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Hold the Heart

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"Hold the Heart"
Single by Big Country
from the album The Seer
B-side"Honky Tonk Women"
Released1986
Length6:06
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)Stuart Adamson
Producer(s)Robin Millar
Big Country singles chronology
"One Great Thing"
(1986) 		"Hold the Heart"
(1986) 		"King of Emotion"
(1988)

"Hold the Heart" is a song by Scottish rock band Big Country, released in 1986 as the fourth and final single from their third studio album The Seer. It was written by Stuart Adamson and produced by Robin Millar. "Hold the Heart" reached No. 55 in the UK and remained in the charts for two weeks.[1]

Speaking to Smash Hits in 1986, Adamson said of the song: "It must have been almost a year and a half ago that I wrote it. It was the third song I wrote for the LP. I remember thinking I wanted to write a very ballady song, something that people would never think of as a Big Country song, a very direct boy/girl lost and found song."[2]

Reception

Upon release, Jane Wilkes of Record Mirror commented: "In the absence of chest thumping, medieval imagery and vomit provoking gallantry, Stuart Adamson and co don't sound too bad. A mellow anthem depicting lost love, that retains its Celtic identity without wallowing in its grossest qualities."[3] Carol Clerk of Melody Maker noted the song's "mellow flow".[4] Tom Demalon of AllMusic recommended the song by labelling it an AMG Pick Track.[5]

In a review of The Seer, Peter Smith of the Tampa Bay Times commented: ""Hold the Heart" is almost a conventional pop love song. The narrator is hopeless and helpless in a grip of a passion that he didn't understand until its source was taken from him."[6] Eric Schafer of the Press & Sun-Bulletin stated: ""Hold the Heart" is one of the most complex and perceptive love songs I've ever heard. In short, this is one of our smartest and most sincere bands. Why then, isn't it huge in the U.S.?"[7]

Track listing

7" single
  1. "Hold the Heart" - 5:34
  2. "Honky Tonk Women" (Live) - 3:54
12" single
  1. "Hold the Heart" - 6:06
  2. "Honky Tonk Women" (Live) - 3:54
  3. "Hold the Heart" (Instrumental) - 6:06
2x 12" single (UK limited edition release)
  1. "Hold the Heart" - 6:06
  2. "Honky Tonk Women" (Live) - 3:54
  3. "The Big Country Interview" (Part One) - 6:18
  4. "The Big Country Interview" (Part Two) - 8:04

Personnel

Big Country

Production

  • Robin Millar - producer of "Hold the Heart"
  • Walter Turbitt - additional production and mixing on "Hold the Heart"
  • Virgin Vision - recording of "Honky Tonk Women" at the Pier, New York, 1986
  • Dave Batchelor - mixing on "Honky Tonk Women"

Charts

Chart (1986) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[1] 55

References

  1. ^ a b "BIG COUNTRY | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  2. ^ Shaw, William (16 December 1986). "Stuart Adamson". Smash Hits.
  3. ^ Wilkes, Jane (22 November 1986). "Singles". Record Mirror.
  4. ^ "The Seer – Melody Maker 28 June 1986". Stuart Adamson. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  5. ^ AllMusic Review by Tom Demalon. "The Seer - Big Country | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-11-22. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  6. ^ Smith, Peter (24 August 1986). "Big Country has more to explore". Tampa Bay Times.
  7. ^ Schafer, Eric (7 November 1986). "Big Country fights fashion". Press and Sun-Bulletin.
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