distinct parts to the songs, certainly no changes of mood or feeling. The result is that Big Country's music, for the most part, must be seen as perhaps the worst earache I have ever tried to inflict upon myself. The last part of the slow "Chance" really is exactly the same in content, even concept, as such a slushy ballad as "Everything I Do, I Do It For You".

This albums should be a warning to anybody who thinks they can get away with buying something knowing only one song. Unless you like hard rock, avoid this.

Was not a pleased with this as I'd hoped..had a very short version of "Big Country" without the wonderful drum solo at the beginning. I wound up purchasing the original "Big Country" CD instead and have since sold this one to someone else.

This album features some great music from an extraordinary band... Unfortunately it suffers from terrible remastering. Straying far from Big Country's trademark bass-heavy, echoey, drum-heavy mix (listen to the Crossing & Seer), the engineer on this reissue leans more for a brittle, clean, dry, highly treble sound that is altogether displeasing & far from Big Country's original vision. I recommend instead purchasing the reissue of "The Crossing" which has been masterfully remastered AND includes several stunning bonus tracks that date from Big Country's early & most prolific era!