""Big Country"" Honored With 2-DVD Live Set ""Final Fling"" On Classic Pictures

Bonus Extras On The September 24, 2002 Release Include Tribute To Late Vocalist/Guitarist Stuart Adamson

7-Oct-02

The soaring majesty of the music of ""Big Country"" is chronicled on the new two-DVD live set ""Final Fling"" on Classic Pictures, which will be released in North America on September 24, 2002. The 200-minute ""Final Fling"" encompasses two complete concerts by ""Big Country"" - the Scottish quartet of vocalist/guitarist Stuart Adamson, guitarist Bruce Watson, bass guitarist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki. Extras on this DVD set, which is exquisitely mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, include a tribute to Adamson, band biography, bad member profiles, photo gallery, discography, memorabilia and a web link to ""Big Countryís"" official web site. Bonus videos include ""Live at the Peppermint Lounge,"" ""Live at Das Fest,"" and ""The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Tour.""The first DVD was recorded live in East Berlin, Germany, on June 18, 1988, at the Peace Concert before 120,000 people. This was the first Peace Concert organized by the East Germans. Songs include: ""Restless Natives,"" ""Where The Rose is Sown"" ""Wonderland,"" ""Look Away,"" ""Just A Shadow,"" ""Steeltown,"" ""Porrohman,"" ""The Seer,"" ""Chance,"" ""In a Big Country,"" ""Fields of Fire,"" and a cover of the Rolling Stonesí ""Honky Tonk Women.""""Big Countryís"" last-ever concert is captured on the second DVD, which was recorded at the end of the Driving to Damascus Tour in 2000 in front of a sell-out crowd at the Glasgow Barrowlands in Glasgow, Scotland. Songs include: ""Harvest Home,"" ""Driving to Damascus,"" ""John Wayneís Dream,"" ""The Storm,"" ""Come Back To Me,"" ""Drive Into Me,"" ""Lost Patrol,"" ""Broken Heart (Thirteen Valleys),"" ""Inwards,"" ""Fields of Fire,"" ""King of Emotion,"" ""Somebody Else,"" ""Look Away,"" ""You Dreamer,"" ""Your Spirit to Me,"" ""The President Slipped and Fell,"" ""Wonderland,"" ""Weíre Not in Kansas"" and ""In a Big Country.""""Final Fling"" serves as a tribute to Adamson, who, at age 43, tragically took his own life in 2001 after battling personal problems, including alcoholism.Adamson formed ""Big Country"" in 1981 in Dunfermline, Scotland, after he served as a member of the post-punk band the Skids, which enjoyed some UK success. Adamson recruited his friend Watson for ""Big Country"" but they werenít happy with the original version of the band, so they asked the formidable rhythm section of Butler and Brzezicki to join them. Butler and Brzezicki were among the most highly valued and respected session musicians in all of rock ëní roll; theyíd worked with The Who guitarist/vocalist Pete Townshend on his acclaimed 1980 solo album ""Empty Glass"" and its smash hit ""Let My Love Open the Door,"" and The Who connection continued when they assigned vocalist Roger Daltrey on his hit 1985 solo album ""Under a Raging Moon.""""Big Country"" released its debut album ""The Crossing"" in 1983, and it was an immediate sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. It received rapturous reviews and went gold in the United States and the single ""In a Big Country"" was an enormous hit single. The freshness of ""Big Countryís"" sound - resulting from Adamson and Watson often utilizing an E-bow (a device which helped give their electric guitars a chiming, bagpipes-like tone) and their intense, politically- and personally-oriented lyrics helped the band often get mentioned in the same breath as U2. ""Big Country"" received two Grammy Award nominations - one for Best New Artist and one for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal.The band continued to enjoy widespread commercial and critical success internationally with subsequent releases like ""Wonderland"" (an EP), ""Steeltown,"" ""The Seer,"" ""Peace in Our Time"" and ""The Buffalo Skinners."" Brzezicki had left the band for a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but he ultimately returned to where he belonged.""Final Fling"" captures the excitement, intensity and vibrant immediacy of ""Big Country"" - an important band ahead of its time.