Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
They say all the best journeys are filled with good memories, the people we meet, the sights we see and the times we live through whilst going there. Some journeys are unexpected; they come around sweeping us off our feet and taking those caught in its wake along for what could be the most important quest of all. Big Country’s first album for the best part of 14 years is The Journey in name and spirit alike and where one chapter regretfully closed with the sad passing of the band’s former frontman and icon Stuart Adamson in 2001, another door opens wide as the group find belief in their conviction of providing excellent rock music once more and in The Journey they take the first tentative steps in reclaiming that ground again.
Mike Peters of The Alarm has been an extremely busy man for a few years now, his work rate punishing and can leave his fans exhausted just watching him perform. Not one to stand still, he has divided his time between The Alarm and Big Country. Not that he has or would ever suggest that he has replaced the iconic figure of Stuart Adamson at the front of the stage, Mike Peters is perhaps the only man that could bring the power of Mark Brzezicki drumming and Bruce Watson inventive and glorious guitars together on the same album with the same passion that Stuart felt during his important time with the band.
The group, now consisting of Derek Forbes, Jamie Watson as well as the aforementioned Bruce, Mark and Mike, have made a record that befits the memory of the man sadly no longer with his fans and also cements the future for the rockers. The Journey blisters along, its lyrics demanding and poignant and the music made as if making a pact to bring out the very best in each song no matter the cost, partly to prove quite rightly that they could but perhaps to show their admiration and respect to their fallen comrade. Each song captures the imagination and with a touch of sadness and abundance of class makes the listener wonder what could have been.
The times may have changed but The Journey remains invaluable.
Ian D. Hall