Alex Chilton RIP 2010

The one thing he was absolutely proud of was producing the Cramps records. He would play them at home and and just talk and talk about the experience.

Hero.

john davis (superdrag) wrote a nice sad song, which is up on their website. deliberately in a sister lovers mode, i guess. (he also wrote a little eulogy for chilton on magnet's website.)

roots punk performer, raconteur, ex-Panther Burns drummer Ross Johnson talks about Alex. recorded last fall but serves as a nice eulogy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmB-qRATuxA

I posted that big star/chilton bootleg over at doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com -- I see a link to it was posted elsewhere in this thread, but if you haven't gotten it, do it! Really essential stuff. the "surfer girl" cover is priceless.

I love that he was so proud of The Gories and Cramps records!
Has Poison Ivy been quoted anywhere in any of these tributes? Would be interesting to hear her take on him.

Y'know, for some reason I get bummed out a lot thinking about ol' Poison Ivy living without Lux. I hope she's doing OK.

lifted from Eggleston's Stranded in Canton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-eVsH49_2U

Rock hard
Cripples
Rock hard

"My rival, I'm gonna stab him on arrival" cracks me up every time I hear it

dad a-- "take me home, walking dead and lovely day: Memphis 75..." etc

now where did you learn that? i'm not doubting you, i'm just looking for a source of information.

All info gleaned from the back cover of my copy, which clarifies that it's really "Dusted In Memphis (And Elsewhere)." This and the Big Star radio thing that Ryko eventually reissued were the first two bootlegs I ever bought.

"My rival, I'm gonna stab him on arrival" cracks me up every time I hear it

― famous for hating everything (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, March 23, 2010 6:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

doesn't he then say he's going to shoot the guy, too.

"like flies on sherbet" is really unaccountably great. the title track and "my rival" are probably my faves.

i don't know any other folks chilton's age who seemed so at home with the postmodern ironies of post-new wave musical culture. in a weird way "like flies" seems roughly analogous to "mccartney ii," doesn't it?

sorry, "sherbeRt"

i guess it would figure that there wouldn't be a lot of crossover between the American Idol thread and the Alex Chilton thread, but this happened tonight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8T2sVNAfr4

no real clear indication whether the guy was doing it as a deliberate Chilton tribute or it was just a coincidence, but i enjoyed it

Dating myself, but I liked it better when that guy was doing his Joe Cocker shtick than when he was doing Michael Bolton shtick.

Dating myself

Need to get out more.

Knew that was coming, and should have been able to predict where from.

Actually, now that I am more fully awake, I remember that Joe Cocker DID do a version of "The Letter" and that horn part is copped from his version.

just saw that the link for the Chilton/Jody Stephens 1975 radio broadcast is still active, if anyone's interested. http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/187210978/dusted-in-memphis-in-honor-of-yet-another
a very cool performance ..

I remember reading how Jody Stephens song 'For You' aka 'Sometimes' was performed during this set, yet it doesn't appear on this bootleg. Has anyone ever had a copy of it? Sure I saw it on some bootlegs list online.

The one thing he was absolutely proud of was producing the Cramps records. He would play them at home and and just talk and talk about the experience.
Hero.

was going to pick this line out of the eulogy too. knowing how invested he was in those at the same time as digging on elgar and haydn is so satisfying. that his widow feels compelled to talk about what kind of listener he was and who he most enjoyed in an obituary is testament to where that stood in his day to day life.

-a local Memphis tv news feature on Chilton producing the Cramps.

haha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQYhQuO458o

OMGGGGGOD

reporter name-checking the Klitz at the end is lol

yo tylerw thank u for posting Beale St Green, Shasta gave some linx upthread but they were all dead.

no prob -- it's a pretty killer collection. The Big Star rehearsals are crazy tight -- I'm honestly not sure how Chilton is playing guitar and singing at the same time on a lot of it. He really was an incredible player -- all kinds of crazy chording/lead/rhythm things going on. Bummed that I never got to see him live just to watch his hands!

lux pretty much indistinguishable from elvis in the interview segments. the clips with alex remind me of how bubblegum his speaking drawl was; i remember there's some big star acoustic thing where he plays thirteen and manages to stretch out 'anachronistic' to like ten syllables introducing it.

I am personally really psyched to hear the other Elektra demos, 'She Might Look My Way" is a lost pop gem (xp).

Some of this stuff is on the Beale Street Breakdown/Starcrossed boot I have, I guess I should put that up on my blog.

yeah, the elektra stuff is great -- though I can understand why it didn't result in him getting a record deal! pretty ramshackle.

Poison Ivy on Chilton from a 2006 interview

http://www.plan9music.com/Article/4499

9x: How did you run into Alex Chilton?
PI: Alex was dating this photographer who have photographed us a lot. For instance, she took the photo that was the front cover of GRAVEST HITS. We became friends and he'd seen us quite a few times, it turns out. He really dug us, and we dug him, but we didn't know each other prior to that, and he just said, 'How'd y'all like to go to Memphis?' and we were like, boing! 'Yep, we would.' I don't know if you know what a drive-away service is. When somebody needs their car taken from one city to another they give it to a drive-away service and waits until someone is going to be going that way. I don't know if people realize that people like us end up being the people driving their car. We slept on the floor of Alex's girlfriend, and even at Alex's parents' house. He got us in Ardent; he seemed to have some relationship with Ardent Studio, and Sam Phillips' studio, to where we could get cheap time or free time. He created a situation that was great. We tried to record in New York before, at Bell Studio, and it was just horrible. We didn't know what the producer was looking for. He'd have us do "TV Set," like, ten times. With Alex it was the opposite. He'd say, 'Aw, you're on a groove, man. Just keep playing,' so we just played our whole set, one song after another, without retakes. We learned a lot from that about the importance of keeping it loose. A lot of top recording artists never learn the importance of keeping loose in a studio. It is kind of a sacred event. It's going to last forever. Nick Knox barely knew us, and he even seemed somewhat frightened of us at the time which, if you knew Nick, is strange, because a lot of people are frightened of him. He's a frightening person. He didn't know us that well yet, and he had the guts to go down to Memphis with us. He'd never even seen us live before he played with us live, so that was interesting. That was quite an initiation. 9x: What was so frightening about Nick? PI: He was just dangerous, creepy, and sweet, with a crazy, sick sense of humor.

When somebody needs their car taken from one city to another they give it to a drive-away service and waits until someone is going to be going that way. I don't know if people realize that people like us end up being the people driving their car.

I bet they do...

listened to third all the way through last night

what a great album

kinda hard to hear now

Is the 1978 KUT session, complete with 'Riding Through The Reich', widely known about? I got it off Soulseek a few years ago.

Robert Gordon: http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/remembering-alex-chilton/Content?oid=2002169

xpost would love to hear that -- read about it in the recent big star bio, but never tracked it down ... "riding through the reich" sounds uhhhh interesting.

TS: Big Star - Third vs. Portishead - Third vs. Soft Machine - Third

I've got the KUT session, but only 128kbps on AAC format - just so you know

http://www.mediafire.com/?yiitzyk2wdz

nice, thanks! just would like to hear it, regardless of quality ...

He really does sing the word 'nazis' beautifully, doesn't he?

thanking u xxp

beale street breakdown / beale street green are a pretty jaw dropping twosome, thanks for the links! favourites at the mo are the preamble to o dana and jesus christ and the stunning she might look my way/Windows Hote/All The Time. i'm glad i'm hearing this stuff for the first time now in a weird way.

I'm not articulate enough to add to this thread.

I've listened to nothing but Big Star all week.

just want to say one thing

years ago, i was all set to live, oh yeah

In this town, television shuts off at two
What can a lonely rock 'n' roller do?
The bed's so big, the sheets are clean
Your girlfriend said you were nineteen

The Styrofoam ice bucket's full of ice
Come up to my motel room and treat me nice

I don't wanna make no late night New York calls
I don't wanna stare at those ugly grass mat walls
Chronologically I know you're young
But when you kissed me in the club you bit my tongue

I'll write a song for you and put it on my next LP
Come up to my motel room and sleep with me

There's a Bible in the drawer, don't be afraid
I'll put up a sign to warn the maid
We can steal all the soap and towels
And never mind the way the desk clerk scowls

I'll buy your breakfast, they'll think you're my wife
Come up to my motel room and save my life

that's a cover iirc

it's loudon wainwright ... chilton's version is fab though.

wow I never knew that, damn bootlegs

If only:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BIG-STAR-3-ORIGINAL-ARDENT-PRESS-ALEX-CHILTON-PSYCH_W0QQitemZ120549693091QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item1c115256a3

Robyn Hitchcock weighs in. I like the idea of these guys hanging out.

It's difficult to accept that Alex Chilton is gone and won't be back.
He was always around, in his wry, low-key way, decorating the music
world with his casual brilliance. From Norway to San Francisco to Milan
he would be standing out there by the flight cases to greet you with
his quizzical smile. He had something of the ex-patriot in him: even at
home in the US, he seemed like a gentleman visiting from the past, most
comfortable on the fringe of things. His refusal to stand centre-stage
in Big Star was typical of this: he was too big a star to need to prove
it, perhaps.

The fount of indie-rock stems from him as much as from Arthur Lee, The
Velvet Underground, and Syd Barrett. His lack of interest in stardom
and all the steps up to it was, and will be, a constant inspiration to
many of us, as much as his sweet, dark, soulful music. Myriad musical
roads met in Alex, and he diverted their course to his own artistic
purposes with much grace and few illusions. All of us who knew of him
will want to join me in sending our thoughts and condolences to Laura,
his wife, and Jody Stephens, his collaborator of 40-odd years.

He and I enjoyed many smoky moments over the years. it's sad and
perplexing to think that there'll be no more. Last time I saw him we
were exhaling out of a window in Shepherd's Bush after the triumphant
Big Star gig there in 2008. I can't believe he's not here any more.
Alex? Alex?

that tracklist on that Ardent/Stax pressing is totally bizarre:

Side 1:
1. Stroke it, Noel
2. Take Downs
3. Femme Fatale (Lou Reed)
4. Thank You Friends
5. Holocaust
6. Jesus Christ
7. Blue Moon
SIDE 2 :
1. Kizza Me
2. For You (Jody Stephens)
3. O, Dana
4. Nighttime
5. Whole lot of shakin' goin' on (David / Williams)
6. Kanga Roo
7. Take Care