Big Country - 'River of Hope' Documentary, 1988. 

I could kiss you for this!! These images of the band before & during their ‘mission’ to Moscow are of inestimable value. All though the discussion in this documentary often is - promotion of BC’s record- I believe that what they call the ‘naïve’ idealism of Big Country to break down barriers through music, sparks with such sincerity when witnessing their energetic and emotive performance thereby creating ultimate soul work, felt by everyone regardless of their culture or nationality. BC put me under their spell - in what seems now another lifetime- and it won’t ever let go. I am confident not to be the only one.

Aaah, I remember those heady days! Courageous, generous, humorous, innovative and sincere, Stuart and the boys took their talents to Moscow to unify and pacify - and we loved them all the more for it!

i miss stuart adamson i didnt realize how good he was until he was gone

Thanks for posting this. It's nice in this Internet age to suddenly have all this access to the background stuff from your favourite bands growing up. :-)

This is giving me Spinal Tap vibes. However, why doesn't this have 3 million views yet?, I guess the Big Country fans just haven't found it .

As much as I try I cannot reproduce Scottish accent, but it is the best in the English spoken world! Love it!

Big Countrys first album is amazing, Steeltown was good too, but by the time they got to the late 80's the sound changed and became more mainstream which didn't suit them, Why the long face was a great comeback album, they found their feet again, not long after Stus tragic death came about. Such a shame rip Stuart x

you are a legend the luck of a 1000 stars x

Those damned backing singers and that bloody keyboard! Aaarghh!

stuarts voice so unique !!!!!

Reading that cringe press clipping at the end - "Big Country are a bagpipey version of U2....". 😔 When of course, as is well documented, Stuart Adamson was the man who directly inspired The Edge's playing style. He was "The man who invented The Edge" as the headline once read.

Got into Rush first. Got into BC two decades later. Startling similarities in musicianship and meaningful lyrics. Hopefully Neil and Stuart are collaborating !

Probably one of the most criminally underrated bands of all time ....they had such a unique and amazing sound they never got a fair shake in my opinion..stuart songwriting and guitar playing was amazing ....its such a shame to see what " the band " have become today ..Almost a parody of themselves

The first well known band I saw live was Big Country at the SFX in Dublin some time around 1987. At one point I waved to Stuart and amazingly he saw me in the middle of the crowd and waved back. The time this documentary was made is interesting in how it shows the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. The whole Cold War thing was an apparent conflict of East versus West, when in reality the "strength" of the Soviet Union was smoke and mirrors. Remember how Brezhnev watching the May Day parade was shown on the news every year? At the time we believed they were a real threat. Anyway, Stuart makes this great observation around 15:40 about the setup in Moscow and the pointless jobs people appear to be doing. Looking back at the time now, there were also lots of people in the "music industry" who had jobs that definitely wouldn't exist today. Listen to all the shit talk in this documentary, especially at the beginning - WTF? These people were employed? Ah well, the past is a different country.

Another huge piece of the jigsaw picture representing the trials and trails of Big Country. In the the era of glasnost, eyes were optimistically looking towards the falling of the old East, rather than the West. Easily top of the bill, BC took on this adventure with the best of intentions and their natural message of good will and great music. The Wall was yet to come down and a return to Berlin probably was the nearest to Moscow the guys would want to bear.

All the Russian singers look like different versions of Rik Mayall.

If anyone says they were underrated I'll head but them😀

Wow, even John Peel was there. (7:39) Big event.

Aww, Tony's so cute in his hat. I'm into the keyboards & backing girls either. Better just guitars & drums.

how ace to see a young(ish) John Peel at the Russian Embassy. their version of Peace in Our Time there was sheer perfection. does anyone know if the full recording exists? it's as if they are playing it for their A-level exam in front of their judges.

The guy in the yella shirt thought he wiz Jim Kerr! 😂

WHY so many close ups of food and of people mouths chewing? Bizarre.

Is this documentary on any dvds?

The Russian bands are, um…interesting. LOL!

Maybe it helped dismantle the old communist Soviet Union that crumbled not too long after this Big Country mission and Russia attempted to move on.

Thanks so much Andi ! What were the names of the two female backing singers please ? Where did they come from, and what became of them I wonder ??

Wow #2: American punks just on the streets of Moscow talking about the Meatmen. (41:55) How trippy is that??

Whoa, those Russian opening bands! Pretty punk rock for the time. Pretty awful too.

I was in my late twenties at the time and wasn't aware of this trip. Just a media freebie using BC in my opinion (no offence BC1000stars!). I love BC and this is great footage for us now, but they could have made better publicity choices.

Podrian subtitularlo al español por favor 😥

For a moment there, I thought Stu was wearing a TRUMP shirt.

Too bad they hadn't done this with The Seer album cuz this album was the start of a down hill slide in quality till Buffalo Hunters over half a decade later.

1:15 Not a "British rock band" you tweaker, a SCOTTISH one.

Around the 7.50 point, looks a bit like putin.

Heard Ian Grant has parkinsons disease. Brilliant karma!!