Big Star

xp The fact that they couldn't even finish the third album - like just sequence it and say "THIS is the album, it's DONE" - probably hurt as well. Like imagine if you're a company that's putting out an indie film and the director can't be bothered to finish his cut, even though you gave him creative control. You're not even sure if you have a complete work to put out - the last thing on your mind is "let's pour everything we got into this!"

Thanks, yeah, all that sounds right: been so long since I read Ron J.'s Big Star book, but yeah.And Stax, if you read their own story, was pretty much on the skids then, direction-wise as well as financially. Complete Third, as discussed and live-blogged upthread, is creatively, not commercially, justified and ancient, despite a few good-faith missteps (and even those are to be determined by individual listeners, who may change their mynds, suiting mutable moods and music).

Although original Third/Sister Lovers (the one on Ryko is all I know) is fine its own self.

Not that Stax's struggling with direction, trying to adapt, didn't lead to skids only: for instance, Edd Hurt pointed me toward the frequently remarkable round-up Stax Country a few years ago.

not that Stax's etc *led* to skids only, I should have said.

Stax was already caput by the time the Third sessions wrapped up (part of why they were able to drag on so long is that there really wasn't anyone left at the label to formally pull the plug), and so John Fry was free to shop the tapes to other labels, but iirc he or Jim Dickinson said nobody would even accept the tapes as demos to finance rerecords.

Just prior to Chris Bell's death there was some renewed interest in the band, with Ardent being able to strike deals with EMI in the UK to reissue the first two albums as a double LP, and a little later the first commercial release of Third happened on a US Indie, with several variations to follow.

Stax was still having big hits with Johnnie Taylor up until around '75: they could still market R&B, but didn't know thing 1 about selling Rock.

@dow the Ryko Third is probably the definitive version, so I think you're good. Maybe not in terms of sound/mastering, but the presentation is great. Omnivore's box set is great and sounds a bit better, but it's not really a good comparison because it's everything and not everyone's going to want two discs of demos, alternates, etc.

Forgot one detail from the Caropop podcast - it sounded like "Sister Lovers" was intended as a potential band name. According to Jody Stephens, Chilton told him "we should call ourselves Sister Lovers!" because they were both dating sisters, so if he wrote that on the label, it might've been a new band name he was considering since it wasn't entirely Big Star anymore with Bell and Hummel gone.

I wonder if Taylor's success made Big Star's unfortunate situation worse. Like if CBS was afraid of letting Stax out of their contract and turning into formidable competition elsewhere, Taylor's success would only validate those concerns.

It's possible. I mean, after Stax went down, Taylor signed with Columbia and immediately had his biggest hit ever with "Disco Lady".

FWIW Omnivore has a "back to school" sale that ends today - 50% off everything except pre-orders and new releases, and they've got a ton of Big Star, Alex Chilton and Chris Bell releases that are eligible, so now's a perfect time to scoop them up.

Thanks for the heads up! Ended up with no Big Star (have a lot already), but a lot of Buck Owens, Bobby Rush, and Uncle Walt's Band, so I think Alex would still approve.

The site doesn't say the Posies' Frosting and Amazing Disgrace lps are out of stock, but I can't add them to my cart. Assume they're out and just not showing it, but that's a bummer (even though Ken Stringfellow is a human trash can).

yeah thanks for the tip. i got some muffs, some gladiators, and mumps!

filling out my "mu" section apparently.

Thanks birdistheword! I got in on that sale at the last minute, filling in some blanks in my collection and re-buying some stuff for the bonus tracks. And I love that Omnivore usually has good liner notes, too. Listening to "Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star" right now; what's striking to me is just how much of a joy it is to hear Jody Stephens' drumming. My haul also included Game Theory, The Dream Syndicate and The Bangles - and I'm sure it's been said before, but being a Big Star fan (for those three bands) in the '80s was surely a kind of (not so) secret handshake...Game Theory covered "You Can't Have Me," The Bangles of course covered "September Gurls," and Kendra Smith in the Dream Syndicate sang on Rainy Day's cover of "Holocaust."

Scott Miller's next band The Loud Family also covered "Back of a Car", although I guess by 93 or 94 Chilton had a higher profile.

And, in somewhut adjacent early 70s musical sensibility news

Four Classic Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers Albums Set For CD & Vinyl Re-Release via @OmnivoreRecords
https://t.co/N3B4pGLOXE via @glidemag @MissingPieceGrp

— Cary Baker (@Conqueroo1) July 9, 2022

So now Omnivore is following up the Back To School Sale, w this, briefly:

Hello Omnivores,

Some folks happily stream their music, some listen to the radio, some spin CDs and vinyl—others however, really love to dig deep, they love the art of the artifact. If you’re one of those, for whom the objects themselves are precious, this sale is for you. Once a year or so, we canvas the warehouse corners, look under boxes and scour closets to find things that are rarities, one-of-a-kinds, limited edition leftovers and that sort of thing, we present them to you under the umbrella of Omnivore’s Rarities Sale!

Featuring a huge selection of test pressings: 7” singles, 10” EPs, full-length LPs, autographed items, and merch. Select titles will be available for 50% off from Wednesday September 7 through Friday September 9. Many of these are one-of-a-kind items—perfect for the collector, as well as a great gift for any music lover.

The sale only lasts three days (September 7–9), so don’t delay, these titles often disappear quickly. We hope you find something to treasure at this years’ Omnivore Rarities Sale!

You might be a William Eggleston fan and not know it - the multidisciplinary artist took the iconic cover photo for Big Star’s Radio City. He was known as the Warhol of Memphis - the hip scene was centered on him. I love this recently released collection of his synth experiments pic.twitter.com/Pby4ts8qOk

— the modern folk (@themodernfolk) September 14, 2022

WE mentioned several times upthread; this may be main re music:

Interesting facts gleaned Jovanovic book: piano on Nature Boy is played by William Eggleston. You can hear one of Eggleston's young sons fiddling around with an organ in the background. Eggleston had hurt his leg recently and was on crutches. At 2:03 you can hear one of his crutches fall off the piano and hit the ground; Chilton stifles a giggle

― I can't tell the difference between every village on your te (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, October 29, 2009

I've kinda always thought Eggleston was a fantastic photographer who was primarily known for his one "hit", that Radio City album cover.

I had no idea who William Eggleston was but I went to an exhibition of his years ago and I said to the person I was with, "These photos remind me of the Big Star, 'Radio City" cover", which I was quite proud of!

Eggleston was a heavy influence on a new generation of people taking photos of a ceiling fan

Spoon's Transference used one of his photos for the cover too, but I guess that's not nearly as well-known. (I like it though.)

"Like Flies On Sherbert" is another one.

There are a bunch of album covers with eggleston photos:
Primal Scream's Give Out but Don't Give Up
Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American
Green on Red's here Come the Snakes
Silver Jews' Tanglewood Numbers
Joanna Newsom's and the Ys Street Band
Black Keys' Delta Kream

I was introduced to Eggleston through Big Star as well, so I was a little surprised to learn later on that he is one of the most important figures in the history of color photography.

As far as I know, noone has used my favorite Eggleston photo as an album cover:
https://elephant.art/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/13.05-William-Eggleston-600x899.jpg

^^Pink Martini kicking themselves right now for passing that one by.

This revive caused me to finally pull the trigger on buying a (reprint) copy of William Eggleston's Guide.

Hadn't heard of that!
Recalling that Eggleston is xpost Lesa Aldridge's cousin, I searched their names together, but so far haven't found a WE pic of Alex and Lesa. Did find this somewhut atypical WE portrait, now in National Gallery, of Lesa consoling her friend Karen re "boy trouble," as the author says here; it's mostly about Eggleston and the making of the picture, without getting too forensic: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/they-needed-to-talk-152046601/
10 years later, this article about Lesa, by Holly George-Warren, author of the Chilton bio A Man Called Destruction, describes the boy trouble as being the circumstances under which the two girls met Chilton, and how he reacted when Karen tried to help him with his date, who was ODing or something, and yadda yadda later the three of them were in a little occasional band*, among the activities here I still hope to hear recorded evidence of, like the Alex & Lesa country tapes excerpted on Complete Third, along with Lesa's lead vocal on an outtake of "At The End of the Day" (HGW doesn't mention these as being among the scant legit release evidence of Lesa, because CT wasn't out yet or she hadn't heard it; also we now have--well I don't, but an LP of the Klitz reunion was announced, and I do somewhere have Edd's recording of a reunion show). Anyway, tells a lot of stuff, incl. relevant to AC and Big Star writing and covers ( Upthread, someone mentioned BS covering "The Bed," and Berlin is mentioned here re AC/LA relationship)
https://main.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/1150-the-muse-of-memphis

*

Another outlet for such music-making was Gangrene and the Scurvy Girls—Alex, Lesa, and Karen Chatham. In addition to old-timey tunes, the trio performed songs by Lou Reed, Bonzo Dog Band, the Troggs, and Les Paul and Mary Ford. They were mostly playing for the fun of it; the homespun trio rarely appeared in public. “I didn’t feel like he was humoring me,” Lesa reflects. “He really liked playing together.”

Don’t know what I did with it but for years I kept a souvenir ticket from a museum exhibition of his work in Germany which had a picture on it of a woman in a yellow dress sitting on a bench as if waiting for a bus. Exhibition had a cool title too.

Something like HI DERE WHAT IS IT MADE?

Misremembered the photo slightly. It’s one of the photos known as “Untitled (Memphis)”

http://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll00150lldYt9GFgUNECfDrCWvaHBOcJbYE/william-eggleston-untitled-(memphis).jpg

At War With The Obvious, maybe? Although that was the title of a show later at The Met.

Here's what seems to be a good article by a familiar name: https://www.salon.com/1999/09/07/eggleston/

It was How you look at it: Photographs of the 20th Century at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany, May 14-June 8, 2000. Not just Eggleston. Maybe I should buy the catalog.

https://gallery.98bowery.com/2022/william-eggleston-how-you-look-at-it-folded-card-sprengel-museum-hannover-germany-2000/

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/william_egglestons_photos_of_big_star

No doubt already linked upthread

My wallet doesn't thank you.

Meanwhile:

Amy: There’s a funny story I have about Alex and Lesa from early on, way before the Klitz formed. I was fifteen years old and my mother, who had just gotten divorced, was taking a trip to England. She had Lesa, who was eighteen or nineteen, babysit me and my younger sister Gretchen. My mom loved Lesa and figured she’d make a great babysitter since she had so many siblings (laughs). It was one nonstop party. Alex was over the whole time. I remember scrubbing wine stains out of the furniture before mother got home.

...Elise: We named the band on one drunken evening. Marcia thought of it. We were drinking at Zinnie’s, going over band names for forty-five minutes. Finally, Marcia said, “Let’s just name ourselves 'The Clits.’” Alex got that grin—"Klits with a 'K.’“ And I said, "Yeah. And let’s end it with a 'Z.’” That was it: “The Klitz.” Later on, I told my Granny Gail the name of our band. She replied, “Oh, yes, Klitz: German for 'pistol.’” She was German. Bless her heart.

Many years back I was working at a museum that put on an Eggleston show and I did a short interview with Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World about using an Eggleston artwork. https://unframed.lacma.org/2010/12/01/jim-adkins-of-jimmy-eat-world-on-william-eggleston-and-album-art

Nice! I like that comment about the trophies.

Yeah! Meanwhile,
At one point, Old Man Chilton described his later Big Star work as "the songs of a maudlin young man." Certainly not close to mostly true, but I'm reminded of it while listening again to his voice mushing all over "Holocaust," otherwise a good song and track. Listening again in comparison and high contrast to Pauline Murray and The Storm's take:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmOE6HuSnpk

Oops, sorry so late seeing this, Jody!

⭐ Please join us in wishing Jody Stephens a very Happy Birthday! ⭐ pic.twitter.com/hR8fGFqqXC

— Big Star (@BigStarBand) October 4, 2022

Yet another Omnivore sale, Less Than Perfect (applies to packaging only; we're assured that vinyl and discs "are fine"). 50 % off, ltd. quantities, Dec. 5-7 (sorry, I just now saw it). Incl. Big Star's Live At Lafayettes 2-LP, and the monster Chris Bell box:
http://omnivorerecordings.com/less-than-perfect/

Just now got around to reading Stanley Booth's Salon profile of Eggleston; thanks for the link!

:)

kinda amazing yoko ono doesn’t have credit on “holocaust” at this point.