Big Country: Final Fling 2002

With the untimely passing of frontman Stuart Adamson in 2001, the title Final Fling couldn't be more sadly appropriate. This two-disc set captures Big Country toward the beginning and near the end of their 20-year career. The first disc features a 1988 performance from an outdoor peace concert in East Berlin, shortly before the release of Peace in Our Time (and before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989). It's a straightforward, electric set played in front of a huge, enthusiastic crowd during the twilight hours. The second disc finds the Scottish rockers back at their old stomping grounds, Glasgow's Barrowlands, while on their Driving to Damascus tour with the Alarm in 2000. They may look older, but their chiming twin-guitar attack is as passionate and rousing as ever. Both sets include such fan favorites as "Look Away," "Fields of Fire," and Top 40 hit "In a Big Country." --Kathleen C. Fennessy