Waterboys and the following album This Is the Sea. Waterboys chronicler Ian Abrahams described the song as the album's defining track, with New Musical Express' Andrew Collins stating, "What a concept and what an albatross. A lilting anthem with grand cymbal slashes, soulful backing... a lazy, meandering essay." For The Waterboys' gig at London's Town & Country Club in 1985, backing vocals to the song were provided by Sinead O'Connor, marking her first UK live appearance. Usage of the term "The Big Music" spread to include other bands with a similar sound. The single included "Bury My Heart" and "The Earth Only Endures". "Bury My Heart", a reference to "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", is described by Anderson as "a lament to the decimated American Red Indians". "The Earth Only Endures" is a traditional Sioux song arranged by Scott. "Red Army Blues" first appeared on the twelve-inch single for "December" from The Waterboys. The song is a first-person narrative of the life of a young Soviet soldier in World War II who participates in the Battle of Berlin. The soldier, along with many others, is sent to the Gulag by Joseph Stalin. The songs are based upon the book The Diary of Vikenty Angorov. The final track of the original release, "A Pagan Place", featuring a trumpet solo from Lorimer, is an ambiguous questioning of the process of Christianising a Pagan culture. The song "Cathy", included on the album's re-issue, was originally a Nikki Sudden song. Sudden writes about an evening in 1982 when he was staying in Scott's apartment: "Late that night – around midnight – Mike recorded a lead vocal to the backing track for my song, Cathy. We did a quick mix and that was that until twenty years ago [sic] when he includes the number on the reissue of his A Pagan Place album". This 2002 reissue credits Sudden as the song's author. Track listing All tracks written by Mike Scott, except "Cathy" on the reissued version of the album. "Church Not Made with Hands" – 6:05 "All The Things She Gave Me" – 4:34 "The Thrill Is Gone" – 4:33 "Rags" – 5:21 "Somebody Might Wave Back" – 2:43 "The Big Music" – 4:45 "Red Army Blues" – 8:06 "A Pagan Place" – 5:13 Reissue track listing "Church Not Made with Hands" – 6:02 "All the Things She Gave Me" (Unedited) – 5:32 "The