That rock band Big Country conquered much of the Western world was due in no small part to vocalist/guitarist Stuart Adamson. His untimely death 25 years ago left a feeling of unfinished business, and while his former bandmates continued to pay tribute there was a sense his legacy was unfulfilled. Enter Big Country Redux, a quintet spearheaded by Bruce Watson (who co-founded Big Country with Adamson) as a vehicle to keep the band’s (and Stuart’s) legacy alive. That’s exactly what they do with Eastworld, an album that features ten brand new recordings of old Adamson compositions (and co-writes) that never made it past demo stage. Fleshing out those old sketches and breathing life into them, Big Country Redux have produced a record that can stand amongst anything from their past and will ensure that Stuart’s impact on modern music will reverberate for a long time to come.
Big Country have an expansive sound and one that straddles several genres, but if there’s a loose thread that stitches it all together it’s a kind of military muster. With guitars that crack and flutter like flags in a brisk wind and drums that beat a warlike tattoo, it’s a rabble rousing sound that Big Country deliver and one that never fails to get the blood pumping, and that’s exactly what opening track ‘Kiss The Girl Goodbye’ does. Punchy, edgy and anthemic, from the solitary guitar riff that introduces the song to the cataclysmic conclusion via the huge sing-along chorus, it contains all the essential ingredients of a classic Big Country track and will be manna from heaven for anyone who likes their hard rock with plenty of bite. With the gaps between songs kept deliberately short, Eastworld operates with the same kind of urgency that characterised their early career.
Eastworld is testament to the high standard that Big Country set with regards to their songwriting. Almost any other band would have developed and released the likes of ‘What About Peace’ immediately, yet such was the strength of their work that these songs were put on the back burner. However, credit must go to the current incarnation who’ve made songs such as ‘Never Take Your Place’ three-dimensional entities. Rather than just being a collection of tracks thrown together, Eastworld plays like an old school album, and is best consumed whole to fully appreciate its ebb and flow, the atmospheric and cinematic ‘Troubled Man’ nestling next to the high octane ‘God’s Great Mistake (Part 1)’ quite effortlessly.
Eastworld is an album of which Stuart Adamson would be proud.
- Eastworld is released via absolute on 19th September 2026.
- Official Website
- Kiss The Girl Goodbye
- What About Peace
- The Hostage Speaks
- Never Take Your Place
- Troubled Man
- God’s Great Mistake (Part 1)
- Normal
- Winter Sky
- Eastworld
- Pan-American Irish Girl
