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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This mid-80s album from one of the greatest rock bands of all time is not typical mid-80s radio fodder, though apparently it did get some UK radio play (my perspective is from the US where everyone thinks of BC as one-hit wonders--how sad).
Less hard rock than the awesome Steeltown which precedes it, this is still great rock music with a message.
On this l.p. BC takes on more conventional song writing, but there is a transcendence here that you find in few other commercially successful groups (Style Council, Simple Minds come to mind). Great e-bow work makes you think you hear keyboards when you don't.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
After the darkness and social commentary of their second album, `Steeltown', the Bigs returned in 1986 with a set full of soaring majestic romance, Boys Own adventure, soldiers, witches, heroes and tales of the high seas - all polished up with the pop sensibilities that were evident on their 1983 debut, `The Crossing'.
Dumping their two album partnership with Steve Lillywhite for Robin Millar, who had produced the glossy dance pop beats of Sade, Everything but the Girl and Fine Young Cannibals, this third outing takes on a more immediate sound than its predecessors with a slick, pop rock sheen. As a result, `The Seer' is a much brasher, more commercially minded work than they were.
As an overall set, the songs are also far more immediately accessible than on the first two albums and more determinedly upbeat in approach. And Adamson's poetic lyrics are sumptuous. The opening single, `Look Away' is a rollicking rock track about a man on the run after committing a murder, desperately trying to retain the trust of his woman and convince her to ignore the stories she will hear about him. There is Wild West undertone to this that finds its perfect sonic partner in the third track, `The Teacher', about a young man's first love. In between, Kate Bush provides haunting backing vocals to the title track, an epic Celtic journey through the visions of rape and pillage foretold by a Seer who "washed her hair among the stones". On the slower side, `Eiledon' is an ode to a beautiful land ("I may walk in cities where the wolf once had his fill") and `Hold the Heart', a ballad of a man hoping his lover will come back to him ("I would lie and curse the day, And visit places where we lay alone, And find them turned to stone").Then things pick up again with the grand rocking adventure of `Remembrance Day', `The Red Fox' and the breathtaking album closer, `The Sailor'. The only real low points are provided by `I Walk the Hill' and `One Great Thing', the two trademark bagpipe guitar tracks that, third album out, sound distinctly stale and clichéd.
Musicianship by the band is stirling, as always, and Stuart Adamson's voice would never again sound quite as full-throatedly lush as it does on this recording. That said, the sheer effervescence of its grand storytelling tends to make it feel ever so slightly lacking in weight.
Dumping their two album partnership with Steve Lillywhite for Robin Millar, who had produced the glossy dance pop beats of Sade, Everything but the Girl and Fine Young Cannibals, this third outing takes on a more immediate sound than its predecessors with a slick, pop rock sheen. As a result, `The Seer' is a much brasher, more commercially minded work than they were.
As an overall set, the songs are also far more immediately accessible than on the first two albums and more determinedly upbeat in approach. And Adamson's poetic lyrics are sumptuous. The opening single, `Look Away' is a rollicking rock track about a man on the run after committing a murder, desperately trying to retain the trust of his woman and convince her to ignore the stories she will hear about him. There is Wild West undertone to this that finds its perfect sonic partner in the third track, `The Teacher', about a young man's first love. In between, Kate Bush provides haunting backing vocals to the title track, an epic Celtic journey through the visions of rape and pillage foretold by a Seer who "washed her hair among the stones". On the slower side, `Eiledon' is an ode to a beautiful land ("I may walk in cities where the wolf once had his fill") and `Hold the Heart', a ballad of a man hoping his lover will come back to him ("I would lie and curse the day, And visit places where we lay alone, And find them turned to stone").Then things pick up again with the grand rocking adventure of `Remembrance Day', `The Red Fox' and the breathtaking album closer, `The Sailor'. The only real low points are provided by `I Walk the Hill' and `One Great Thing', the two trademark bagpipe guitar tracks that, third album out, sound distinctly stale and clichéd.
Musicianship by the band is stirling, as always, and Stuart Adamson's voice would never again sound quite as full-throatedly lush as it does on this recording. That said, the sheer effervescence of its grand storytelling tends to make it feel ever so slightly lacking in weight.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
After a slight dip in form on the ponderous Steeltown, Big Country are back to their best on The Seer. Like The Crossing, this album moves along briskly, with hardly a pause for breath on the first four tracks. The subject of each song is always fascinating, like the mysterious Eiledon, or the end of war (One Great Thing). And there's always a line or two that really hits the spot - We can stand where legend stands If I walk the hill. Two of the four extra tracks are fancy re-mixes of what has gone earlier... while Song of the South and Giant, an instrumental, are definitely worth including.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Third time lucky, another top notch effort.
Released in 1986, this was Big Country's third album after 'The Crossing' and 'Steeltown', BC maintained the high quality of their first two albums, and as such this proves that BC... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2009 by Graeme
The Seer Saw A Inevitable And Thankful Return To Class Form
Hey hey! After the dreadfully dull and musically derailed rush-job of a 2nd album following Big Country's cracking cool debut, we were frantic but worry not. Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2009 by ScottPaul ScottPaul
Oh What Memories !
Truly Brilliant ! I had this on vinyl as a teenager and found the remastered CD in HMV - 11/10 !!!! Can't say enough - just......Brilliant !
Published on 26 Oct 2006 by Dodgy B'Stard
Best of the Lot?
This CD has the hits,Look Away,The Teacher and One Great Thing but it also has some excellent tracks like the wonderful Eiledon and The Seer with Kate Bush,in all there`s not a bad... Read more
Published on 24 Dec 1999 by S. Williamson
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