CHERRY RED Out Beyond The River: The Compulsion Years Anthology Boxset (5CD+DVD)

A new 5 Disc boxed set anthology (5CDs / 1 DVD) celebrating the recordings of Scottish rock giants Big Country, made between 1993 and 1994 for Chrysalis Records imprint Compulsion Featuring 71 tracks on five discs, including the albums ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ and the double live album ‘Without The Aid Of A Safety Net’, recorded at Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow on 29 December 1993. Includes rare B-Sides / bonus tracks, US radio mixes, previously unreleased instrumental demos, plus the original demo for every track on ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ album. DVD includes highlights from the Glasgow Barrowlands concert, together with promo videos for the singles ‘Ships’ and ‘Alone’ Cherry Red Records are pleased to announce the release of “Out Beyond The River: The Complete Compulsion Recordings”, a newly remastered six disc boxed set featuring the original classic line-up of Scottish rock giants Big Country, fronted by the late Stuart Adamson. 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, a difference of opinion with their label meant all was not well in the Big Country camp. However Big Country had a friend and ally in Chris Briggs, the man who had originally signed them ten years earlier. Following huge success with Robbie Williams, in 1992 EMI gave Briggs his own imprint, Compulsion Records. In a press release to announce Big Country as 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 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". In 2004 Ian Cranna writing in Record Collector described “Without A Safety Net” as “Big Country at their best. Honest,