Alex and Chris's harmony on 'Sister' sounds like they're put through a phase shifter. Or is that clean?
― More Than a Century With the Polaris Emblem (calstars), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 03:39 (ten years ago) link
'You and Your Sister" that is
― More Than a Century With the Polaris Emblem (calstars), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 03:40 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkTfOCoiRTk
― More Than a Century With the Polaris Emblem (calstars), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 03:46 (ten years ago) link
Harmony on "Thirteen" during "and I'll take you" is phased.
― More Than a Century With the Polaris Emblem (calstars), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 04:09 (ten years ago) link
I think Alex once said something to the effect that the dates in the song had to do with star signs and such.
That is correct. (Alex Chilton, b. Dec. 28)
― DLee, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 12:25 (ten years ago) link
Saw somebody reading about this new doc in one of the free subway newspapers- at last Big Star has arrived!
― Pastel City Slang (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 13:39 (ten years ago) link
listened to the first disc of that ardent records story comp this morning -- totally recommended if you haven't heard it. a bunch of cool late 60s psych pop.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:04 (ten years ago) link
do you mean Thank You Friends,? that's a great comp!
― nerve_pylon, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:39 (ten years ago) link
yes, that's the one. really great, i wish it was four discs instead of just two... and just the minute of chilton singing "don't worry baby" at the end is worth price of admission alone. and the "big black car" demo! i don't think that's appeared on any of the other big star rarity things, for some reason.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:41 (ten years ago) link
I listened to that comp too and don't recall the non-Big Star -related stuff (which makes up almost half the set) being all that impressive. Will have to listen again. Cargoe seems well regarded, their albums are on Spotify. What other Ardent stuff should I check out?
― Lee626, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 21:26 (ten years ago) link
Wow, just heard that Terry Manning album, which is nuts. Also found some comp o Memphis garage-scuzz from the era.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 21:29 (ten years ago) link
first disc has plenty of throwaway beatles rips, but it's all entertaining enough. never anything less than charming.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 22:18 (ten years ago) link
^^fair amount of Jim Dikinson garage autuer stuff too.
― Mr. Mojo Readin' (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 22:24 (ten years ago) link
yeah! that guy needs a box set of his own.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 22:36 (ten years ago) link
I did post this on another thread, but I was pleased with it, so I'll post here to – a piece I wrote last year about Third/Sister Lovers and its aftermath …
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Wednesday, 10 July 2013 11:10 (ten years ago) link
"Post here, too," even
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Wednesday, 10 July 2013 11:11 (ten years ago) link
Pre-coffee, dirty glasses, I saw this exchange:
^^fair amount of Jim Dikinson garage autuer stuff too.yeah! that guy needs a box set of his own.
And thought I was reading the Jim DeRogatis thread. Phew!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 July 2013 12:20 (ten years ago) link
Christ "O My Soul" is good. The bit where Chilton comes back after the breakdown with "You're really a nice girl!" is such a brilliant 70s transmutation of 60s British Invasion sensibilities.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 12 July 2013 22:01 (ten years ago) link
tacos
― Murder in the Rue McClanahan (jaymc), Friday, 12 July 2013 22:04 (ten years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, July 12, 2013 11:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Absolutely.
― waterface, Friday, 12 July 2013 23:26 (ten years ago) link
Has tom petty ever acknowledged big star as an influence?
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 27 July 2013 05:28 (ten years ago) link
Be surprised if he'd heard them when he started out, undoubtedly borrowing from the same sources however
― Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Saturday, 27 July 2013 11:07 (ten years ago) link
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT5CEzFvAuo6Lv19rqj45Qkrm2JUBpHUrhEw5TWeDOSv5LBls7nRg
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 27 July 2013 12:36 (ten years ago) link
i doubt petty heard them in the 70s, but i have a 1973 mudcrutch bootleg where they play george harrison's "isn't it a pity" and it sounds pretty close to big star.
― tylerw, Saturday, 27 July 2013 14:37 (ten years ago) link
I wonder if Chilton ever listened to Zeppelin. House of the Holy, musically, sounds an awful lot like bits of Big Star.
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Saturday, 27 July 2013 16:14 (ten years ago) link
"I made [Big Star] to be as big a success as possible, but I did it my own way. … I’m not gonna start letting what’s current in the taste of the music business dictate what I do," he told Gordon. With a marked tendency to opt for obscurity or infamy rather than conformity, he admitted, "I’d be happier doing anything in this world— delivering papers, I don’t care—than if in 1971 I’d tried to sound like Ten Years After or Led Zeppelin."
― Number None, Saturday, 27 July 2013 16:19 (ten years ago) link
i remember playing "feel" for someone who had no idea who big star was and when the vocals kicked in he said it sounded like led zep. and it kinda does!
― tylerw, Saturday, 27 July 2013 16:22 (ten years ago) link
i thought the same thing the first time i heard them!! didn't tell anyone because it felt like a ludicrous thing to think but i clearly remember thinking it.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Saturday, 27 July 2013 16:29 (ten years ago) link
xpost To be fair, Chilton was the model of an unreliable witness to his own life …
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Saturday, 27 July 2013 16:52 (ten years ago) link
Feel is def a weird "first song" for Big Star -- at least it was not what I was expecting, having read about them before hearing them.
― tylerw, Saturday, 27 July 2013 20:06 (ten years ago) link
Chilton hated Zeppelin.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 27 July 2013 21:07 (ten years ago) link
Bell was more of the mainstream rocker--"Feel" and "Don't Lie To Me" were his songs.
― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 27 July 2013 21:15 (ten years ago) link
^^^ this. was very relieved to hear el goodo after feel, the very first time i listened to #1 record - was much more what i wanted to hear.
― There shouldn't be a thread for Dennis Perrin tweets. (stevie), Sunday, 28 July 2013 08:35 (ten years ago) link
"September Gurls" guitar tone is like being insanely high.
― MatthewK, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 12:23 (ten years ago) link
That sound's not a guitar – it's a Fender MandoGuitar. You can perhaps guess what two instruments it combined.
― Wantaway Striker (ithappens), Tuesday, 10 September 2013 12:25 (ten years ago) link
Dog and manduitar?
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 12:46 (ten years ago) link
Ha
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 10 September 2013 13:11 (ten years ago) link
I found recently that I could get nearly that exact tone with a compression pedal cranked up all the way.
― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 13:45 (ten years ago) link
(with a Fender Jaguar, if it matters)
I bought a JangleBox compressor on the strength of some gear nut forum threads that specifically discussed the recording of "September Gurls."
― fields of salmon, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 14:45 (ten years ago) link
I used a Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone.
― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 14:53 (ten years ago) link
Second from treble pickup on a strat
― PaulTMA, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 15:42 (ten years ago) link
i've said it before, but chilton is an amazing guitar player -- some of the stuff he pulls off on live recordings is astonishing.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 15:53 (ten years ago) link
Think I've probably said this before as well, but in that respect he is like Jonathan Richman, a guy known as a songwriter, performer and "personality" but who obviously works to keep his guitar chops up.
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 10 September 2013 18:29 (ten years ago) link
Does anyone know, specifically, what Chilton's problem was? He seemed to become spectacularly spacey and incompetent almost at the same time he was producing some of his strongest work... Hallucinogens? Booze? Doesn't have the telltale signs of coke or heroin, although Bell obviously went down to horse so hard drugs were obviously on the scene...
― fields of salmon, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 22:18 (ten years ago) link
incompetent???
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 22:30 (ten years ago) link
though if there was a problem, it may have stemmed from his inadvertent discovery that children by the millions were not, in fact, singing for alex chilton.
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 10 September 2013 22:31 (ten years ago) link
I thought it was just a capo-ed Strat put through the same kind of massive tube compressor that the Beatles favored on stuff like the "Nowhere Man" solo.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 September 2013 02:01 (ten years ago) link
http://jazzmando.com/new/images/MandoStrat.png
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 11 September 2013 03:00 (ten years ago) link
That appears to be the very rare "bass" guitar.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 11 September 2013 04:10 (ten years ago) link