Alex Chilton RIP 2010

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

second side seems solid -- except that they've got "whole lotta shakin" smack dab in the middle. Inappropriate!

i guess i'm just mystified by the variety of odd sequences available and Alex never committed to one either...

that tracklist is pretty much the same as my copy

Hey, this 1978 KUT session almost definitely isn't 1978, right? He talks about Chris Bell in the past tense ("Chris was a homosexual. That's why we had to break up.") but Chris died at the very end of 1978. Also the people heard laughing at his comments couldn't possibly have been comfortable with this so soon after his death. When is this from?

it's referred to in the Big Star Jovanovic book, which, unfortunately I do not have at hand at the moment

it's from 1978. i think he's just talking in the past tense about Big Star -- Bell was still alive at that point ...

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2010/04/post_7.html

Great story. And this part!

He tuned in to deejay Joe Hastings on classical station WWNO 89.9 FM and stayed up all night watching television. “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “Touched by an Angel” fascinated him; he taught himself the “Walker” theme music on guitar.

The power of Chuck Norris (who IIRC wrote said theme).

Wow, Keith Spera did a great job with that piece. Lots of fascinating anecdotes and also some sad ones.

yeah, nice article! thanks for posting.

Nice piece - the detail about not having insurance hurts.

That's what stuck with me too. But I wonder if it was that he couldn't afford it, which would be appalling, or that he didn't prioritize it or chose to accept whatever came.

I guess - but you have to understand that, from a European perspective, not going to hospital with chest pains because you couldn't afford it simply wouldn't arise.

and that's the grim truth

via @KenStringfellow Another sad loss for Big Star fans as Andy Hummel passes away after long illness.

RIP if true!

ugh, really? that sucks. amazing bass player imo.

WTFFFFFFUCK

It's almost like long married couples passing one shortly after the other. If I were Jody Stephens I would take it easy on the beach and enjoy life.

This reminds me of when the Ramones started dropping off in rapid succession. :(

I really hope Jody lives to be about 110 years old.

anyone going to this? http://www.citywinery.com/events/93429
seems kind of cool. Lesa Aldridge ... !

Did anyone mention that Tommy Hoehn died in Memphis a few weeks ago? Another power-popper from down there. "Blow Yourself Up" is one one of those Rhino power-pop comps, and he also wrote "She Might Look My Way" with Alex.

The KUT interview is great. I've also been checking out a lot of live stuff that's popped up after Alex's death. The Teenage Fanclub show from 1996 is pretty good, good version of the Everlys' "Walk Right Back" and also a Joe Meek medley. Some '88 stuff from Germany has some good moments on it too. There's a Memphis WYLX show from '75 that includes Alex doing "I Will Always Love You." There are some CBGB tapes out there too that aren't the same as the stuff on One Day in New York.

I hear that Jon Tiven has been shopping the complete 1975 sessions he did with Alex and released a couple times as Bach's Bottom. Maybe there's some good stuff. I hope someone is facilitating a good overview which up until now has been difficult--release those Elektra demos with some of the stuff he did at Ardent in '75, cull through a few things, perhaps include some of that CBGB show. Viola, the lost decade explicated.

There will never be another Alex Chilton!!

Sad to think about

his there will never be another you is something else :(

i just listened to that song yesterday in the car and it made me super sad. :(

This popped up on the Big Star facebook page: It's alex appeaering on Conan in '95. Good guitar solos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg5Qc8xumUM&feature=player_embedded

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

alex doing my rival, filmed by william eggleston, via the always excellent dust congress blog

one year later

the nightime->blue moon->take care sequencing on the ryko cd issue of third/sister lovers is crushing right now

gosh feels like this happened last week

Saw some of the tribute to Alex Chilton at Jazzfest over the weekend:

 Bassist Rene Coman, best known for his work in the Iguanas, is the mastermind behind the project. Coman played with Chilton intermittently, including gigs opening for the Clash and a very short run on Bourbon Street. The lineup for the tribute includes drummer Doug Garrison (Iguanas), guitarists Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum) and Alex McMurray (Tin Men/Valparaiso Men's Chorus) and singer Susan Cowsill.

  "We're going to draw from the core of the live set that Alex would do: Big Star songs he liked, solo act stuff that he would do," Coman says. "Like Alex, we're not being pedantic about it. I don't want to do anything he would make a face at."

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/alex-chilton-tribute/Content?oid=1993089

They also had another vocalist. Not sure who the guy was. A nice version of "Banghok" plus "Like Flies..." songs

Looks pretty good.

sounds cool. as nice as those recent orchestrated Third/Sister Lovers shows may be, i kind of get the feeling Chilton would *not* be into such a museum-y performance of his stuff. dude liked to fuck things up.

Chilton/Coman/Garrison was the core of one of my favorite solo Alex periods, No Sex/Feudalist Tarts/High Priest.

i always really wanted to see alex play a show on his own, playing a bunch of standards & whatever else he felt like (the time i saw big star they did an elgar cover). i love cliches so much. did anyone here ever see him like that?

Didn't see him, but a friend sent me a live tape from a Tuscaloosa bar, maybe 1987? Tiny place, and he mentioned the TV that was always on, but he played some outrageous guitar, some of it Sharrockin' (Sonny was also in his heyday then). Plus, "Semptember Gurls" "No Sex", a nice range.. also got a Mountain Stage radio tape--from around that time, I think--where he also covers some of his fave Italian pop ballads.

If by "on his own", you mean totally solo, no no, never heard that. A couple of guys with him on these.

I saw him with three other middle-aged guys. Bass player even had a stand in front of him with sheet music.

About half solo stuff, half oldies (non-Box Tops). Did "What's Your Sign, Girl?".

At one point, he held up his guitar which looked like the one pictured below:

http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/media/images/big/825-alex-chilton.jpg

And with the neck sticking up, said to the 50 people there, "What do y'all think about my guitar? It kinda looks a lot like Mickey Mouse, don't you think?"

that Bangles video upthread just made me cry, 2 1/2 years after the fact. What a great songwriter.

also got a Mountain Stage radio tape--from around that time, I think--where he also covers some of his fave Italian pop ballads.

swoon!

I saw him with three other middle-aged guys. Bass player even had a stand in front of him with sheet music.

yeah i mean this was it for him i think, turning into (or always being, kinda) a pick-up band guy, like chuck berry, playing the standards & fucking around with them. it seems like that was where he was at. it was really cool & special seeing big star but the fact that at the same time i figured he was rooted in playing around with classics made me wish i could see him just doing his thing. it's like that whole thing about how awesome it would be to sit around while keith richards played a guitar, & how different that is from watching the stones thrust through one of their old jams. i saw him w/the box tops, too, like a year before he died, strapping on a bass to play green onions, & he looked like he was having a ball. he looked like 20 years old.

this is really nice, i mainly don't like music writing but:

http://strawberryfieldswhatever.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-got-alex-chiltons-name-written-on-my.html

Listened to Like Flies on Sherbert while stoned and it completely came alive to me. It made me realise he's a great story teller. He shapes the narrative with weird effects and volume inequalities, all the while acting out a scenario with his voice. The way everything is structured, and especially his guitar work, heightens the story.
It also rocks in a brutally southern, soulful way. Live in London is spectacular too. The version of Kanga Roo on that is massive.
I've Had it - who's singing this? It totally sounds like John Cale, but he's not credited right?

Bach's Bottom - I can't beleive I haven't heard this before. As a massive Big Star fan, this is the missing link between Big Star (particularly Third) and Like Flies on Sherbert. It's beautiful, and the throaway outtakes are fascinating.

Live in London is awesome. He has got an incredible presence. I saw him in Munich in the late 80s and he rocked hard.

I've Had it - who's singing this?

Jim Dickinson, I think?