Benutzer:Porrohman/Werkstatt
[[Datei: |280px|USS McInerney (FFG 8)]]USS McInerney (FFG 8) | |
| Übersicht | |
|---|---|
| Bestellung | 27. Februar 1976 |
| Kiellegung | 16. Januar 1978 |
| Stapellauf | 4. November 1978 |
| Indienststellung | 15. Dezember 1979 |
| Außerdienststellung | 31. August 2010 |
| Technische Daten | |
| Verdrängung |
4052 Tonnen |
| Länge |
138 Meter |
| Breite |
14,3 Meter |
| Tiefgang |
7,5 Meter |
| Besatzung |
17 Offiziere, 195 Matrosen |
| Antrieb |
1 Propeller, über 2 General Electric LM 2500 Gasturbinen angetrieben; 41.000 Wellen-PS |
| Geschwindigkeit |
28+ Knoten |
| Bewaffnung |
1 Geschütz 76 mm (+ ???) |
Die USS McInerney (FFG 8) war eine Fregatte der United States Navy und das zweite Schiff der Oliver-Hazard-Perry-Klasse. Mit einer Länge von ca. 138 m (ggü. 133 m Länge des Typschiffs Oliver Hazard Perry) war es die erste long-hull("Langrumpf")-Einheit der Klasse.
Geschichte[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
[[Kategorie:Oliver-Hazard-Perry-Klasse]]
[[en:USS McInerney (FFG-8)]]
{{Baustelle}}
'''Stuart Adamson''' (* [[11. April]] [[1958]] in [[Manchester]] ; † wahrscheinlich [[16. Dezember]] [[2001]] in [[Honolulu]]) war ein schottischer Musiker und Gründer der Bands [[The Skids]] (synth, voc, g), [[Big Country]] (lead-voc, g) und The Raphaels.
Adamson wurde als ''William Stuart Adamson'' am 11.April 1958 in Manchester geboren. Seine Familie zog nach Crossgates bei [[Dunfermline]] in [[Fife (Schottland)|Fife]], [[Schottland]], um, als er noch ein kleines Kind war. Ab 1963 besuchte er die Crossgates Primary School, danach die ''Beath High School'' in Cowdenbeath, die zur gleichen Zeit auch der schottische Autor [[Ian Rankin]] besuchte - allerdings zwei Stufen unter Adamson.
Als Teenager brachte er sich - inspiriert vom [[Glam Rock|Glam Rock]], der [[Alex Harvey|Sensational Alex Harvey Band]], Bill Nelson und zuletzt auch vom [[Punk (Musik)|Punk]] - selbst das Gitarrespielen bei.
1977 gründete er in Dunfermline die Band [[The Skids]], die zur ersten Welle des Punk gehörte und die wichtigste schottische Punkband dieser Zeit war. 1982 löste sich die Band wieder auf und Adamson gründete zusammen mit Bruce Watson (g, mand) die Band [[Big Country]].
Adamson wurde am 16. Dezember 2001 tot in seinem Hotelzimmer im [[Best Western]] Plaza Hotel in [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]] aufgefunden. Als Todesursache wurde [[Suizid|Selbstmord]] durch Erhängen angenommen. Zum Todeszeitpunkt hatte Adamson eine [[Blutalkoholkonzentration]] von 2,79 [[Promille]].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nachruf auf S.Adamson von Martin Schneider vom 19.12.2001 in Home Of Rock:[http://www.home-of-rock.de/ArtikelBios/Stuart_Adamson/Nachruf.html]
STUART ADAMSON ist tot.
Die Rockwelt hat damit einen Künstler, der mir persönlich eine Menge bedeutet hat, verloren. Mit seiner Band BIG COUNTRY veröffentlichte er Stücke wie Alone oder You dreamer, die mich tief bewegten, die Teil des Soundtracks meines Lebens wurden. Das Faszinierende an Stuart Adamson und Markenzeichen von BIG COUNTRY war sein einzigartiger Gitarrensound, der sein Instrument wie einen Dudelsack klingen ließ. Zudem verfügte Stuart über eine der angenehmsten Gesangsstimmen, die mir bisher zu hören vergönnt war.
Ja, ich würde mich als BIG COUNTRY-Fan bezeichnen. Den Zugang zur Band fand ich über ein Radiointerview, mit dem das Konzert der Band im Rahmen der "Buffalo skinners"-Tour in Stuttgart beworben wurde. Natürlich kannte ich die alten Hits der Band wie Fields of fire, In a big country, Where the rose is sown oder Save me, doch die neuen Stücke wie Ships, We're not in Kansas, Alone oder What are you working for, die im Rahmen des Interviews gespielt wurden, brachten mich vor Begeisterung fast um den Verstand. BIG COUNTRY gingen deutlich härter als bisher zur Sache, ohne dass die keltischen Klangelemente in ihrem Sound darunter litten.
"The buffalo skinners" war das erste BIG COUNTRY-Album in meiner Sammlung, dem alle weiteren sehr schnell folgten.
Noch heute bedauere ich, dass ich damals das Konzert nicht spontan besuchte, denn in den folgenden Jahren schaffte ich es, von einer Ausnahme abgesehen, nie die Band live zu sehen. Entweder passte der Termin nicht, oder die Band zog es vor, Stuttgart und Umgebung bei ihren Tourneen zu ignorieren.
Die erwähnte Ausnahme war der unangekündigte Auftritt der Band als Support der ROLLING STONES auf dem Hockenheimring bei der "Bridges to Babylon"-Tour. Leider hatten es die Herren Superstars damals scheinbar nötig Anweisung zu geben, dass der Support alles nur keinen guten Sound haben durfte. Es war grausam und nur mit sehr viel Fantasie zur erahnen, dass da wirklich BIG COUNTRY auf der Bühne standen. Jagger & Co. präsentierten sich im Anschluss daran in desolater Verfassung, so dass die Entscheidung verständlich wurde. Unter fairen Bedingungen hätten BIG COUNTRY sie von der Bühne gefegt.
Es macht mich traurig, dass ich nie mehr die Gelegenheit haben werde, Stuart Adamson und BIG COUNTRY live zu sehen oder ihn persönlich kennen zu lernen. Auch wenn Stuart zuletzt mit den RAPHAELS am Start war, gab es doch immer noch ein Fünkchen Hoffnung auf eine Reunion einer der wichtigsten Folkrock-Bands.
Stuart Adamson ist tot, doch in seiner unvergleichlichen Musik wird er weiterleben.
Stewart Adamson
Stuart Adamson - Die Chronologie einer Karriere
1958: Stuart Adamson wird am 11. April 1958 in Manchester geboren, wächst aber in Crossgate bei Dunfermline in Schottland auf.
1977: Mit Richard Jobson, Bill Simpson und Tom Kellichan gründet er in Dunfermline die Band SKIDS, die maßgeblich von der damals dominierenden Punk-Welle beeinflusst ist.
1979: Der Song Into the valley beschert den Durchbruch. Er gelangte bis auf Platz 10 der britischen Charts und ist heute noch die Einlaufhymne von Dunfermline Athletic (1. Schottische Liga). Charade und Working for the Yankee Dollar werden ebenfalls zu Hits.
1980: Stuart Adamson erleidet einen Nervenzusammenbruch, weil er dem Rummel um seine Person nicht mehr gewachsen ist.
1982: Adamson verlässt die SKIDS nach drei Alben und gründet mit dem kanadischen Gitarristen Bruce Watson BIG COUNTRY, da er bei den SKIDS keine Möglichkeit sieht, sich als Leadsänger zu verwirklichen. Kurz darauf schließen sich die Engländer Tony Butler (Bass) und Mark Brzezicki (Schlagzeug) der Band an. Die SKIDS lösen sich, ihrer prägenden Kreativzentrale beraubt, sang- und klanglos auf.
1983: Obwohl BIG COUNTRY keinen gebbürtigen Schotten im Line up haben, entwickeln sie vor allem durch Adamsons Gitarrenspiel, das oftmals an einen Dudelsack erinnert und typisch keltische Melodiebögen enthält, einen landestypischen Sound.
Das Debut "The crossing" verkauft sich mehr als drei Millionen mal und wird für zwei Grammys nominiert. Es enthält die ersten drei von insgesamt 15 Top-40 Hits. Fields of fire kommt bis auf Platz 10 der Charts, die beiden Nachfolgesingles In a big country und Chance schaffen es immerhin in die Top-20.
1984: In Zeiten in denen synthesizerlastige Bands wie DURAN DURAN, VISAGE oder TUBEWAY ARMY die Spitzenpositionen der Charts blockieren, werden BIG COUNTRY, mit ihrer von Gitarren beherrschten Musik, zu einer der wenigen Alternativen für den gemäßigten Rockfan.
Das zweite Album "Steeltown" erreicht ohne herausragende Singlehits die #1 der Albumcharts.
1985: BIG COUNTRY treten beim Live-Aid-Festival im Londoner Wembleystadion auf. Stuart Adamson lässt seine Bandkollegen wissen, dass er nach langem Kampf, seine wohlbekannten Alkoholprobleme in Griff bekommen hat.
1986: Das Album "The seer" enthält mit Look away den größten Hit der Bandgeschichte (Platz 7), wird aber auch zum Wendepunkt in der Karriere von BIG COUNTRY. Die Stärke der Band, ihr sehr individueller Sound, erweist sich zugleich als ihre größte Schwäche. Er lässt kaum Raum für Weiterentwicklung, ohne sich zu sehr von den eigenen Wurzeln zu entfernen. Gelangweilt kehren viele Käufer der Band den Rücken.
1988: Die "Peace in our time"-Tour führt die Band in die Sowjetunion.
Kommerziell betrachtet spielen die Schotten keine besondere Rolle mehr.
1989: Brezicki verlässt die Band. In den nächsten vier Jahren herrscht ein munteres Stühlerücken hinter dem Schlagzeug: Pat Ehern, Chris Bell und Simon Phillips sind seine Nachfolger.
1991: "No place like home" floppt gnadenlos. Phonogramm kündigt der Band ihren Plattenvertrag.
1993: Ships, vom sträflich unterbewerteten Album "The buffalo skinners", das bei Compulsion, einem kleinen Independantlabel, erscheint, erreicht als letzter BIG COUNTRY-Song die Top-40.
In den folgenden Jahren erscheinen zwei weitere Studioalben, insgesamt fünf mehr oder minder essentielle Livealben, unzählige Compilations und eine handvoll Internet-Only-Releases.
1996: Stuart Adamson trennt sich von seiner Frau Sandra, die heute noch mit den Kindern Callum und Kirsten in Five, Schottland lebt.
Er wird erneut alkoholabhängig und zieht nach Nashville, um sich verstärkt Country- und Bluegrass-Musik zu widmen. Dort lernt er Melanie Shelly, seine spätere zweite Ehefrau, kennen.
1999: Im November verschwindet Stuart zum ersten Mal spurlos, nachdem er eine E-Mail hinterlassen hat: Es tut mir leid, was ich getan habe. Ich melde mich wieder, wenn ich mein Leben neu geordnet habe.
2000: BIG COUNTRY geben ihre Auflösung bekannt und spielen eine letzte große Abschiedstournee, die durch das Doppellive-Album "Coming up screaming" dokumentiert wird.
Adamson gründet mit dem bekannten Nashville-Songwriter Marcus Hummon, dem Bassisten John Mock und BIG COUNTRY-Schlagzeuger Mark Brzezicki seine neue Band RAPHAELS.
2001: Im Mai erscheint das Debut-Album der RAPHAELS "Supernatural", das eine interessante Mischung aus Country und keltisch beeinflusster Musik bietet.
Stuart versäumt einen Gig der RAPHAELS in Edinburgh.
Am 7. November verschwindet Stuart zum zweiten Mal. Gerüchten zufolge soll die Trennung von seiner zweiten Frau Melanie Shelly der Auslöser gewesen sein. Zudem liegt eine Anklage wegen Alkohol am Steuer gegen ihn vor. Er hinterlässt seinem Sohn Callum eine Nachricht: Ich bin Sonntagabend wieder zurück.
Eine Woche später wird er in Atlanta gesichtet, als er in einer Bar das WM-Qualifikationsspiel Irland gegen Iran verfolgt. Am 19. November meldet er sich zum letzten Mal bei seinem Paten bei den Anonymen Alkoholikern.
Am 16. Dezember wird seine Leiche in einem Hotelzimmer auf Hawaii entdeckt. Nach Informationen der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters hat sich Stewart erhängt.
Seine letzte Ruhestätte findet er in Nashville.
Martin Schneider, 19.12.2001
© Home of Rock 2001 - 2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bericht von cardoso vom 05.01.2002:[http://www.ciao.de/Alles_mit_A__Test_2193938]
Aus aktuellem Anlass muss ich heute leider einen sehr traurigen Bericht verfassen: einen Nachruf auf einen der weniger glamourösen Größen des Rockbusiness. Ich habe die Nachricht erst gestern per Zufall übers Internet erfahren und es traf mich wie ein Schock aus heiterem Himmel:
******************************************************
Stuart Adamson - Gründer, Sänger, Gitarrist und Songwriter der Kult-Rockband "Big Country" - ist tot. Er erhängte sich am 16. Dezember 2001 in einem Hotelzimmer auf Hawaii im Alter von 43 Jahren ...
******************************************************
Wieder einmal ist also eine (mehr oder weniger) populäre Größe der internationalen Musikszene von uns gegangen. Wieder einmal ein Freitod, ausgelöst durch Depressionen und Alkoholsucht. Wieder einmal jemand, der keinen anderen Ausweg aus seiner persönlichen Krise sah, den die vagen Erinnerungen an Ruhm und Erfolg vergangener Tage allein nicht mehr am Leben erhalten konnten.
Der letzte Vorhang ist gefallen ...
Ein Nachruf auf William Stuart Adamson:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Geboren in Manchester am 11. April 1958, siedelte er mit seiner Familie schon bald nach Schottland über. Seine Eltern brachten ihn schon früh mit Folk- und Country-Musik in Berührung, doch erst ein Konzert der Band "The Damned" in Edinburgh 1976 beeinflusste sein Leben nachhaltig: vom Punk fasziniert, warf er all seine bisherigen Berufspläne über den Haufen und gründete seine erste Band "Tatoo". Kurze Zeit später ging daraus die Punk-Pop-Formation "The Skids" hervor.
Angeführt von ihrem extrovertierten Sänger Richard Jobson, unterzeichneten "The Skids" im Jahre 1978 einen Plattenvertrag bei Virgin Records, der ihnen in der Folgezeit eine Reihe von Hits einbrachte. Insbesondere die Singles "Into The Valley" und "Masquerade" wurden zu Riesenerfolgen. Schon in diesem frühen Stadium fiel es Adamson schwer, dem ständigen Erfolgsdruck stand zu halten. So kam es, dass er hin und wieder geplante Aufnahmesessions für das Debütalbum der "Skids" (Titel: "Scared To Dance") platzen ließ, indem er ihnen einfach fern blieb.
1980 trennten sich die Wege von Jobson und Adamson, und Adamson begann eine neue Band zusammen zu stellen, von der er glaubte, dass sie seinen Musikgeschmack und seine persönlichen Empfindungen besser repräsentieren würde. Er rekrutierte einen weiteren Gitarristen, Bruce Watson, sowie drei weitere Musiker und gründete die Ur-Formation von "Big Country". Ihre ersten Auftritte machten jedoch schon bald gravierende Unzulänglichkeiten deutlich, so dass Adamson schließlich alle Bandmitglieder - bis auf Watson - feuerte und sie durch zwei Sessionmusiker ersetzte: Tony Butler (Bass) und Mark Brzezicki (Drums).
In dieser Formation schafften "Big Country" den Durchbruch: ihr erstes Album, "The Crossing" (Phonogram), kletterte schnell in den amerikanischen und britischen Charts nach oben. Die Hit-Singles "In A Big Country" und "Fields Of Fire" verkörperten genau den Sound, den Adamson sich immer vorgestellt hatte. Die Songs waren keine "leichte Kost", eher schwerfällig und gewagt, spürbar überlagert von der Verbundenheit zur Natur und - besonders - den schottischen Highlands. Dieser "Outdoor"-Effekt war nicht zuletzt dem charakteristischen "Twin Guitar"-Sound der Band zu verdanken, der sehr stark an Dudelsäcke erinnerte und die anschwellende Verbitterung in Adamsons Gesang untermauerte. Auch die Kulissen der Bühnenshows von "Big Country" bestanden regelmäßig aus Landschaftsszenerien.
"The Crossing" brachte der Band zwei Grammy-Nominierungen ein und verkaufte sich über 3 Millionen mal. Auch die nachfolgenden Veröffentlichungen "Steeltown", "The Seer" (mit der Single "Look Away", die auch in Deutschland zum Riesenhit avancierte), "Peace In Our Time" und "No Place Like Home" erreichten durchweg Goldstatus in Großbritannien. Die Marke von 10 Millionen verkaufter Alben wurde überschritten - und "Big Country" waren endgültig zu einem festen Bestandteil des erlauchten Kreises internationaler Musikgrößen aufgestiegen. Ihre Teilnahme am Live Aid-Finale im Jahre 1985 unterstreicht diesen Status.
"Big Country" waren zu einem echten Konkurrenten für die keltischen Superbands schlechthin - "U 2" und "Simple Minds" - geworden. Doch im Gegensatz zu letzteren fehlte es "Big Country" an der stilistischen Bandbreite, so dass das öffentliche Interesse an ihrer Musik gegen Ende der 80er Jahre allmählich abflaute. Der Trip zu einem Gig im Stadion in Moskau 1988 geriet zu einem Desaster und ruinierte die Band nahezu. Zu Beginn des Jahres 1989 verließ Mark Brzezicki die Band. Das Ende von "Big Country" begann sich abzuzeichnen ...
Im Jahre 1993 gelang ihnen mit "The Buffalo Skinners" (unter dem neuen Label Compulsion / Chrysalis) ein eher durchwachsenes Comeback. "Big Country" gingen bis 1999 weiterhin auf Tour und konnten die Hallen auch bis zum Ende immer noch füllen. Dennoch: die großen Zeiten waren vorbei, und für Adamson war es schwer, sich mit der schwindenden Popularität der Band abzufinden. Nachdem die Ehe mit seiner ersten Frau Sandra 1996 gescheitert war, übersiedelte er in die USA nach Nashville/Tennessee. Dort lernte er Melanie Shelley kennen, die Besitzerin eines Kosmetiksalons. Sie heirateten im vorigen Jahr, doch auch diese Beziehung ging bald in die Brüche und Adamson verfiel immer mehr dem Alkohol.
William Stuart Adamson hinterlässt einen Sohn (Callum) und eine Tochter (Kirsten).
There's no place like home - rest in peace ...
Dein / Euer sehr betroffener
Cardoso
P.S. Die Bewertung bezieht sich auf Suizid im Allgemeinen und den Tod eines großartigen Musikers im Besonderen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday 1 April 2011
Cambridge News Online
Big Country
As the anthemic Scottish rockers reunite with a new line-up, guitarist Bruce Watson looks back on the band’s turbulent career – and pays tribute to his friend, much-missed frontman Stuart Adamson. By Paul Kirkley.
Stuart Adamson
Stuart Adamson
When Big Country take to the stage at The Junction this month, they’ll be playing a four upfront formation, with original guitarist Bruce Watson and bassist Tony Butler joined by new vocalist Mike Peters, of Celtic rock contemporaries The Alarm, and Watson’s son Jamie on second guitar (long-serving drummer Mark Brzezicki will remain between the posts on the backline).
But keen eyes will inevitably be drawn to the centre-spot, where the band’s skipper, Stuart Adamson, will be only too noticeable by his absence.
“We have two wingers, an outside right, an inside right and we basically leave the centre-spot vacant, where Stuart used to perform,” explains Watson. “We thought it was important to make an effort to do that.”
It’s a gesture fans of Big Country’s troubled singer and guitarist, who took his own life in December 2001, will surely appreciate.
“It’s kind of subliminal actually,” says Watson, who founded the band with Adamson in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1980. “I don’t know if a lot of people will notice. A few people noticed last time; others were too caught in the moment.” ‘
Last time’ was over Christmas and New Year, when the new Big Country line-up played seven sell-out shows across Scotland and England, including an emotional New Year’s Eve concert in Glasgow. It wasn’t Adamson, though, but another of the band’s much-missed musical comrades who had provided the spark for the reunion.
“What happened was we got a call last year from the people who were doing a Kirsty MacColl tribute down in London,” Watson explains. “We were pals with Kirsty – she used to come out and see us when we were recording with [producer] Steve Lillywhite. Kirsty and Steve actually got engaged at one of our gigs, at a big Hogmanay show we did up at the Barrowlands in Glasgow.
“At that point we weren’t doing anything, so we asked Mike and my son Jamie to do it – we were only going to do a couple of songs. Mike wasn’t available, as it turned out, but we thought we’d get together and do it anyway. And, because word gets about in this business, we got offered a few shows, so we thought, let’s just try it out and see what happens. And we had a great time. We did a week’s worth of touring and had a great reception every night. The fans loved it.”
Big Country
Big Country
Big Country was born out of Stuart Adamson’s desire to re-take control of his own destiny, having gradually ceded stewardship of his previous band, Scottish art-punks the Skids, to singer Richard Jobson. The new outfit had much in common with the Skids – notably an appetite for breast-beating, boy’s own anthems filled with martial imagery and elemental tales of fire and water and mountaintops. Musically, the band’s USP came from mixing the Skids’ new wave aesthetic with traditional Celtic instrumentation – or at least a rough approximation of it (signature rabble-rouser In A Big Country features guitars heavily treated to sound like bagpipes).
At the time, it was a revolutionary – in every sense of the word – sound. But it could so easily have been so different.
“It’s kind of hard to analyse where that sound came from,” says Watson. “It’s just what Stuart and I were doing with the guitars at the time. We wrote a lot of the songs when it was just the two of us, and it could have went either way – we were experimenting a lot with synthesisers as well as guitars. I’m fairly glad we took the guitar route. But it’s just the way the songs turned out. We could easily have been a Blancmange or Soft Cell instead.”
With Butler and Brzezicki now on board, Big Country signed to Phonogram and entered the studio with Chris Thomas, the legendary producer who had worked on everything from The White Album to Dark Side of the Moon and Never Mind The Bollocks. But the band struggled to translate their live energy onto record until Steve Lillywhite stepped in.
Fresh from recording U2’s career-making War album, Lillywhite was initially contracted to produce just one single – what would become 1983’s breakthrough top 10 hit Fields of Fire – but ended up producing the whole of the band’s debut album, The Crossing.
Both the album and its second single, In A Big Country, were hits on both sides of the Atlantic, and Big Country would continue their fruitful partnership with Lillywhite on their sophomore long-player, Steeltown, which topped the UK charts the following year.
“Steve made a great difference,” acknowledges Watson. “We recorded the first album with Chris Thomas, but it just wasn’t working. Chris was doing Elton John at the same time in Monsterrat, so we could only get hold of him a couple of times a month to record, and it was taking a bit of time. So the record label said, do you fancy trying Steve Lillywhite? Steve just focused on the band right away, and it worked out great. He’s a great producer.”
With several million album sales under their belts, Big Country found themselves in the vanguard of the mid-80s Celtic rock advance alongside the likes of U2, Simple Minds and, to a lesser extent, The Alarm. But the relentless schedule of touring, recording and press was already taking its toll on Adamson, who was increasingly finding solace at the end of a bottle. There were even rumours that he had quit the band, which some believe may have led to Big Country missing out on a game-changing slot at Live Aid (in the end, they had to make do with an appearance on stage during the all-star finale).
Looking back, Watson plays down talk of a band in crisis, insisting: “We were fine. I mean, it took a long time from Stuart and I starting writing songs together for us to get to the Steve Lillywhite point. And after that we just went out on the road and found we were either touring or recording, and we never really got any time off to ourselves. So we just decided to take a rest.”
Stuart was obviously drinking heavily: was that big problem for . . .
“No, no I don’t think so,” Watson cuts in. “I mean everybody just had a drink, you know.”
You didn’t think he was an alcoholic?
“It didn’t seem a big deal,” he says. “Everybody just had a drink back then.”
Post-Live Aid, the story of Big Country takes on a shape familiar from a thousand rock biographies: changing record company personnel, a failed attempt to court America (with 1988’s Peace In Our Time) and a creeping disinterest – if not outright hostility – from the music press.
In fact the band’s distinctive sound, combined with a weakness for plaid shirts, had become a bit of a PR problem: tartan might be good for selling shortbread, but it’s not necessarily a great rock and roll export. The band never managed to repeat In A Big Country’s Stateside success and, closer to home, eventually found themselves falling out of fashion in a UK scene that moved seamlessly from acid house to grunge to baggy to Britpop.
Adamson formally disbanded Big Country in 1988, only to revive it a few years later for No Place Like Home, the first of a run of 90s albums that failed to recapture the commercial heights of the previous decade (it’s no surprise their 1995 set was released under the title Why The Long Face?).
Watson is phlegmatic about the group’s 90s decline. “I think any band goes through that period,” he says. “You have a few successful albums with a certain sound, and then there’s always a dip. It’s just one of those things. Things can’t last forever.”
And that included Big Country: the original line-up played their final gig in Kuala Lumpar in October 2000. By all accounts, it was a fiasco, a drunk Adamson nearly missing it altogether after catching the wrong flight.
By this time, the singer had relocated to Nashville, out of sight of friends and former band members who might have helped him cope with his spiralling depression and alcoholism.
“He’d got himself this new life in America,” recalls Watson. “We used to go out to Nashville quite a bit and work together and hang out and stuff like that but, as you say, it was a geography thing… People move away and you don’t know what’s happening in their lives. But it was always like that with Big Country – none of us actually live in the same country as each other anyway. We never lived in each other’s pockets, so I didn’t know what the rest of the guys were up to and they didn’t know what I was up to.”
During 2001, word came back across the Atlantic that Adamson had got himself clean and sober. But by the end of that year, his short marriage to Melanie Shelley had come to an end and he was facing the prospect of jail time over a drink-drive charge. In November, Adamson went off the radar completely, spending eight weeks drinking in various hotels: Big Country manager Ian Grant hired a private detective to try to trace him, but the trail went cold until, on December 4, he checked into a hotel in Hawaii, requesting three bottles of wine be delivered to his room each day. On December 16, Adamson was found by a member of hotel security, hanging from a clothes rail. He was 43.
I ask Watson if his friend’s death came as a bolt from the blue, or was it, in fact, the news he’d secretly been dreading?
“I kind of knew he was . . .” he begins, before trailing off. “It was inevitable something like that was going to happen. It was just one of those things.”
Had he felt helpless in the face of Adamson’s condition? Does he think he could have done more?
“You cannot help an alcoholic. There’s no point in trying to help someone who’s like that – they have to help themselves.”
What does he think is Stuart Adamson’s legacy?
“He was a lovely guy, you know?” says Watson. “Very complex, but just a lovely, lovely guy.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart Adamson – Scotland’s Guitar Hero
(http://www.legacy.com/ns/news-story.aspx?t=stuart-adamson--scotlands-guitar-hero&id=303)
4/11/2011
Stuart AdamsonStuart Adamson, guitarist and songwriter once called “Britain’s answer to Jimi Hendrix,” was born on this day in 1958. To mark the occasion, we take a look back at his life and career.
Personal note: When Stuart Adamson scored his biggest hit with Big Country’s anthemic “In a Big County” and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV, a friend convinced me that even though Adamson played a guitar in the video, there wasn’t actually one in the recorded song. My seemingly knowledgeable friend assured me that the razor-sharp, ringing sound in the Celtic-flavored solo was in fact produced by an electric bagpipe. It was a notion I believed at the time because, well, it sounded much as I imagined an electric bagpipe would.
In reality, it was just a guitar – albeit one run though a bevy of effects – but Adamson produced such a unique tone one could be forgiven for thinking it was issued from some exotic instrument hitherto unheard in the annals of rock 'n' roll.
Adamson hated the bagpipe comparison, and would do much to distance himself from it in the latter stages of his career, but it may be one reason that he was recently voted Scotland’s best guitarist ever in a recent online poll. Despite having only one global hit to his credit, one can surmise he beat out the likes of Angus Young (AC/DC) and Brian ‘Robo’ Robertson (Thin Lizzy, Motorhead) not because of his virtuosic technical ability, but because he managed to give the instrument a uniquely tartan sound.
Williams Stuart Adamson was actually born in Manchester, England, though the family returned to Scotland when Adamson was four years old, settling in a small mining village called Crossgates. Stuart’s well-travelled father was in the fishing industry, and both his parents had a love of folk music and encouraged their children to pursue literature and music.
The punk rock ethos that dictated anyone could be in a band regardless of musical ability further inspired Adamson. After he saw a performance by The Damned in 1976, he formed his first band, The Tattoos. Two years later, he recruited singer Richard Jobson, a teenager Adamson described as “the only other punk in town,” and formed The Skids.
The Skids had a UK Top 10 hit with 1979’s Into the Valley and, despite being a relatively short-lived outfit plagued by a host of line-up changes, would manage to land in the UK charts four times and later have their songs covered by the likes of U2 and Green Day.
But it is his work with Big County for which Adamson is chiefly remembered. The band formed in 1981 and spent eight months rehearsing in a furniture warehouse before emerging with a triumphant gig in their hometown of Dumferline. After playing an ill-conceived opening slot for Alice Cooper (the band was dropped from the tour after only two gigs), Big Country first charted with 1982’s “Harvest Home” and would later reach the UK Top 10 Singles chart with “Fields of Fire.”
But it was “In A Big Country” that became a worldwide hit, propelling their album The Crossing to a million sales in the UK and gold record status in the U.S., winning them appearances on Saturday Night Live and at the Grammys.
Adamson’s distinctive guitar sound, for all you six string geeks out there, was largely achieved through the use of an MRX pitch transposer and an e-bow, a device that Adamson was among the first to master but that was later incorporated by the likes of U2’s The Edge, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and James Hetfield of Metallica.
Big Country’s first album would prove their commercial high point, at least in the U.S. They charted only one more song in America (1984’s “Wonderland” stalling out at #86), but had continued success in Europe, their second album debuting at #1 in the UK. Their third, The Seer also did well, but the fickle beast of UK musical tabloid journalism finally turned against them with the release of Peace in Our Time. Recorded in Los Angeles, the album was dismissed as a transparent attempt to win back a share of the U.S. market and was roundly panned.
After their next album sold even more poorly, the band was dropped by their label in 1991. Despite this, they retained a large following in the UK and were a popular supporting act, opening for the likes of The Who and The Rolling Stones.
But during the 1990s, Adamson’s personal problems came increasingly to the fore. After he and his first wife divorced, she detailed his struggle with alcoholism to the tabloids.
“When Big Country exploded into the big time, Stuart couldn’t really handle it,” Adamson’s manager and friend Ian Grant told the Sunday Herald in 2001. “He didn’t want to be Mr. Celebrity. He loved the limelight but shunned the attention. He was paradoxical about what fame gave him.”
Adamson moved to Nashville in 1996 and with songwriter Marcus Hummon recorded an alt-country album as The Raphaels. Despite joining AA and achieving short-term sobriety, he still struggled with relapses. He disappeared for a time in 1999, failing to show for a series of gigs.
In 2000, Adamson returned to Big County for a successful farewell tour, including a well-received, sold-out performance in Glasgow. But 2001 saw him drifting again, unable to decide whether to record another Big Country album, to continue with The Raphaels, or to record a punk rock solo album he’d been mulling over. A longtime soccer fanatic who included Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson among his friends, toward the end Adamson considered becoming a youth soccer coach in Atlanta as way to escape the pressures of the music industry.
It was while watching a soccer game on TV at an Irish pub in Atlanta that Adamson enacted his final disappearance. He simply stood up and walked out of the bar. Days later, he was found in a Honolulu hotel room, dead at the age of 43. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging and his autopsy showed a blood alcohol level of .28.
Among those to eulogize him was U2’s The Edge, who summed up what Stuart Adamson’s music conveyed and why so many fans were drawn to him.
“He had a heart as big as a mountain.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Nelson Post subject: Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:01 am
"Spot on, David. Here's my personal angle on the story, for those who are interested and don't know it already:-
Way back in time, I remember reading an article about a punk band from Scotland called The Skids, who had just signed to Virgin Records. In the interview with the band, (it was in 'Sounds', the now defunct pop rock newspaper,) the band cited me as an influence on their music. A little later, I met the band's vocalist and frontman, Richard Jobson, backstage at one of my concerts and was invited to produce their records. The first project we worked on was an e.p. which I co-produced with John Leckie. John and I had gained a reputation as a sort of production 'team' at that time, because of our collaboration on the Be Bop albums. I travelled up to Dunfirmline in Scotland to rehearse the band prior to recording and there discovered that the band's guitarist, Stuart Adamson, was not only a huge fan of Be Bop Deluxe but had actually gone to some lengths to track down and purchase my original white Hoyer guitar, the one that appears on the 'Axe Victim' album sleeve. Stuart had bought it from Adrian 'Ada' Wilson of the band 'Strangeways.' Ada himself had purchased it from a music shop in Wakefield to whom I'd either sold it or part exchanged it for something else. Anyway, it had ended up in Stuart's hands.
At the recording rehearsal, Stuart said he wanted to give the guitar back to me as it was a piece of my personal history. He thought that I was the rightful person to own it. I was flattered but told him that he'd bought the instrument legitimately and should hold onto it himself.
After we'd recorded the e.p. The Skids asked me to produce their next album, on my own, without John Leckie. I chose to record the album at Rockfield Studios in Wales, where Be Bop had recorded 'Futurama.' The new Skids album was called 'Days In Europa.' I also played keyboards on it. During the 'Europa' sessions, Stuart and I cemented our friendship further and he asked me to teach him several of his favourite Be Bop Deluxe guitar licks. I did so, but strongly encouraged him to have faith in his own style and not to get too wrapped up in the Be Bop Deluxe era. I also introduced him to the use of the e-bow as an alternative guitar texture. Later, when Stuart married his first wife Sandra, they spent part of their honeymoon at my house in West Haddlesey.These were very happy days for all of us.
Eventually, the Skids fell apart and Stuart formed Big Country who became very succesful. The last time I saw Stuart was in the '80's, backstage at one of my shows in America, (New York, I think. There's a photo of us together, backstage at the actual gig, in an issue of my old 'Aquitted By Mirrors' fanzine.) He was over there touring with Big Country. Eventually, Stuart's marriage broke up and he re-married an American girl and moved to Nashville to live there permanently. By now, we'd lost touch with each other, both our lives having undergone dramatic and traumatic change.
Then, a few short years ago, I bumped into Rusty Egan, who had drummed on the 'Days In Europa' album. Rusty gave me an email address to contact Stuart in the 'States. I was pleased to get this and intended writing to him to see how he was but, as so often happens, I was wound up in my own work and worries to such a degree that I didn't get around to it. I had no idea at that time that he was suffering from some very serious personal problems. Then, a couple of years later, I read the sad news that Stuart had decided to end his life. I was utterly shocked and deeply saddened. The Stuart who I had known, back in the days of The Skids, was a light hearted, positive young man with everything to live for. I still find it hard to equate that memory with the tradgedy of his passing. He was a talented songwriter and guitarist who should have continued to develop his craft into old age. He was the real McCoy, not some flash in the pan pop-confection with a limited shelf life.
About a year after Stuart's death, a tribute concert was arranged for him at Glasgow's Barrowlands Ballroom. Lots of people performed in honour of his life. Steve Harley, Midge Ure, the original Skids, Stuart's talented son Callum, amongst others. I was invited to perform something too but struggled to find the right approach and context. Then I hit upon the idea of composing a guitar instrumental that would not only carry Stuart's name but that would make reference to some of those Be Bop Deluxe guitar licks he'd loved so much. I also wanted to bring out a sense of his Scottish roots. In fact, this was important to me too as my paternal grandmother was Scottish, (Mary McIntyre-McTavish, I belive,) and I've always felt an affinity with Scotland as a result. So, 'For Stuart' was born, an epic 'guitar poem' dedicated to a good man, an old friend and a fine musician. I deliberately built in to the piece quotes from 'Sister Seagull', 'The Modern Music Suite', 'Maid In Heaven' and 'Panic In The World,' which were some of Stuart's favourite Be Bop tracks. I quoted these briefly and lightly, rather than build the entire piece around them, but they serve as reference points for 'those in the know.' I ended the piece with a coda that suggested Scotland and its Highlands and all the nobility that Stuart felt was part of his roots. It was meant to be triumphant in the way that Stuart's music often was, but it was also meant to be melancholic, a lament from the heart, both for Stuart and the loved ones he left behind.
I had no idea how well received the piece would be. It got a tremendous response on its first hearing at the Glasgow tribute concert and has continued to move audiences whenever I perform it live. It has now become an expected inclusion in all my live concerts, a fixture, and I intend to perform it again as part of my planned autumn solo tour this year. So, there you have it, the true story of 'For Stuart.' "