When Big Country first roared onto the American scene with The Crossing in 1983, the band was humanism's revenge on soulless pop posturing. Its soaring guitars, folk-derived jigs and reels and unfettered passion shattered the technopop anomie dominating music at that time. But while its battle's been won – big hearts and big guitars are no longer merely accepted but are even fashionable, courtesy of U2 – Big Country hasn't yet been able to cash in on the victory. Steeltown, the band's sturdy 1984 LP, failed to grip listeners as strongly as The Crossing did; plans for touring in the United States were ill-timed; and it's taken the band nearly two years to release The Seer, its third album and possibly its strongest effort to date.

Produced by Robin Millar, who's worked with Sade, The Seer tones down the storm and clang of the band's two LPs with Steve Lillywhite at the board, and the (relative) restraint proves effective. All the elements of Big Country's distinctive sound remain – the surging dual riffs and elegant E-bow flights of Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson's guitars; the yearning strain in Adamson's vocals; the ballast of bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki's solid bottom. But Millar creates more sonic space than Lillywhite allowed in his assaultive wall of sound. As a result, the songs, rather than evoking detached awe, seem easier to enter.

Happily, Big Country's vision – articulated by Adamson's songwriting – is as generous and determined as ever. The single "Look Away" and the ballad "Hold the Heart," both chronicles of lost love, capture Adamson's grim romanticism, his characteristic urge to transcend but not deny emotional ravishment. "One Great Thing," "I Walk the Hill" and "Eiledon" are stirring expressions of the desire for individual integrity and a future filled with peace. And Adamson's folkloric mysticism suffuses "The Seer" (where Kate Bush contributes a haunting vocal) and "The Teacher."

On "The Sailor," the closing track of The Seer, Brzezicki and Butler swing the band with a looseness and ease they haven't shown before. The open-ended lyricism of that track's closing instrumental passage evokes the quality of Big Country's hopes this time out – as well as the scope of their potential success if this LP gets the exposure it deserves. (RS 481)

ANTHONY DECURTIS