The Big Dish are a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
band formed in
Airdrie,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
in 1983. The band initially comprised Steven Lindsay (vocals/guitar), David Brownlie (drums), Stuart Hall (saxophone), Mark Ryce (guitar), and John Harper (keyboards). The band was subsequently augmented on stage by Paul Albertis (bass) and John Hendry (drums). As well as releasing three studio albums, the band performed live as support to
Lloyd Cole and
Big Country and
Del Amitri.
Career
By the time their debut
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
''
Swimmer'' was released on
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...
in 1986 the line-up had undergone notable changes.
Lindsay and Raymond Docherty were joined by new guitarist Brian McFie, keyboardist/saxophonist Ian Ritchie (album recordings only), Allan Dumbreck (live performances) on keyboards and Dave Cantwell (live performances) replacing John Hendry on drums. Tracks on ''Swimmer'' were significantly polished versions of the tracks that had been played live up until then.
Lindsay, McFie and Docherty then completed the follow-up album ''
Creeping Up on Jesus
''Creeping Up on Jesus'' is the second studio album from Scottish pop band The Big Dish, which was released by Virgin in 22 August 1988.
The album spawned three singles; " European Rain" and "Faith Healer" were released in the United Kingdom, wh ...
'' in 1988 with
session musicians
— including drummer Blair Cunningham and horn men
Gary Barnacle
Gary Barnacle (born 1959 in Dover, England) is an English saxophonist, flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer, and producer. Barnacle is primarily noted for his session work and live work, including various Prince's Trust concerts at ...
&
John Thirkell,
Craig Armstrong and
Paul Wickens (keyboards). Despite Bruce Lampcov's muscular
production, this second effort proved commercially unsuccessful and the band was dropped from
Virgin, when Lindsay refused to countenance recording a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...
.
Lindsay and McFie recorded the band's last album ''
Satellites
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...
'' for the American
East West
East West (or East and West) may refer to:
* East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture
Arts and entertainment
Books, journals and magazines
*''East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...
label (a subsidiary of
Warner Bros. Records) in 1991.
They had assistance from Armstrong, Docherty,
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
Warne Livesey and a number of
session musicians, including bassist
Pino Palladino and drummer
Manu Katché. They also put together a new touring line-up featuring bassist Tracey Gilbert, drummer Skip Reid and Colin Berwick on keyboards. However, despite critical acclaim for the new record and a
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
("
Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
" reached No. 37 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
),
the group disbanded shortly afterwards.
A compilation of the group's work entitled ''
Rich Man's Wardrobe'' was released by Virgin Records in 1994, featuring cuts from the band's two albums with the label, and the inclusion of rare track "Voodoo Baby".
Post-Big Dish
Not long after the split, Lindsay resumed his partnership with Armstrong. Lindsay provided vocals on Armstrong's 2002 album ''As If to Nothing''. To promote this release, Lindsay returned to the live arena, performing throughout Europe with a thirty-piece orchestra.
Lindsay returned to the fold in late 2004 on his own Seminal label with the piano-driven ''
Exit Music'' featuring string arrangements by the Scottish Ensemble. Lindsay plays and programmes all other instruments. The Australian edition of the album contains two additional tracks. Lindsay was then signed to
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright A ...
, and in 2007 the second solo CD ''Kite'' was released, including a cover of "
Monkey Gone to Heaven", originally by
Pixies.
Reunion
The band reunited to play a sold-out show at Glasgow ABC on 21 January 2012 as part of the Celtic Connections festival, and the Darvel Music Festival in May 2012. The lineup for the reunion was Lindsay, McFie, Docherty, Dumbreck and Ross McFarlane (drums). One new song 'Cherry Blossom Falls' was included in the set. In 2014 Big Dish supported Del Amitri at the Hydro.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
Fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Dish, The
Scottish pop music groups
Musical groups established in 1983
Musical groups disestablished in 1991