Monday, September 21, 2009

Big Country Chronicles: 'Just a Shadow'

"Just a Shadow", released Jan. 11, 1985, was the last of the 'Steeltown' singles and, for me personally, the end of an unblemished string of 12" extended remixes. It was the perfect way to finish the LP. The band had a couple of more decent releases, but they never reached the same creative output found on the first two albums. If I could only listen to one Big Country song for the rest of my days, this is the one I would choose. The subject matter may seem dated now, but "Winter Sky", the beautiful flip side of "Just a Shadow", was serious stuff in the middle '80s:

All the clouds will come to you
So the sun never comes through
And we will hide
From twenty years of winter sky


The video for "Just a Shadow" was really cool... especially the shadowy band performance intertwined with a nice story. I only saw the video once while it was out as a single, and it wasn't on MTV. My little brother used to watch the Nick game show 'Double Dare' religiously. I remember walking through the family room one afternoon as the show was ending. I guess back then the channel would occasionally kill a couple of minutes between shows with a music video because there was "Just a Shadow". I checked in every day at that time for several weeks, but I never saw it again. In our next installment, we will take a listen to 'The Seer' singles.

Big Country - Just a Shadow (Extended Version) (mp3)
Big Country - Just a Shadow (Album Version) (mp3)
Big Country - Winter Sky (mp3)

See Also:
Big Country Chronicles: 'Where the Rose Is Sown'
Big Country Chronicles: 'East of Eden'
Big Country Chronicles: 'Wonderland'
Big Country Chronicles: 'Chance'
Big Country Chronicles: 'In A Big Country'
Big Country Chronicles: 'Fields of Fire'
Big Country Chronicles: 'Harvest Home'

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