Disco de Big Country: “Rarities V”

This is in my opinion the best of the Big Country 'Rarities' CDs.

While Rarities 1 and 2 were focusing on B-Sides, Rarities 3 covered a lot of unreleased versions and the 'Rarities IV' CD was focusing on the very early years around 'The Crossing' album. Rarities 5 covers the years around the 'No Place Like Home' CD and it shows, how this CD should have sounded. When I put it on for the first time, it just blew me away. These early versions of the 'No Place Like Home' sessions have so much more energy than the originally released songs. Especially 'Kiss the Girl', Party Reptile' or 'Ships' sound brilliant ! This album shows, how Big Country were ready for the next big step (which they eventually took with 'The Buffalo Skinners' but were held back by poor engineering. Again, if you are a Big Country Fan, then you have heard all these songs before in their official versions, but trust me, these recordings here will make you fall in love with these songs all over again. The songs on this CD are :

We're not in Kansas

Unlike the other 'rarities' CDs, I think this one is not only for Big Country collectors, but for everyone who loves great rock songs. If you have not done so, go and buy also any of their official studio releases (especially the first three albums 'The Crossing', 'Steeltown' or 'The Seer') or the fantastic live double CD 'Come out Screaming'. I personally look forward to the next 'rarities' session which hopefully focuses on the recordings around 'Steeltown' and 'The Seer'.

This batch of rarities covers a lot of the material from the "No Place Like Home" album. Personally, I really like this collection. I loved the album "No Place Like Home" but in some cases found it just a bit too polished and perfectly rendered - I love Big Country's live material (especially check out "Come Up Screaming" and acoustic material (check out "One in a Million").

As such, I like to hear their music a bit closer to the original versions before they get polished and smoothed out. This "rarities" album really delvers with smoking versions of songs like "Ship", "Save Me", "Beat the Devil",and "Heart of the World". The rest of the tracks are good too, although I found the version of "Beautiful People" (one of my favorites) not quite as good as the album version.

Overall, for Big Country fans, this is an essential album. The slightly different versions give another level of depth to the thought involved in crafting them and form a nice comparison to the studio album. For casual fans of Big Country, I'd recommend sticking to the studio album.

I understand it when another reviewer says this CD disappoints after listening to The Buffalo Skinners; nothing can follow that record (and for anyone who does not have it, spend whatever you need to in order to get it!), but for a Rarities collection, V definitely is worth buying. V has a good alternative version of "Ships." Big Country has actually released four or five versions (including live performances) and they all contribute to my appreciation of the song. I listen to them all, and they are quite different from each other. "Kiss the Girl" is great. I like the alternate version of "Beautiful People" on this CD even better than the original (and I love the original). I think the version of "Save Me" on this CD has more energy than the one on Best Of Big Country CD. I can't get enough of "You, Me, and the Truth." If you are a Big Country fan, do yourself a favor and get this collection.

I only have one other of the Rarities series (Rarities II) and I loved it, but I was really dissapointed in Rarities V; to me it sounds very dry and stale, with no passion or emotion. Something is missing and I have yet to put my figner on it.

I read somewhere that Rarities V captured what the album "No Place Like Home" should have sounded like, and if so, it tells me just how bad NPLH realy is.

In defense of Rarities V, I must say that I gave it a listen just after my first time listening to Buffalo Skinners; the contrast is incredible, I think BS is awesome and to listen to Rarities V after BS is just not fair!