It makes me feel great listening to it, his guitar is so enveloping.
Also note the Box Tops reunion album is surprisingly alright, with a few of the tracks absolutely essential for AC fans.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
Cliches is really great, I wish there were five more Chilton albums like it. OTM about his guitar, he was such a fun player. haven't heard the box tops reunion album! which songs are the good ones?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 17:14 (twelve years ago) link
"Flying Saucers Rock'n'Roll", "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Little Latin Lupe Lu" are my faves. All covers, I believe, but then few can choose covers and make them their own like Alex.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
cool, i'll check it out. listening to cliches right now, you can really tell how much chilton loved these songs. sometimes his covers sound kinda jaded (guess i'm thinking of Set/Loose Shoes), but this one just overflows with warmth/affection. his friendliest record?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 18:50 (twelve years ago) link
Set/Loose Shoes
No, that's the one irredeemable album he ever released, as far as I'm concerned. Beyond tossed off, really embarrassing when you think about how much raw talent he's got.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 19:25 (twelve years ago) link
i like some of the stuff on Set, but it definitely just keeps going downhill as the album progresses. it's too bad, because the material itself is great, and I can imagine alex doing far better versions of those songs.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 19:35 (twelve years ago) link
Picked up that new 1970 sessions disc over lunch, excited to dig in.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
I have an earlier reissue, pfork review raised some things that struck me as odd - like complaining about a "rave-up" at the end of "Every Day As We Grow Closer"...? that must have been tacked on, I'm guessing? cuz there's no such rave-up on my copy
― locally sourced stabbage (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
in general it's like half a great album imho
Well, even half a great album means more good Chilton in my life.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
I remember coming across a 45" of Teenage Fanclub covering "Free Again" in the early 90s and being really frustrated that I couldn't find the original. just took 20 years lol.
― locally sourced stabbage (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
free again, although a diff version, was available on an alex chilton comp that came out in the 90s. it's from roughly the same era as the 1970 version i think
― buzza, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
19 years: a collection it was called. came out in 1991
― buzza, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
hm yeah, can anyone report back as to what the differences between this and the earlier 1970 album are? if you've got that, do you need the new one?
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
From what I can tell from the tracklists alone, subtract "Funk National" from 1970 and add the following new tracks:
13. All We Ever Got From Them Was Pain 14. I Want You To Have My Babies 15. Another Place, Another Time And You 16. Every Day As We Grow Closer (Original Mono Mix) 17. The EMI Song (Smile For Me) (Original Mono Mix) 18. Free Again (Original Mono Mix) 19. Come On Honey (Original Mono Mix) 20. All I Really Want Is Money (Original Mono Mix) 21. I Wish I Could Meet Elvis (Original Mono Mix) 22. The Happy Song (Original Mono Mix)
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 21:18 (twelve years ago) link
"Funky National"
oh cool that Another Place, Another Time And You is being put out officially -- it's on a big star bootleg, always wondered why it wasn't on the recent box set. guess it was more of a chilton solo thing. an instrumental, verrrrry pretty.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 21:20 (twelve years ago) link
listened to Free Again this morning -- really a nice collection of songs. Think I prefer the 1970 sequencing, but that might be because I'm more used to it. shocking that these tracks remained unreleased for so long -- to my ears there are at least three or four hit songs. amazing that some record exec didn't hear them and want to put 'em out. no idea if they were shopped around extensively or what. obviously chilton was trying out a wide range of styles, but i can imagine a lot of these becoming radio staples in the early 70s, even more so than his big star tunes.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 15:05 (twelve years ago) link
which songs are you talking about?
― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
the hits? Every Day As We Grow Closer, The EMI Song (Smile For Me), Free Again ...
― tylerw, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 15:21 (twelve years ago) link
http://hasitleaked.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/artworks-000054834936-lp94sw-t500x500.jpg
On the night of February 13, 1997 Alex Chilton and his band were getting ready to play their second set of the night at the Knitting Factory in New York City when the lights went out. What happened was this album, a spontaneous off the cuff performance. This is Alex thinking on his feet, in the moment, bouncing songs and ideas off the folks that stuck around for a real one-of-a-kind exchange. This is as close and personal as it gets. Much of the material will be new to even hard core fans, there's Johnny Cash to the Beach Boys.--Amazon Release: Oct.8
1. Last Bouquet 2:44 2. Step Right This Way 2:50 3. Let's Get Lost 2:20 4. D-I-V-O-R-C-E 1:40 5. Raining In My Heart 3:14 6. Lovesick Blues 2:33 7. Girl From Ipanema 3:15 8. My Baby Just Cares For Me 3:49 9. Motel Blues 3:08 10. Someone To Watch Over Me 1:35 11. Footprints In The Snow 2:49 12. A Case Of You 2:02 13. Wouldn't It Be Nice 2:57 14. Surfer Girl 1:59 15. Solar System 2:50 16. I Walk The Line 2:05 17. If I Had A Hammer 2:56 18. You Can Beat Your Heart On Me 2:51
― dow, Monday, 7 October 2013 23:03 (ten years ago) link
looove his take on my baby just cares for me. let's get lost too.
― schlump, Monday, 7 October 2013 23:45 (ten years ago) link
Have you heard this whole set? How's the rest?
― dow, Monday, 7 October 2013 23:51 (ten years ago) link
Pretty sure this set surfaced on Dime A Dozen a while back. Loose & fun pretty much covers it. Will undoubtedly buy the official version, but must dig the CDr out & see if the missed anything off.
― Wandering Boy Poet, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 12:21 (ten years ago) link
whole thing is great, and yeah, the tape has floated around for a while -- i think pretty much everything is there on this official release (they may have snipped some dead air). totally a fun listen, though it kinda seems like a weird thing to release. would chilton have approved it had he been alive?
― tylerw, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 15:09 (ten years ago) link
There has been quite a bit of Big Star-related activity since his death which I'm unsure he would have been that keen on
― PaulTMA, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 15:18 (ten years ago) link
yeah... then again, he might've just thought it was funny that he was getting paid for an audience tape made in 1997.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 15:23 (ten years ago) link
My understanding is it is released as a deliberate counterpoint to the Big Star stuff, trying to show more of what Chilton as a solo performer could be like. The Lovesick Blues version is particularly great.
― Saul Goodberg (by Musket and Pup Tent) (s.clover), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 18:25 (ten years ago) link
I'll check it out, thanks yall. Gonna try posting the cover again (AC doing his best Ray Davies)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n8asTjzZL.jpg
― dow, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 23:41 (ten years ago) link
lol at Ray Davies
― Gallucci Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 October 2013 00:48 (ten years ago) link
Just put this on. Not familiar with "Last Bouquet" but from the sound of it I'd guess it was a Kitty Wells number.
― Gallucci Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 October 2013 03:12 (ten years ago) link
Just posted this on the Tav Falco thread, never seen Alex's hair so short:
talv falco & his panther burns, killer awesome fuckin choice or what
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 11 October 2013 23:15 (ten years ago) link
Noticed in the EMP participants bios that her book is due next month:
Holly George-Warren is the author of the forthcoming biography of Alex Chilton, A Man Called Destruction (Viking, April 2014)
― curmudgeon, Friday, 7 March 2014 20:09 (ten years ago) link
hope it's good!
― tylerw, Friday, 7 March 2014 20:43 (ten years ago) link
Yall all know about Tyler's AC/Big Star re-posts, rat? On http://www.doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com
Here's a bit of HGW's bio:http://www.spin.com/articles/read-an-excerpt-from-alex-chilton-biography-a-man-called-destruction/
― dow, Friday, 21 March 2014 14:46 (ten years ago) link
Steve Danzinger's pretty frustrated by the bio in this weekend's WSJ (overall, he conveys the appeal and struggles of Big Star pretty well):
Somewhere in "A Man Called Destruction" is a story about the mysteries of creativity, collaboration and luck, the agonizing loss of wasted potential, the multitude of factors that must align for artistic success. But potential insights are obstructed by minutiae and redundancies, investigations supplanted by undeveloped allusions about Chilton's resentments. The missed opportunity is substantial; even the trifles portray early 1970s Memphis as a singular world of musically precocious, emotionally fragile man-children struggling to attain some state of grace. Ms. George-Warren gives a glimpse of that lost world, but it remains largely unexplored.
So does Chilton. By 25, he was barely more than impish grin, inclined more to nullity than destruction. He urinated off one stage, was fellated on another. He sat on curbs watching Catholic-school girls go by, prospecting for dates. He smoked pot and drifted through his days like a sixth-year undergrad who doesn't want to leave the dorms. He laughed his way through shambling performances, as if he couldn't believe his acolytes were taking him seriously. These post-Big Star years reek of disdain, not least toward the fans who laughed awkwardly along with him, as if to convince themselves there was actually a joke to witness, rather than the remnants of a great talent.
It's a petty, dismal litany, seemingly endless in Ms. George-Warren's lethargic telling. But in life, it was mercifully brief, and Chilton's life would end positively, if more in resignation than redemption. At 31, he quit drinking, moved to New Orleans and lived contentedly, working at jobs like tree trimmer and "human jukebox," playing requests in a tourist bar. Big Star reissues inspired an international cult ("influenced R.E.M." became the general Big Star legitimizer, and the Replacements' 1987 tribute "Alex Chilton" made him famous for being loved by the Replacements). There would be new records, like Feudalist Tarts from 1985, a gritty return to form with covers of songs by Isaac Hayes, Slim Harpo and Willie Tee, residuals and reunions and the comparative triumph of replacing self-mockery with nonchalance.
Chilton died in 2010 of a heart attack, aged 59. To the end, he claimed not to understand the fuss about Big Star. After "A Man Called Destruction," readers might not, either... Ooh! But the anecdotal material seems like it might be interesting, at least judging by his glosses.
― dow, Saturday, 22 March 2014 20:44 (ten years ago) link
This is short but sweet: http://m.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2010/03/19/alex-chilton-as-remembered-by-john-bucky-wilkin
― You Better Go Ahn (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 October 2014 16:14 (nine years ago) link
this thing kind of came out of nowhere but it is great!http://www.othermusic.com/collections/frontpage/products/alex-chilton-ocean-club-77http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0192/7084/products/CED400CD_CU_grande.jpg?v=1433871252
― tylerw, Tuesday, 9 June 2015 19:48 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-eVsH49_2Uvideo footage by william eggleston
― drash, Tuesday, 9 June 2015 20:37 (eight years ago) link
Heard "O My Soul" from Ocean Club this morning on WFMU, sounded great.
― WilliamC, Tuesday, 9 June 2015 20:51 (eight years ago) link
Hoooooly shit nice find drash!
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 9 June 2015 22:18 (eight years ago) link
oh wow check that out!
― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 02:03 (eight years ago) link
Ocean Club and several other Chilton thingies are on Spotify, but just noticed that they only have Disc 1 of the Flies On Sherbet/Feudalist Tarts/No Sex twofer on the Last Call label. This list incl. the FT/NS tracks, which add up to one of his best EPs evah (still got the vinyl):
http://www.discogs.com/Alex-Chilton-Like-Flies-On-Sherbert-Feudalist-Tarts-No-Sex/release/4507641
― dow, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 16:33 (eight years ago) link
SEARCH his beach boys love you covers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evuWI44bRmU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK8fOnD2yos
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 16:59 (eight years ago) link
new girl in school is aces too (jan & dean, but brian wilson co-wrote)
― tylerw, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 17:00 (eight years ago) link
he does honkin down the highway somewhere too...
― tylerw, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 17:01 (eight years ago) link
here!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYNaUkTlipM
sick! thanks!
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link
these are good, he should've covered the whole album...
― tylerw, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 17:05 (eight years ago) link
omg
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 17:05 (eight years ago) link
Good production job Edd
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 1 March 2022 19:48 (two years ago) link