Big Star

re: the box set, the chilton solo demos are really the main draw for me -- just these beautiful solo 12-string versions of radio city/sister lovers tunes. they really highlight how well-crafted those songs really are - and how planned out. the sister lovers stuff has a rep for being "crazy/improv" in the studio kind of stuff, but the demos show that chilton had it pretty well mapped out for the most part. as for other unreleased stuff, like trip maker sez, "there was a light" is essential, as is "got kinda lost." i really like the live disc -- the sound quality seems pretty clear to me, and there is a lot of chilton's fantastic guitar playing. the burrito bros cover is rad. anyway, if you can get it for $40 or so, totally money well spent.

also, yeah, the live disc is amazing in that you can literally count the number of hands clapping. i think it's six.

Add me to the fans of the box. It's a really gorgeous package. My issues with it are sorta minor. The rarities impact was dulled slightly by that Thank You Friends thing on Big Beat from 2008, which scooped the box by offering 19 rare/unissued Chilton/Ice Water/Big Star trax--most of which popped up again on the box, but there still are some exclusives (although Ardent should be dropping expanded editons of 1970 & 3rd/Sister Lovers later this year which may fix that). On the other hand, that set had only a couple of the Chilton solo demos, which are a real revealation as both Tyler & Tripmaker have said.

I've picked up three of the four (now OOP) Box Tops cds from the Sundazed garage sale. It would have been nice to have had some of the Chilton originals on the box, but I imagine space limitations and licensing restrictions kept them off the table. "Together" and a post-break up b-side "Since I Been Gone" would have fit in well on the first disc.

that thank you friends set is essential too! even with the overlap w/ the big star box. haha, maybe i'm not the most reliable source for this stuff, i love it all.

the box set surpasses all previous releases/reissues from the band. I gave away my copies of the other versions I had after I got the box set. the demos/alternate versions are almost all uniformly amazing, the booklet and packaging are gorgeous. it's THE comprehensive document of the band's output.

the box set is totally amazing, though I did a double take on some of the Chris Bell tracks which are sped up a tad from the original CD issue. (The same is true for the Chris Bell remaster.) There are a million ways to screw up that kind of modified track listing plus rarities project, but they didn't screw it up and the result is a whole new perspective on albums that anyone who bought the set has already listened to dozens of times.

huh, hadn't noticed the differences in the chris bell tracks -- wonder if that's more true to chris' intentions, or just a mistake?

i haven't gotten the latest reish of i am the cosmos, though. i like my ryko version ...

hmmm yeah I only have the Ryko version, hadn't noticed the difference either

I've been wanting to get that Ardent comp for awhile, just haven't been able to afford it.

there's one pretty amazing big star thing on the thank you friends set that didn't make the box set -- the radio city version of "big black car" ... at least i think it's the radio city version. earlier, anyway.

IIRC was done to match the speed on the 45, which was different from what was on the album. Definitely for "I am the Cosmos" but I seem to remember it for another track too.

the demo version of Big Black Car with just the 12-string... whooeee

ha, yeah, that song is wasssssssted. also, the "maybe we'll fuck in a holiday inn" line (as opposed to third's "sleep") is wild.

http://omnivorerecordings.com/artists/big-star/

Awe-some.

yeah looks cool, tho the whole record store day thing kinda bums me out. there are so few record stores anywhere near me! ugh. and when i did go to a record store day thing a year or two back, they didn't have any of the "special" releases I wanted!

Big Star’s Third to be Performed Live in NYC

http://ardentstudios.com/2011/03/14/big-stars-third-to-be-performed-live-in-nyc/

One can only imagine the track sequence repercussions.

oh man a real test pressing! that's like the Big Star Golden Ticket

Got the boxset for my birthday! Man this sounds good. Love the piano on "Every Day As We Grow Closer". Listening together with the giver now (only 10 songs into the first disc) - thx love :)

was just listening to that first disc. great, great stuff. and it just gets better!

I just listened (like, an hour ago) to that 1974 boot posted above---it's good! The band sounds down (gear stolen'll do that). But the "Candy Says" is really nice, scuzzy & aching.

cool, yeah, i love that recording. almost comical, them having all their equipment stolen. a band with bad luck! but it's impressive that chilton can make borrowed equipment sound so good. and the "candy says" is pretty nice, too bad there isn't a studio version of that one!

is there anything different about this "test pressing" version of third that's gonna be available on record store day?

here's the info:

What the heck is Big Star Third, anyway? To be honest, it’s the kind of thing a doctoral thesis could be written about: a “lost” record re-discovered years after it was recorded, one that has seen many track listings, titles and album covers, a classic, an enigma.

Third comes from sessions with Big Star’s Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and a bevy of session musicians, recorded with producer Jim Dickinson in 1974 and early 1975. Whether it was actually intended to be a Big Star album is up for debate, but a couple hundred test pressings made in 1975 clearly list it as Big Star III, as does the original tape box (now lovingly reproduced here for you). Until the cavalcade of reissues began in 1978, all that existed were those test pressings. And since that time, it has been reissued and resequenced into something other than what the original product was: a 14-track pressing of pure bliss.

We here at Omnivore have decided to transport you back 36 years, to a time and place where this platter of polyvinyl chloride was all that existed–a truly faithful replica of that Ark of power pop goodness (complete with replicas of the original tape box, tracking and lead sheets, mastering card and pretty white blank label). This limited edition is being cut from the original assembly reel, on the same lathe at the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis and by the very same engineers who cut it the first time, Mr. Larry Nix and Mr. John Fry! Pressed on high quality vinyl at RTI, this should be the definitive version of this album.

To make things even more special, in the worldwide, limited run of 2,000 copies, five copies of the original test pressings (courtesy of Jody Stephens) will be inserted into the mix. Which means not only that you can listen to a bit of history—but if you’re lucky you could own it, too. To make things even cooler, those five copies have been signed by Jody, original mastering engineers Larry Nix and Ardent’s John Fry.

Third time’s the charm, indeed.

woah talk about winning the lottery if you got an actual test pressing.

damn i want that bad, record store day is getting so stupid but there is some good stuff, really want this, the pink floyd thing, and the arthur russell reissue

yeah i want a lot of the record store day stuff this year, too! but i probably won't even make it to a record store ;_;

hmmm
http://ardentmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Big-Star-Live-EP-FRONT.jpg
Artist: Big Star with John Davis
Album: Live Tribute to Alex Chilton EP
Format: 7 inch 33-1/3 rpm vinyl
Release Date: 6/2011
Description: This 7-inch 33-1/3 rpm vinyl was produced to give people a little peak into the special night that was the Big Star tribute to Alex Chilton that took place in Memphis on the night of May 15, 2010 at the historic Levitt Shell.
Here's a message from Big Star drummer Jody Stephens about this special item:
“For our last performance as Big Star, Jon, Ken and I had some very good friends join us to celebrate the music and lives of Alex, Andy and Chris on May 15, 2010. The performances really tell the story of what happened and how we all felt about that evening at Memphis' Levitt Shell. The idea of trying to release the show in its entirety was overwhelming in the sense of time and effort needed for all performance clearances. So I thought, first artist first: John Davis was the first of many wonderful guest artists to join us on stage. He wailed on three songs: "In The Street," "Don't Lie To Me" and "When My Baby's Beside Me." These were just the right amount songs (and time) for an EP release. So with mastering engineer Larry Nix and Big Star's engineer, John Fry, and our Neumann cutting lathe all residing in the Ardent Studios building how could we not cut vinyl?
“We hope to release more of the show down the road. Thank you.”
-Jody Stephens

I'm in no place to judge people's weight issues or anything, but JON AUER GOT HUGE.

He didn't avoid parties, apparently.

the biggest star

"a little peak into the special night"

Arrrggghhh. Is it that fucking hard to proofread a press release these days?

jon stoutfellow

the biggest star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_7SK2yeqR_4
kind of bored by the narrative approach of "why wasn't this band more popular" but maybe that won't be the whole shebang. also a little bored by that effect on photos that makes them "move" or whatever. but who am i kidding, i'll watch this.

hmm what's the track at the end...? I didn't recognize it (and yes I have the box set) Agree about the ho hum angle but otoh ... studio footage!

have i forgotten how to get youtubes to show up?
sounded like an early version of "ST 100/6" maybe? definitely not on the box set.

also a little bored by that effect on photos that makes them "move" or whatever.

Ken Burns much?

well i dunno, this is not just panning over a photo laboriously a la burns, but kinda like cutting up the elements in the photo and zooming out to give it a sort of 3-d effect? there's probably a name for it. just feel like i've seen it a lot lately.

first place I recall seeing it was The Kid Stays in the Picture

yeah...i think maybe it's in the beatles documentaries too? the ones that came w/ the reissues.

first place I recall seeing it was The Kid Stays in the Picture

^^me too. i thought it was pretty neat for a bit but then it got old. and yeah, way overused these days.

yeah, i mean, it looks cool kind of, but it also just screams to me "we don't have any really good footage of this band!" which then calls into question the existence of a documentary in the first place.

This doc sounds like a great one

for me to poop on

Picked up the box for $20 at Bullmoose in Maine - a cut-out with a slice through the bar code! I'm as impressed as everyone else. One thing to c orrectc itt - the live disc sounds great, not bootleg quality at all!

Has anyone done a comprehensive A/B comparison between the released versions and the alternate mixes? I don't hear significant differences in many of them.

Was anything left off the box that can be found elsewhere? What's unique to the Ardent comp?

afaik, the demo of Big Black Car that's included on the Ardent comp is unique to that release. and it's great too.
some of the alt mixes on the box set are pretty similar to the released versions, yeah. haven't done an a/b comparison.
& yes! the live disc sounds great.

Don't have either in front of me at the moment, but the ardent thing has an extra Icewater track and an exclusive snippet of Alex singing "Don't Worry Baby".

in other news, looks like that big star doc is showing at sxsw http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_FS12365

i feel like i'm really late to the party, but i'm just starting to get into big star for real. i've given #1 record a shot several times over the last decade but could never get into it that much, other than the big obvious stuff like Thirteen and September Gurls. but this time i skipped straight to Third and i love it, particularly the last half. over on the What is the original track sequence for Big Star's third record? thread (which prompted me to check out Third, incidentally), it seemed like the original tracklist is the way to go, even if it wasn't what Chilton intended for release:

http://i41.tinypic.com/125timd.png

i love the descent into o dana, big black car, holocaust and then kangaroo. Kangaroo, especially. what a fantastic song.

also, way upthread someone linked to a good article that focuses on Alex Chilton from 1975 to 1981. that link is now dead, but it's still online at http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/crawdaddy/2011/07/alex-chilton-1975-1981.html . the reason i mention it is that there was some brief discussion upthread about whether or not the lyrics of "Jesus Christ" are ironic. fwiw, the article says:

With less inspired results, Tiven had Chilton and company run through “Jesus Christ”, a song Chilton had recorded for Third. “I thought that was a really good song,” Tiven says. “When we did it, Alex sang it in a German accent and sang, ‘You’re going to rot in your grave tonight, Jesus Christ.’ He was really trying his best to be as offensive as possible.”

So, you have the cd with #1 Record AND Radio City on it, then?
Cuz Septembur Gurls is on Radio City while Thirteen is on #1 Record.
I had a similar experience to you, but it was Radio City that really clicked for me. It's an all time favorite now. I think it's a perfect record. After picking up the box set, though, I love it ALL. The demos of the Radio City songs and the Third songs are really great, check them out.