Big Star

The Stax org was in such disarray in the early '70s that it's a wonder the records even got out there as much as they did. I've read that each of the first two albums only got into the marketplace in ridiculously small quantities...4000/5000 is a number I've seen.

I don't know if they "define" any era. A post above maintains that to define era, their records would've have to been bought by somebody. So I guess they were one of the first true indie/critic's bands...the reviews were mostly glowing. In retrospect they do seem to define the period much better than any number of more popular acts, though. I see nothing wrong with revisionist nostalgia myself.

For a long time I loved them without reservation, then went thru a period during which I'd just heard them too much. For a lot of us they were like the Beatles, the absolute gold standard of pop records. Now I just accept them as a great pop band, period, and wish people would quit gushing about them so much, or maintaining that they weren't really all that good. As a live band they seem to have sucked; but I can't think of any better-conceived record than "Radio City." Such style. And they seem to define not an era but a state of mind, one epitomized by the Eggleston "red ceiling" photo that graced the original "RC" LP...bad dreams and vibes in an oversexed room, distilled into melancholy, perhaps? With a few good times vaguely recalled? Maybe that's the '70s, I don't know.

Interesting to see what the new Big Star album will be like...

of course, Chilton & company could scrape a chalkboard with rusty chisels and this guy would say it's the best thing ever.

(I think I listen to Third the most, too)

I wonder how committed Chilton is to the whole idea of Big Star these days. Probably not very. I didn't think much of "Hot Thing."

guys seriously I love "Ballad of El Goodo" so much

I want to be in a band that covers this

don't make me say a bunch of shit about it, just fire back re: yes this would be a pretty good thing to do, be in a band that covers this

yeah

I purchased the Blitzen Trapper song 'Summer Town' just because the vocal hook reminded me of BS' 'Thirteen.'

iiiiijjjjj where do you live?

Ya know, Evan Dando covered "El Goodo".

'Thirteen'>>'El Goodo'

fucking love them. i honestly feel sad for anyone who who passes them by.

drooone otm but it doesn't even matter

overrated Grandpappy Indie (VU notwithstanding); not worthless, but nor are Wishbone Ash, for goodness sake
-- mark s, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 5:00 PM (5 years ago)

"overrated"

overrated Grandpappy Indie (VU notwithstanding); not worthless, but nor are Wishbone Ash, for goodness sake

-- mark s, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 5:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

ENLIGHTENING

uh x-post

and 'mod lang' is what needs to get cover treatment

"Mod Lang" is quite easy to play, so a cover would be cool.

and somehow, strangely, Big Star lives on.
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&interface=shepemp&event=257724
wish i could go ... is this one of them Don't Look Back things? Are they playing Radio City in its entirety?
i'll also take this opportunity to say that Alex Chilton probably has one of the top 5 singing voices in rock and roll history. Serious.

Actually, listening to Radio City and Third, Alex Chilton kind of reminds me of a vanilla Barrett Strong Rude from Lethem's "Forttress of Solitude." Moments on Third definitely sound fucked up enough to come from three-week coke binges.

That being said "Blue Moon" and "Stroke it Noel" totally PWNs! The former is better than "Thirteen" (which, sadly, contains no oboes).

sweet jesus this band is good. they seem to have such a unique and effortless ear for hook and melody. such a pleasure to listen to.
and on another note, 'i'm in love with a girl' appeared on a shuffle the other day. i was feeling a little absent-minded and it took me about 30 seconds to recall who it was without checking. such a sweet, simple song and yet it feels about 20 years ahead of its time.

"i'll also take this opportunity to say that Alex Chilton probably has one of the top 5 singing voices in rock and roll history. Serious."

Agreed. Vulnerability and attitude in brilliant proportion.

yeah, i'll concur there

Sweet, poppy, cool, but also kinda fucked up. Quite obviously on Third, but also the hatefully desperate vibe on "Life Is White," and "She's a Mover" is some MANIC shit. I loved them when I was younger -- I was listening to "Thirteen" when I was 13 (funny how i hear it differently now -- so I was amazed when I put their records on about a month ago and they sounded better than ever. It's true, they will always somehow sound contemporary, like any inspired true-believing rock&roll, hey hey my my

Hes got a good range on Like Flies On Sherbert too, a bit more free than the Big Star stuff

I love that album! It was a recent discovery for me. It's absolute proof that he was in complete sympathy with all things Rock n Roll. "Hey! Little Child" is amazing with its "Whold Wide World" beat* and Chuck Berry-level teenage lechery.

"Oh little fool, are you learning anything in school
maybe you might drop out, maybe travel somewhere down south
Hey hey little child"

*is there a better name for this beat? I had heard it all my life, but it never really came to life until I heard the Wreckless Eric song

hehe! very observant. I really dont know though, have to do some research...

Radio City: best guitar and drum sound, ever. perfect. archetypal.

@people explosion:

it's called the "Cha-Cha".

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JC0Wa3P_dO0&fmt=18

from the dvd accompanying the Oxford American Best of the South issue this month

that is sweet! thanks.

the 'aptly titled number one record' thing's kind of off though, right? i thought that lazy stax distribution meant that they never really did much, sales-wise.

i'm seeing them in a couple of months. i think i'd maybe prefer to see alex play skewed guitar solos and clichés stuff alone, but, still, way exciting.

aptly titled 'cause it was their first.

cool video!

"Hey! Little Child" is a cha-cha. xp

why in the world would they couple this footage with that tune?

aptly titled 'cause it was their first.

ahhh, thanks.

have the ardent studio sessions been discussed here yet?

I think what the fella meant was that it was No 1 Record as in it's NUMBER ONE, man. As in, Fuckin A, totally bodacious etc.

have the ardent studio sessions been discussed here yet?

is that the thank you friends comp? i think this is where i heard about it. i was pretty excited to hear the demo of downs, because there's a story about the recording of it in the book. apparently they were playing it, when some ardent a & r guy bowled in saying, this could be a HIT!, this song has POTENTIAL!, and so alex said 'i want to use a basketball for the snare drum'. well good.

Could someone explain where the song "Jesus Christ" came from? That is to say, they never had, to my knowledge, any other songs with any religious content and yet it seems to be unironic in its sentiment. The "we're gonna get born now" perhaps belies this a small bit.

"it seems to be unironic in its sentiment."

are you kidding. just listen to the way chilton sings the verses.

"they did rejoice/fine and pure of voice/and the wrong shall fail/and the right prevail": this couplet seems so completely trite that maybe it has to be ironic given that the album as a whole is about fucky uppyness, but I dunno, does chilton discuss it anywhere?

also there's loads of incongruous, disconcerting elements to the music which are clearly mocking or doubting the chorus.

mm, i don't know. he likes playing around with traditional song forms, and i've heard him intro it live as his 'christmas song'. maybe it's just him writing a carol.

i think chilton tips his hand when he sings "we're gonna get BORN!" haha.
still, there are a couple tunes on #1 Record (Chris Bell's, I think) that are, to me, at least a little bit informed by the christianity. maybe just "my life is right" now that I think of it. "Lord, I've been trying ..." I think Bell was fairly conflicted with being a gay/southern/christian/rocknroller. And who wouldn't be?

You And Your Sister (Songs)

To be fair, he did the songs
?

He performed (many of them) live, he didn't shun the entire repertoire.

ah

At this point it’s kind of pointless to try to get inside his head and figure out what he was thinking. At any point really

I was just reading in my new/old favorite book about how he hated all his songs on Radio City, at least the lyrics, then that he hated the ones Chris wrote too, saying they were “written by committee” and then that he didn’t feel like he figured out how to write a good song at least lyric-wise, until 1977!

I’m trying to think of an Alex equivalent to I am the Cosmos

Maybe Holocaust

"Big Black Car"?

I think he disliked a lot of the Big Star songs for the turmoil they reflect and describe; his later songs are "snappier" and reflect more classical virtues of wit and emotional control.