Originally posted by peteu2mad:I agree with you Alex that BC music has been devalued by half baked false starts, the blah blah club being the first failed incarnation, to the point of being comedy.
Yep. The trio BBW worked just in a tribute band context, just like Tony stated in his statement. If they had chosen to really get started over anew, they'd have to seriously reconsider the lead guitar, vocal and songwriting department.
From what I have read the only thing stopping them is their own conscience, they toured as BC so I dont get how you think anyone has put a spanner in the works.
As far as I know it's about the distribution of the money that could be earned by a continuing BC band. Some members of the Adamson family are said to demand a good share which the band refuses to hand over. But I have no proof except the following:
www.big-country.de states:
Den Namen oder die Band “BIG COUNTRY” wird es nie wieder geben! Die Familie Adamson hat den Namen “BIG COUNTRY” schützen und für die weitere Verwendung sperren lassen. Es wird also keine Konzerte und auch keine Lieder von einer Band dieses Namens mehr geben. Das war’s....
Translation: There won't ever be a band called "Big Country" again. The Adamson family has reserved the rights to the trademark "Big Country" and prohibited any further use. So there won't be any more concerts and songs from a band with that name. That's been it...
I did read bits that indicated someone had stopped them but they quickly back peddled when asked to quantify certain remarks as Tony has in the link below.
Tony Butler http://www.bigcountry.co.uk/news/articleRead.php?id=202
The following excerpt is taken from Tony's statement:
"To be honest, I did not even think that what we were going to do would distress or cause grievance to anyone. It was only to be a tribute and homage. One of the greatest aspects of this band, historically, was its honourable naivety. Politics, estates, families, was at the back of our minds. I would never have embarked on this if I was remotely of the mind it would cause offence to Stuarts family."
So it seems like Stuart's family was indeed offended by the reunion tour. But it doesn't say if it's about his first wife, his second wife or his children. Please allow me to keep my further suggestions and suspicions by myself.
Big Country was over before Stuarts death thats a fact, for it to restart was about money and that is surely not a good reason.
Tony states the opposite in the post you just cited. I'm not quite sure what to think.
I wish them all the best in the future but, I think Mark and Tony are the only ones with any real ability sadly none of them are song writers and thats where it all falls down.
Bruce has improved a lot, technically speaking. Sadly he lacks musical talent and feeling above a certain level. I agree that they'd need another guitar player if they were to restart and reboot themselves.
The songwriting problem could be solved quite easily. There are a lot of songs and demos from Stuart's time that could be revisited and properly rerecorded. An additional band member would bring in his own songwriting ability. And I consider a few of Tony's and Bruce's songs superior to what Stuart wrote for PIOT, NPLH, the Skids and the Raphaels. Bruce contributed some amazing songwriting to Fish's Field of Crows. All this together would create quite a sufficient song pool.
Great band until the end, pitty they couldnt leave it at that.
Agree with the first part, disagree with the second. But it's fine for me. Some stories have an epilogue but no sequel.
Alex