Big Country Steeltown

Big Country’s second album (released in 1984) didn’t have a massive hit like “In a Big Country,” but it delivered. Frontman-guitarist Stuart Adamson had a real eye for unusual beauty and a rare ability to frame it inside uplifting rock ’n’ roll songs. That was his genius. Big Country tunes are folk songs turned to 11. Here, he and the band tackle failed working-class aspirations (“Steeltown,” “East of Eden”), faith and hope (“Where the Rose Is Sown,” “Girl With Grey Eyes”), and melancholic relationships (“Tall Ships Go”) with a songwriterly aplomb that shows how an often-misunderstood group could still be a real force.