Big Star Radio City released

Radio City Big Star

Released: February 20, 1974 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. O My Soul (4/74, --) Life Is White Way Out West What’s Going Ahn You Get What You Deserve Mod Lang Back of a Car Daisy Glaze She’s a Mover September Gurls (5/74, --) Morpha Too I’m in Love with a Girl Total Running Time: 36:14 The Players: Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar) Andy Hummel (bass) Jody Stephens (drums, vocals)

Rating: 4.226 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “In late 1972, following the release of the debut album, #1 Record, founding member Chris Bell left the group and the band became inactive for four months.” WK “Bell had already contributed to the music and lyrics of O My Soul and Back of a Car – songs which Alex Chilton recalls were written ‘by committee’ – but receives no official credit. Chilton, aided by drummer Richard Rosebrough and at times by bassist Danny Jones, completed the recording of Mod Lang, She’s a Mover, and What’s Going Ahn without Jody Stephens or Andy Hummell.” WK With Bell largely absent from Radio City, the album “lacked something of the pop sweetness (especially the harmonies) of #1 Record.” WR It was “a more cohesive album but also allowed Chilton to become a bit more self-indulgent. “ PK His “urgency (sometimes desperation) on songs that made his case as a genuine rock & roll eccentric. If #1 Record had a certain pop perfection that brought everything together, Radio City was the sound of everything falling apart, which proved at least as compelling.” WR “The album is no less stirring, with a handful of pop classics.” PK “Radio City is notable for its unique, chewy guitar sound and live-sounding yet meticulous textures, and for its somewhat tortuous recording history. The album shows the influence of British Invasion bands such as The Beatles and The Kinks.” WK “The album included September Gurls and Back of a Car, which remain among the most famous Big Star songs; both the Searchers and the Bangles have covered ‘September Gurls.’” WK “Critically acclaimed upon its release, the record sold poorly, partly due to a lack of promotion and the distribution problems of the band’s struggling record label, Ardent Records.” WK “Stax Records, primary distributor for the band’s Ardent Records label, had recently placed distribution of its catalog in the hands of the much larger Columbia Records; Radio City’s release coincided with a disagreement between Stax and Columbia, which left Columbia refusing to distribute the catalog. As a result, the album achieved only minimal sales of around 20,000 copies at the time.” WK “It is now recognized as a milestone album in the history of power pop music.” WK “Some of the outtakes from the album include ‘I Got Kinda Lost,’ ‘Gone with the Light,’ ‘Motel Blues’ and ‘There Was a Life’ (an early version of "There Was a Light" from Chris Bell’s I Am the Cosmos CD).

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Big Star WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide PK Pop Kulcher/Marc Fagel Greatest Rock & Roll Albums of All Time WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/21/2010; last updated 6/7/2024.

Big Star #1 Record released

#1 Record Big Star

Released: April 24, 1972 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU, 11 DF Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Feel The Ballad of el Goodo In the Street (4/72, 26 CO, 3 DF) Thirteen (3/72, 29 CL, 19 CO, 3 DF) Don’t Lie to Me (7/72, 35 DF) The India Song When My Baby’s Beside Me (4/72, 35 DF) My Life Is Right Give Me Another Chance Try Again Watch the Sunrise ST 100/6 Total Running Time: 37:03 The Players: Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar) Chris Bell (guitar, vocals) Andy Hummel (bass, vocals) Jody Stephens (drums)

Rating: 3.785 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: When #1 Record, “the debut album by the American power pop group Big Star” WK was released, “an inability by Stax Records to make the album available in stores virtually eliminated sales.” WK However, it “immediately received widespread acclaim.” WK “Many critics praised the album’s elegant vocal harmonies and refined songcraft (frequently drawing comparisons to the British Invasion groups of the 1960s, including The Beatles, The Kinks and The Who).” WK “Record World called it ‘one of the best albums of the year’, and Billboard commented, ‘Every cut could be a single.’ In a lengthy and enthusiastic review, Rolling Stone pronounced the album ‘exceptionally good,’ while Cashbox described it as one where ‘everything falls together as a total sound’ and one which ‘should go to the top.’ The River City Review’s reaction to the album was to state that ‘Big Star will be around for many moons.’” WK “While Big Star was all but unknown during the band’s sadly brief existence, these days they’re probably second only to the Velvet Underground in the pantheon of legendary underground bands. Their Beatlesque power-pop and balladry may have been out of place amidst the Zeppelin-esque hard rockers and bloated prog spectacles populating the early ‘70s music scene, but they set the stage for everyone from Matthew Sweet to Teenage Fanclub; the Replacements went so far as to immortalize Big Star's iconoclastic frontman Alex Chilton in a song named after him.” PK “Unlike the Velvet Underground, who really did produce a lot of stuff lovable only to other rock bands and music critics, Big Star recorded perfect pop songs that, in a better world, would be surefire hits instantly known to anyone in possession of a radio.” PK Modeled after the Beatles’ songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most of the song’s were credited to the band’s co-founders Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, who “took turns belting out upbeat, raging power-pop…and crooning acoustic ballads.” PK In some cases, they had written songs before Big Star formed. Bell had already composed Feel, Try Again and My Life Is Right while Chilton had written Thirteen, The Ballad of El Goodo, In the Street and Watch the Sunrise. WK “In practice, they developed material incrementally in the studio, each making changes to the other's recordings. Drummer Jody Stephens recalled, ‘Alex would come in and put down something rough and edgy and Chris would come in and add some sweet-sounding background vocals to it.’” WK Sadly, this was the only Big Star to official feature Bell as a member, although he made some contributions to Big City, the 1974 follow-up album. WK One of the disadvantages the album has because of such poor sales but high praise is that most people “probably encountered the work it influenced first, so its truly innovative qualities are lost.” WR That means the average listener “may be reminded of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers or R.E.M., who came after – that is, if you don’t think of the Byrds and the Beatles, circa 1965. What was remarkable about #1 Record in 1972 was that nobody except Big Star (and maybe Badfinger and the Raspberries) wanted to sound like this – simple, light pop with sweet harmonies and jangly guitars. Since then, dozens of bands have rediscovered those pleasures. But in a way, that’s an advantage because, whatever freshness is lost across the years, Big Star’s craft is only confirmed. These are sturdy songs, feelingly performed, and once you get beyond the style to the content, you’ll still be impressed.” WR Years later, “a version of ‘In the Street’ by Ben Vaughn was used as the theme song of That ‘70s Show, which was changed to a version by Cheap Trick after the first season. ‘Thirteen’ has also been used in several episodes of That 70’s Show.” WR

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Big Star WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide PK Pop Kulcher/Marc Fagel Greatest Rock & Roll Albums of All Time WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/21/2010; last updated 6/7/2024.