The Crossing
A former member of the late '70s English punk band the Skids, guitarist/vocalist Stuart Adamson went to Scotland in 1982 to form a group whose goals were to regain the idealism and passion he felt the punk/new wave movement had lost through commercialization. Tapping U2's producer, Steve Lillywhite, then known for his highly textured, expansive sound, Adamson realized his vision on Big Country's 1983 debut. Propelled by the hit single "In a Big Country," and featuring such rousingly evocative fare as "Fields of Fire" and "Harvest Home," the group's decidedly Scotch-Irish tone prefigured the Celtic music boom by a good 10 years.--Billy Altman