Big Country Info Big Country Info

 

LINER NOTES

(jump to: Credits)

COMPULSION ANTHOLOGY

The Eighties had seen Big Country rack up four consecutive UK Top 10 albums and 12 UK Top 40 singles. ‘The Crossing’, their 1983 debut album, had spent 80 weeks on the charts and cracked the Top 20 in the US, while their second album, ‘Steeltown’, had gone straight in at No. 1. And the Nineties had got off to a good start too; their greatest hits collection ‘Through A Big Country’ entered the chart at No. 2, and was only kept from the top spot by another best of, The Carpenters ‘Only Yesterday’. Despite all this success all was not well in the Big Country camp.

Their 1991 album, ‘No Place Like Home’, had seen a switch from the PolyGram owned Mercury Records, to the same corporation’s Vertigo imprint, more readily associated with ‘70s Rock acts like Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath. ‘No Place Like Home’ peaked at No. 28 and slipped out of the chart after just two weeks. Of the two singles taken from the album only ‘Republican Party Reptile’ managed to break into the Top 40 (just – it peaked at No. 37), while ‘Beautiful People’ entered the chart at No. 72, only to drop out completely the following week. Band and record label parted company in November 1991.

The relationship had obviously not ended well. In an interview with Mark Liddell of Riff Raff magazine, Stuart Adamson remarked, “We were in a situation that I was completely fuckin’ disillusioned with. I joined a band to be in a band, not to be a businessman! A change had to come.”

The band’s then manager Ian Grant was a bit more diplomatic. Speaking to the dedicated fan magazine Country Club he explained, “Dealing with record companies is very much like playing musical chairs. People are headhunted, promoted, fired, or just move on. The original team had all moved on, bar one or two, and the new team, albeit experienced and, in most cases, good at their job, just did not grasp Big Country’s past or future potential.” Bruce Watson’s only comment was, “I’m saying nothing until I’ve spoken to my lawyer.” However Big Country had a friend and ally in Chris Briggs, the man who had originally signed them ten years earlier. Following huge success in the ‘80s, first as A&R Director for Phonogram Records, then in a similar role at A&M, in 1992 EMI gave Briggs his own imprint, Compulsion Records. In a press release to announce his ‘new’ signing he said, “I went to see the band on the last tour, and thought they were better now than then (when I first signed them)”.

The new album was the band’s first without drummer Mark Brzezicki, who was plying his trade as a session musician with the likes of Rick Astley, Howard Jones and former Marillion frontman Fish. Demos had been recorded with the aid of a drum machine but when sessions for ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ began Simon Phillips stepped in. Simon and Mark had shared drum duties on Pete Townshend’s 1982 album ‘All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes’, which also featured Tony Butler on bass. More recently Simon had joined The Who for their 1989 US tour, and played on Mike Oldfield’s album ‘Heaven’s Open’.

Having previously worked with big name producers including Steve Lilywhite and Robin Millar, ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ was the band’s first self-produced album. It was recorded at Abbey Road, RAK Studios and at Townhouse, where their engineer was Nigel Godrich, still two years away from his big break on Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’. RAK Studios had been founded in 1976 by veteran producer Mickie Most, and were housed in a former Victorian school and church hall, near Regents Park in London. Blur were in a neighbouring studio attempting to record demos for their second album, ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’, one indication of how the charts had changed since Big Country made their debut. However Stuart confessed to being more of a fan of American groups like Pearl Jam, Spin Doctors and Sugar. “Isn’t it great seeing young guitar groups running around wearing check shirts”, he said. “Haven’t we seen that before somewhere?”

The sessions included keyboard player Colin Berwick, a veteran of the ‘No Place Like Home’ tour. He would join up with Bruce once more in 2019 for the WKW ‘Men of Steel’ project, an album that includes new versions of some Big Country songs. Meanwhile the band dispensed with their familiar ‘E-Bow’ guitar sound. Bruce said, “It’s quite a hard hitting, powerful album, and I don’t think the E-Bow was suitable for that sound. (It) is more for atmospherics and texture.”

The recording process was seemingly a happy one with Stuart telling Australian journalist Simon McKenzie “Now that we’ve been allowed to make the record we want, I can’t see anything but roses at the moment. You should get a good engineer, stick the mics up and make the record. It’s not a complicated procedure. You don’t have to go and disappear up your own arse to make a record.”

Tony added, “We were thrown off course a long time ago but we are back on track. Big Country is a Rock band with its own identity; it’s about time the cynics realised this fact in the same way we have. That’s why we are enjoying ourselves.”

However the sessions were not without the occasional problem. After a week of over dubbing backing tracks the band realised that one of the tape machines was running fast and everything they had recorded was out of tune.

‘Seven Waves’ and ‘Long Way Home’ had been under consideration as a first single but a band decision resulted in ‘Alone’ announcing the album, when it was released on 1 March 1993. Stuart told Country Club, “I always wanted that as the first single. I wanted a Rock track and the record company were happy to go along with that.” A video was filmed to promote the single, directed by Roger Pomphrey, who had worked with the band on videos for their two previous singles. With Simon Phillips now a member of Toto, The Pretenders Martin Chambers occupied the drum stool. The Big Country / Pretenders relationship stretched back to 1982, when Tony played bass on the latter’s No. 17 single, ‘Back On The Chain Gang’.

Released in the UK on two separate CD singles, a cassette single and a limited edition twelve inch picture disc, ‘Alone’ peaked at No. 24, their biggest hit since ‘King of Emotion’ in 1988. In addition to live tracks recorded in 1991 at The Town & Country Club in London (and broadcast by BBC radio as part of their ‘In Concert’ series) the ‘Buffalo Skinners’ singles gave the band an opportunity to cover some favourite songs. ‘Beautiful People 12”’ included a live version of Neil Young’s ’Rockin’ In The Free World’.

‘Alone’ resulted in their last Top of the Pops appearance on 18 March 1993, where they must have felt like elder statesmen alongside fellow countrymen Hue & Cry, Reggae singer Shaggy and Pop trio Right Said Fred. In the US ‘Alone’ was released on Fox Records, whose main purpose was to capitalise on the film soundtracks of the mighty 21st Century Fox film and TV corporation. Consequently Big Country found themselves sharing the roster with spin-offs from Home Alone and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

The album was released in the UK on Monday 29 March 1993, although American fans would have to wait until 14 September. It was released on vinyl, cassette and CD, though Stuart told Pat Gilbert at Record Collector magazine he wasn’t a fan of the latter. “I really hate the fact that vinyl’s disappearing in favour of CDs”, he said. “I like the size of the format, I like the album sleeves.”* He added, “(This is) what we sound like when people get out of the way and just let us do it. It’s organic, alive… I just think it’s a great record.” (*Stuart may have had a point. You can now expect to pay at least £100 for an original vinyl copy of the album.)

Just as ‘Alone’ had done, ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ restored Big Country to the Top 40, peaking at No. 25 on the album chart. In a review for Q magazine an ambivalent 3-star review from Johnny Black ended, “It couldn’t be anyone other than Big Country and, if Adamson can maintain this level of quality control in the songs, his band may rise again.” Neil McKay of Sunday Life described the album as “rousing and tuneful as in (Big Country’s) early heyday”. When ‘Alone’ was serviced to US radio stations Larry Flick of Billboard commented: “Familiar traces of a Scottish accent in Adamson’s strong, melodic vocal notwithstanding, the band effectively reintroduces itself on this single - and radio should welcome it back.”

Two songs, ‘We’re Not In Kansas’ and ‘Ships’, were re-recordings of songs from the previous album, ‘No Place Like Home’. “The versions on the last album just didn’t do the songs justice”, explained Stuart, “so we took the opportunity to put matters right this time.” The difference is more noticeable on ‘Ships’, with its heavy use of guitars, in stark contrast to the guitar-free 1991 version.

This new version of ‘Ships’, now subtitled ‘(Where Were You)’, was chosen as the album’s second single and also broke into the UK Top 40, though it would be their last single to do so. As a consequence of its No. 29 chart peak ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ became Big Country’s first album since ‘The Seer’ in 1986 to contain two Top 30 singles. ‘Ships’ also provided the band with a rare Canadian hit, peaking at No. 54. This time the video was directed by Nick Morris, who had success with promos for Europe (‘The Final Countdown’) and Mr. Mister (‘Kyrie’). The cover versions continued with Fleetwood Mac’s 1969 No. 2 ‘Oh Well’, Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’ (a 1970 UK No. 1 for one hit wonders Matthews’ Southern Comfort), Blue Öyster Cult’s 1978 No. 16 ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’, ‘Cracked Actor’ from David Bowie’s 1973 album ‘Aladdin Sane’ and most surprisingly of all, a version of Black Sabbath’s biggest hit ‘Paranoid’, a No. 4 in 1970.

Perhaps even more surprising was the decision to not release ‘The One I Love’ as a UK single. In the US it reached No. 17 on Billboard magazine’s ‘Alternative Songs’ chart, and No. 34 on the same publication’s ‘Mainstream Rock’ chart – only the band’s fifth entry on this chart, and their first since ‘King of Emotion’ in 1988. Writing in the same publication, critic Larry Flick described the single as “a welcome and surprisingly potent return for the band.”

Promo duties began in March with two dates in Germany (one of them a live TV broadcast) followed by a half a dozen dates around the UK. Naturally the set list was ‘Buffalo Skinners’ heavy, typically featuring eight or nine tracks from the album. Veteran journalist Chris Welch reviewed one of the London gigs for Rock World magazine and noted how the audience gave Stuart “the sort of reception normally reserved for Prince, Madonna or Cliff Richard in the
days of ‘Move It.’”

In May the band set off on a 13 date European tour, followed by another jaunt around the UK, this time in larger venues. The tour also saw the return of Mark Brzezicki to the fold. Tony Butler explained, “Basically Mark phoned me to apologise for not sending a Christmas card, when I mentioned to him that Simon Phillips was going to be unavailable, which got the ball rolling.” In September the band made a brief trip to the US for a well received performance at a record company convention plus a couple of visits to radio stations. Following two nights at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, the band began their first US tour for six years – their lengthy absence caused by what Stuart referred to as “business mishaps”. This visit commenced with a performance of ‘The One I Love’ on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. An October 2nd gig at San Diego Sports Arena saw them share the bill with Iggy Pop and Living Colour, though most dates featured support from New York trio 700 Miles, who were promoting their eponymous debut album.

Returning to the UK in December, the year was rounded off by dates at Newcastle City Hall, Aberdeen Capitol Theatre and Glasgow Barrowland. All three featured half acoustic and half electric shows, with the evening in Glasgow (coincidentally where the band had finished their very first tour for ‘The Crossing’ in December 1983) recorded for a live album.

Released on 6 June 1994, ‘Without The Aid Of A Safety Net’ was originally available on a 14 track CD and cassette plus a 10 track highlights LP. Curiously despite the success of their extensive tour the album wasn’t released in the US, though EMI Canada took up the option for that territory. Once again, the market move to CD around this time ensures that the price of a used copy on vinyl (if you can find one) is about £120. It had originally been planned to record the album in early September 1993 at London’s Clapham Grand, though the US tour resulted in these dates being cancelled and plans for the album put on hold.

The acoustic experience was obviously one that the band enjoyed, as they set off on a seven date acoustic tour at the end of April 1994, playing small venues in Scotland, including Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis and Portree on the Isle of Skye. They also played some acoustic dates the following September, in between supporting Meat Loaf on his European tour.

In 2004 Ian Cranna writing in Record Collector described ‘Without A Safety Net’ as “Big Country at their best. Honest, thoughtful Rock, played with passion and a conscious avoidance of frills or poses.”

A description that best sums up the band. The following track by track commentary includes Bruce’s sleeve notes from the ‘Buffalo Skinners’ 2005 reissue, Tony’s comments for a fan forum, and interviews given to or reproduced in Country Club, along with some new reflections that the band have kindly provided.

Alone
Bruce Watson. “The first single from the album, Mark still wasn’t in the band and Simon Phillips was unavailable for the video shoot. Martin Chambers from The Pretenders fills in for the video shoot only.”

Tony Butler. “‘Alone’ is a great opener but I think it could have been mixed better (a problem I remember having with the guy who mixed it). It was a conscious decision, particularly between Bruce and I, to reestablish the ‘Rock’ essence of the band, and ‘Alone’ was the perfect vehicle. Stuart was leaning toward his C&W influences, looking to develop his songwriting, so there was a slight parting in ambitions; nothing serious, just a ‘life’ thing. ‘Alone’ rocked!”

Seven Waves
BW. “The song was originally called ‘Broken Man’. I demoed the original music with Manny Charlton from Nazareth engineering.”

TB. “’Seven Waves’ is a class pop tune with amazing guitar melodies and a fantastic chorus. It’s such a ‘Bruce’ track; it set out the Pop / Rock element that the album needed commercially, but also marked a songwriting progression. Less of the typical guitar sound that had begun to attract negative comments.”

Note: ‘Seven Waves’ was voted favourite album track in a fan club survey for issue 30 of Country Club.

What Are You Working For
BW. “Great opening riff from Stuart. This album is our heaviest by far in terms of distorted guitar tones.”

TB. “Just stunning. As an album track (and a potential live one) this oozed a band having fun just being a band. Lyrically it spoke for millions of people going about the task of working and living, but silently questioning. Big Country had never been an overtly political band, but this one had more than a slice of social conscience.”

The One I Love
BW. “It was originally demoed in my home studio in Charlestown. Basically it was a case of me having the intro and the verse worked out and Stuart having the chorus and the middle eight worked out. A lot of B.C. songs were bolted together, and this song is a prime example.”

TB. “’The One I Love’ should have been a massive single hit. Bruce was on a roll with his compositions during this period, and Stuart certainly relied on him as a springboard for developing song ideas. I feel this was the first time Stuart consciously set his sights on another American hit, as the ‘Americanisms’ in his vocal suggest.”

Long Way Home
BW. “This featured in our live set a lot; we changed the time signature when we played it acoustically.”

Stuart Adamson. “I wrote that song about how it was possible to be a refugee in your own country. You kind of feel like you belong somewhere but it’s not how you expected it to be.”

TB. “’Long Way Home’ is simply brilliant, awesome in power, music and lyric. To add to Stuart’s comment, at this time there was a growing pressure on us to step up to U2 status, and the press (south of Watford) really showed disdain, writing us off as a Bagpipe-sounding flash in the pan, that couldn’t compete.”

The Selling Of America
BW. “Originally Tony’s song. It has the best groove on the album as far as I am concerned, but unfortunately didn’t make the live set.”

TB. “This may sound a little biased but ‘Selling Of America’ is the stuff of genius. It is dramatic, anthemic, powerful, guitar lick-mungus - pure theatre. I very rarely wrote for B.C. on the bass, but that’s where this idea came from. I developed it into a full song, and then let the band rip it up and start again, with Stuart re-writing the lyrics, using some of my vocal melodies. It was also weird having Stuart play my guitar parts; I wasn’t sure he’d actually had to do that before.”

We’re Not In Kansas
BW. “Originally recorded on the ‘No Place Like Home’ album. We heavied up this version at the request of Chris Briggs. The ‘NPLH’ version was more acoustic sounding while this version has a definite ‘Who’ element to it.

SA. “I tried to draw an analogy between … Dorothy being in Oz and not quite understanding where she was, and someone looking about them in a contemporary environment that they aren’t used to. Suddenly realising they don’t know what’s going on around them at all.”

TB. “A better version of the classic track. It worked as an alternative; the live version rocked more and became a BC classic. Stuart’s analysis could also refer to how he saw the band at the time of writing; I remember calling him Dorothy while we were recording it for ‘No Place Like Home’.”

Ships
BW. “Again from the ‘No Place Like Home’ album. Originally recorded as a piano and string quartet piece, we decided to give this the loud guitar treatment.”

TB. “’Ships’ really stopped me in my tracks. It is a beautiful song, brilliantly crafted with unbelievable piano. The original recordings did not do the songs justice; they were recorded during a particularly stressful time. It should have been a big hit but I felt there was a reluctance to accept the C&W aspect to the band, even though it’s a great song in its own right.”

SA. “’Ships’ is just about people that think they get passed by, by things, because everybody does at certain times.”

All Go Together
BW. “Almost didn’t make the album as Briggs wasn’t keen on it. We opened our set with it and it became a fans’ favourite, although I must admit preferring the acoustic version that we did.”

SA. “It’s just about how we’re poisoning ourselves. I mean, the Industrial Revolution was only 200 years ago and we’re just gonna peg ourselves out quite shortly with it. There’s some little part of the brain that is self-destructive, how’s it’s inevitable that we will eventually destroy ourselves.”

TB. “There are some brilliant guitar bits from both axemen here, and it was extremely fun to play live. It didn’t need any other purpose but to rock out! The subject matter was pertinent then, and even more so now. Sorry to see that Stuart’s comment was a little more than prophetic on a personal level.”

Winding Wind
BW. “This piece was actually written and routined in the studio, so it wasn’t rehearsed enough and I think it kind of suffered because of this.”

TB. “It sounded like loads of ideas welded together. Once again, it’s weird that a slower, more Country type ballad just didn’t lock in.”

Pink Marshmallow Moon
BW. “Great title, sounds like the title to a Prince song, great song to play live and again a fan favourite.”

SA. “I wanted to write a song about how you feel when you first start a relationship with somebody, y’know, how you’ll do absolutely anything to be involved with somebody, and about seeing all the possibilities for the relationship.”

TB. “’Pink Marshmallow Moon’ is an audio delight. It sounded so delicious in the headphones, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant (apart from the bass being a bit low in the mix). To complement this song’s versatility, in 2018 I did a solo gig in London, and played a Reggae version of it, which was so cool. A great “song” song, which demonstrates the breadth of Stuart’s writing.”

Note: Talking to Tom Calderone on New York radio show Modern Rock Live in September ’93, Tony cited ‘Pink Marshmallow Moon’ as his current BC favourite. Bruce went with ‘Ships’, while Stuart opted for ‘We’re Not In Kansas’. Mark decided he still liked ‘Rain Dance’ from 1984 second album ‘Steel Town’.

Chester’s Farm
BW. “This song was only played a few times on the North American tour and I thought would have been a great opener. Unfortunately there were too many guitar and keyboard overdubs on the album that it was very difficult to replicate live.”

SA. “I wanted to write a song about AIDS and about how it’s been completely fuckin’ ignored by western governments. I wanted a song that asked a few questions rather than just described the situation.”

TB. “Epic finale. I’ll let you into a little secret; this was Stuart’s least favourite track, not because he didn’t like the song but because it was going a little too “Epic Rock” for his liking. I let my love of everything ‘The Who’ out when I made the demo for this. Roaring riff, big loud chords, wailing guitar melody; with Stuart giving the song identity with its AIDS focus, I thought an anthem was born. I was concerned at the time that Stuart seemed to blow hot and cold on it, and as Bruce points out, it didn’t stay in the live set for long.”

Never Take Your Place
BW. “Another survivor from the REL sessions without the aid of a drummer. This was another great song that Stuart came up with out of the blue. We never played this song live with Big Country but I play it every night on tour along with ‘Eastworld’ with Mark in our new band, The Casbah Club. I sometimes feel, along with a lot of fans, that some of our B-sides were little gems that got forgotten or weren’t developed properly.”

Note: The Casbah Club were a spin-off project for Bruce and Mark, alongside Bruce Foxton, former bass player with The Jam, and guitarist and latter member of The Who, Simon Townshend.

Eastworld
BW. “’Eastworld’ was originally recorded at REL Studios in Edinburgh. Stuart and I programmed the drums, which really was a straight lift from The Glitter Band’s ‘Angel Face’. Simon Phillips was going to replace the drum machine but for some reason the song was overlooked and left on the shelf for a while. I think it ended up being the B-side for ‘Alone’.

TB. “’Eastworld’ confused me at first. With electronic drums, it was a departure, though great in itself. For some reason it didn’t work in a band context, I don’t know why, but the demo is a good representation of things we were prepared to try.”

Buffalo Skinners
BW. “’Buffalo Skinners’ was the track that never made the album. Big Country used to do this quite a lot, use the title for the album whilst not including it. ‘The Crossing’ was a prime example of this. Again this version has drum machine on it. I was getting into different guitar tunings at the time and I was trying to get a Ry Cooder vibe on the song. I also had 2nd engineer Nigel Godrich play guitar on this.”

SA. “It describes the fact that we are willing to squeeze the last breath out of nature and the environment for personal gain.”

TB. “I suppose this song highlighted the struggles between individuals in the band, with record producer and the record company. The title track did not go on this album, not because it was not liked, on the contrary, more because this album turned into a Rock album, and we were all digging it: ‘Buffalo Skinners’ was a little soft and Country. For the record, it is a beautiful song; it should have been on a Stuart Adamson solo album.”

Rockin’ In The Free World
(‘Alone’ CD Bonus Track)
Note: Long a fixture of the band’s live set, a version appeared on the 1991 CD and 12” single of ‘Beautiful People’.

TB. “Just a great anthem to the great God “Rock Music”.”

Woodstock (‘Ships’ CD Bonus Track)
Oh Well (‘Ships’ CD Bonus Track)
Don’t Fear The Reaper (‘Ships’ CD Bonus Track)
Cracked Actor (‘Ships’ CD Bonus Track)
Paranoid (‘Ships’ CD Bonus Track)

TB. “ On our forays into playing covers over the years, these songs not only had us get our vocals together, but gave us a reason to enjoy being in the studio, doing something that had no pressure on the outcome. We had a background in bands that played covers, and this was an opportunity to put some of our collective favourites onto CD.”

I Am A Small Republic
Dragging My Name (Audiocraft Demo)
TB. “These two songs represent ideas that, in collective opinion, didn’t come up to the mark. It happens, and it’s the right decision to create the best possible album at that time.”

 

CREDITS

(jump to: Liner Notes)

Licensed courtesy of Chrysalis Records Limited & SGO Music Management.
Cherry Red would like to thank; John Gouveia, Stuart Ongley, Mark Brzezicki, Tony Butler,
Bruce Watson, Colin Berwick and Andy Inkster, Dermot James & Ollie Bishop at Blue Raincoat.
Project concept and management by John Reed and Michael Mulligan.
Audio mastering by Simon Murphy at Another Planet Music
DVD Authoring by Tom Summers
Design & layout by Keith Davey

DISC ONE: THE BUFFALO SKINNERS

1. ALONE
2. SEVEN WAVES
3. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR
4. THE ONE I LOVE
5. LONG WAY HOME
6. THE SELLING OF AMERICA
7. WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS
8. SHIPS
9. ALL GO TOGETHER
10. WINDING WIND
11. PINK MARSHMALLOW MOON
12. CHESTER’S FARM
13. THE ONE I LOVE (US MIX)
14. NEVER TAKE YOUR PLACE
15. EASTWORLD
16. BUFFALO SKINNERS (DEMO)

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 & 16 written by Stuart Adamson
Tracks 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 & 15 written by Stuart Adamson / Bruce Watson
Tracks 6 & 12 written by Stuart Adamson & Tony Butler

Published by Big Country Music / BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited

Produced by Big Country and mixed by David Bascombe, except tracks 1, 3, & 16 mixed by Mike Fraser.
All titles Ⓟ1993 Chrysalis Records Limited, except track 14 - 16 Ⓟ2005 Chrysalis Records Ltd.

DISC TWO: B-SIDES, BONUS TRACKS & RARITIES

1. ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD
2. WOODSTOCK
3. OH WELL
4. (DON’T FEAR) THE REAPER
5. BUFFALO SKINNERS
6. CRACKED ACTOR
7. PARANOID
8. SHIPS (RADIO EDIT)
9. ALONE (RADIO EDIT)
10. WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS (US ALTERNATE MIX)
11. THE ONE I LOVE (DAVE THOENER REMIX)
12. I AM A SMALL REPUBLIC
13. DRAGGING MY NAME (AUDIOCRAFT DEMO)
14. SEVEN WAVES (INSTRUMENTAL DEMO)
15. EASTWORLD (INSTRUMENTAL DEMO)
16. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR (INSTRUMENTAL DEMO)

Tracks 9, 10, 12, 13 and 16 written by Stuart Adamson
Tracks 5, 8, 11, 14 & 15 written by Stuart Adamson / Bruce Watson
Track 1 written by Neil Young / Frank Sampedro. Track 2 written by Joni Mitchell
Track 3 written by Peter Green. Track 4 written by Donald Roeser
Track 6 written by David Bowie
Track 7 written by Terence Butler / Tony Iommi / Ozzy Osbourne / Bill Ward

Published by Big Country Music / BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited, except:
Track 1 published by Silver Fiddle / Poncho Villa Music
Track 2 & 4 published by Sony / ATV
Track 3 published by BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited
Track 6 published by Tintoretto Music / BMG / EMI Music Publishing
Track 7 published by Westminster Music Ltd

Produced by Big Country
Tracks 8 & 11 mixed by Dave Bascombe
Track 5 mixed by Chris Sheldon
Track 9 mixed by Mike Fraser
All titles Ⓟ 1993 Chrysalis Records Limited except tracks 12 - 16 Ⓟ 2000 SGO Music Management

DISC THREE: THE BUFFALO SKINNERS DEMOS

1. ALONE (DEMO)
2. SEVEN WAVES (DEMO)
3. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR (AUDIOCRAFT DEMO)
4. THE ONE I LOVE (DEMO)
5. LONG WAY HOME (DEMO)
6. THE SELLING OF AMERICA (DEMO)
7. WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS (MONITOR MIX)
8. SHIPS (MONITOR MIX)
9. ALL GO TOGETHER (DEMO)
10. WINDING WIND (DEMO)
11. PINK MARSHMALLOW MOON (DEMO)
12. CHESTER’S FARM (AUDIOCRAFT DEMO)
13. EASTWORLD (DEMO)
14. ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD (MONITOR MIX)

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 13 written by Stuart Adamson
Tracks 2, 4, 8, 9 & 11 written by Stuart Adamson / Bruce Watson
Tracks 6 & 12 written by Stuart Adamson / Tony Butler
Track 14 written by Neil Young / Frank Sampedro

Published by Big Country Music / BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited except track 14 Silver Fiddle / Poncho Villa Music

Produced by Big Country
Track 8 mixed by Dave Bascombe
All titles Ⓟ2020 SGO Music Management Ltd except tracks 7 & 8 Ⓟ1993 and track 14 Ⓟ1993 Chrysalis Records Limited

DISC FOUR: WITHOUT THE AID OF A SAFETY NET:

LIVE 29/12/93 [VOLUME 1]
1. INTRODUCTION
2. HARVEST HOME (ACOUSTIC)
3. PEACE IN OUR TIME (ACOUSTIC)
4.. JUST A SHADOW (ACOUSTIC)
5. 13 VALLEYS (ACOUSTIC)
6. WINTER SKY (ACOUSTIC)
7. THE STORM (ACOUSTIC)
8. CHANCE (ACOUSTIC)
9. TRACKS OF MY TEARS (ACOUSTIC)
10. ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD (ACOUSTIC)
11. ALL GO TOGETHER
12. WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS
13. LOOK AWAY
14. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR
15. STEELTOWN

All tracks recorded live at The Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow on 29 December 1993

Tracks 2, 5, 12, 13 & 14 written by Stuart Adamson
Tracks 6 & 11 written by Stuart Adamson / Bruce Watson
Tracks 3, 4, 7, 8 and 15 written by Stuart Adamson / Mark Brzezicki / Tony Butler / Bruce Watson
Track 9 written by Marv Tarplin / Warren Moore / William Robinson
Track 10 written by Neil Young / Frank Sampedro

Published by Big Country Music / BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited except track 9 published by Jobete Music Co Inc and track 10
published by Silver Fiddle / Poncho Villa Music

Produced by Big Country. Mixed by Pete Woodroffe
Recorded by Will Shapland (Mobile) / Andy Kowalski (Assistant)
All titles Ⓟ2005 Chrysalis Records Limited

DISC FIVE: WITHOUT THE AID OF A SAFETY NET:
LIVE 29/12/93 [VOLUME 2]
1. STUART AND THE AUDIENCE
2. SHIPS
3. WONDERLAND
4. LONG WAY HOME
5. ALONE
6. IN A BIG COUNTRY
7. THE AUDIENCE (ENCORE)
8. LOST PATROL
9. (HEY HEY MY MY) OUT OF THE BLUE (INTO THE BLACK)
10. FIELDS OF FIRE

All tracks recorded live at The Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow on 29 December 1993

Tracks 4 & 5 written by Stuart Adamson
Track 2 written by Stuart Adamson / Bruce Watson
Tracks 3, 6, 8 and 10 written by Stuart Adamson / Mark Brzezicki / Tony Butler / Bruce Watson
Track 9 written by Neil Young

Published by Big Country Music / BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited except track 9 published by Silver Fiddle
/ Poncho Villa Music

Produced by Big Country. Mixed by Pete Woodroffe
Recorded by Will Shapland (Mobile) / Andy Kowalski (Assistant)
All titles Ⓟ2005 Chrysalis Records Limited

DISC SIX: DVD - WITHOUT THE AID OF A SAFETY NET (LIVE):
THE VIDEO
1. INTRODUCTION / HARVEST HOME (ACOUSTIC)
2. PEACE IN OUR TIME (ACOUSTIC)
3. 13 VALLEYS (ACOUSTIC)
4. THE STORM (ACOUSTIC)
5. CHANCE (ACOUSTIC)
6. LOOK AWAY
7. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR
8. STEELTOWN
9. STUART AND THE AUDIENCE
10. SHIPS
11. WONDERLAND
12. LONG WAY HOME
13. ALONE
14. IN A BIG COUNTRY
15. LOST PATROL
16. ALONE (PROMO VIDEO)
17. SHIPS (PROMO VIDEO)

Tracks 1 – 15 recorded live at The Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow on 29 December 1993
Tracks 3, 6, 7, 12, 13 & 16 written by Stuart Adamson
Tracks 10 & 17 written by Stuart Adamson / Bruce Watson
Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 14 & 15 written by Stuart Adamson / Mark Brzezicki / Tony Butler / Bruce Watson

Published by Big Country Music / BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited
Tracks 1 – 15 Produced by Big Country. Mixed by Pete Woodroffe
Recorded by Will Shapland (Mobile) / Andy Kowalski (Assistant)
All titles Ⓟ1995 Chrysalis Records Limited except tracks 16 & 17 Ⓟ1993 Chrysalis Records Limited