BIG STAR might change your life...

Know of a great band you think we'd like to hear about? Got some music news? Or just want to talk about music in general? Post it here.

Moderators: Jonicont, mark lynn, Maluca3, Tequila Cowboy, BigTom, CooleyGirl, olwiggum

User avatar
Tequila Cowboy
Site Admin
Posts: 20230
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:12 pm
Location: The Twilight Zone, along with everyone else

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Here's a nice piece about John & Laurie Stirratt's remembrances of Alex Chilton.

http://southernglossary.com/features/20 ... e-stirratt
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

User avatar
Kudzu Guillotine
Posts: 11761
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:46 am

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Image

Natalie Portman sporting a Jess Rotter designed Big Star shirt. I've mentioned Jess a few times here recently due to a feature Dust & Grooves did on her a few weeks back. She also designed the cover for the Country Funk compilation. Of course, this photo prompts the question of whether or not Natalie is even a fan of Big Star or if she's just making a fashion statement. In the photo below she's wearing a Link Wray shirt (also designed by Jess) so I'm guessing it may be a little bit of both. It doesn't look like the Big Star shirt is for sale through her website but she does have the Link Wray ones for sale. I love the design but $39 a pop is pretty pricey.

Image

User avatar
Rocky
Posts: 1958
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Richmond, Va.

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Rocky »

The documentary came out on Netflix last Tuesday (Nov. 26th) and I watched it over the weekend. I liked it a lot but thought it started to drag towards the end. I knew the Big Star story for the most part except I didn't realize Chris Bell lived for 6 more years after # 1 record was released. Crying fucking shame he didn't stick it out but I guess that wouldn't have been that long anyhow.

The general consensus seems to be that the third record is the best and it seems so unfinished and deprressing to me.
I thought the first was the best of the lot but I seem to be alone on this one.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

User avatar
Tequila Cowboy
Site Admin
Posts: 20230
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:12 pm
Location: The Twilight Zone, along with everyone else

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Rocky wrote:The general consensus seems to be that the third record is the best and it seems so unfinished and deprressing to me.
I thought the first was the best of the lot but I seem to be alone on this one.


You're not alone. I love Third/Sister Lovers but the real magic of Big Star was the yin/yang of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. #1 Record had that of course, and Chris Bell's posthumously released I Am The Cosmos had some of that too, despite Chilton almost phoning in his parts. As such those are my most listened to records but by no means do I dismiss Radio City or the aforementioned third record.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

User avatar
RevMatt
Posts: 3339
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:13 pm
Location: Normaltown, USA
Contact:

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by RevMatt »

I bought the documentary on dvd this weekend and watched it once. It is enjoyable. What I liked is that the film focused a whole lot on Ardent studios and their relationship with the band, how there was a shortage of trained studio engineers in Memphis and the studio's willingness to teach musicians how to record was what made Big Star possible. Unlike most bands, Big Star didn't come up through the clubs but by working the overnight hours at Ardent for the price of two inch tape. I bought all four albums on vinyl this fall -- IMO I Am The Cosmos is as much a Big Star album as Third. Listening to Big Star on any sort of digital format borders on blasphemy as so much of that band's focus was getting these great and unique sounds on tape.

From what I've read Chris Bell seemed to have put many of his personal problems (drugs, anger) behind him when he died. My main beef with the documentary is that the people interviewed acted as though his early death was somehow inevitable. But from what I understand he was happy at the time of his death, drug free and the car accident was simply an accident. Maybe a couple years earlier an early death seemed inevitable but I consider his death to be a fluke like Stevie Ray Vaughn's.

I don't know which album I like the most. It changes on any given day. The third album is fantastic but on some days Radio City is my favorite.

I first became aware of Big Star around 1982 - 83, when Peter Buck started mentioning them in interviews. My drummer bought the double album that had the first two records on it and I could not only see the influence on REM but also on NJ bands like The Feelies and The Bongos. Chris Stamey had also relocated to NJ at that time and their influence on The db's is also huge. However, in the past few months I've really been binging on Big Star. It seems like every time I listen to them I discover something new in the music.
I have nowhere else to go. There is no demand in the priesthood for elderly drug addicts

User avatar
Tequila Cowboy
Site Admin
Posts: 20230
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:12 pm
Location: The Twilight Zone, along with everyone else

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

I don't know how happy Bell was. He was still a closeted gay man in Memphis as he was working in his family's restaurant which he hated.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

User avatar
linkous
Posts: 1383
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 1:46 pm
Location: scotland

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by linkous »

Watched the DVD last night, very interesting stuff. From what Ardent staffers were saying the first record got great reviews, but it was the poor distribution that stopped it being a big hit. It's almost unfathomable that could happen these days. Nowadays if a record gets great reviews, and you factor in that even obscure records are available in any format (online and instore), and at a click of a mouse on Itunes etc, it seems that Big Star were a victim of the times, rather than the quality of their music meaning lack of sales at the time. Then again they made that music at, and for those times.

Listening to Chris Bell's I Am The Cosmos just now. I agree with RevMatt, it's a much a Big Star album as Third/Sister Lovers is.

One last thing, as much as I adore Big Star, sometimes the vocals just grate on me on a handful of the songs - is it just me?

User avatar
RevMatt
Posts: 3339
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:13 pm
Location: Normaltown, USA
Contact:

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by RevMatt »

linkous wrote:One last thing, as much as I adore Big Star, sometimes the vocals just grate on me on a handful of the songs - is it just me?

Not at all. The thing with Big Star is that, unlike many bands, their arrangements are not simply backing up the vocalist. The guitar work, percussion as well as the melotron tracks are very complex. Sometimes the vocals can be a distraction, especially on the more rocking songs. It is not that the vocals are bad. It is just that there is soooo much going on in the song that you have to listen without focusing on the vocals. On the mellower songs like "Thirteen" the vocals are perfect.

One thing I've posted before that surprises me is that many of the people who discovered Big Star in the 80's and 90's are completely unfamiliar with Todd Rundgren's body of work. They were two similar artists working around the same time. Rundgren, however, sold way more records because he had better distribution.
I have nowhere else to go. There is no demand in the priesthood for elderly drug addicts

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by beantownbubba »

RevMatt wrote:They were two similar artists working around the same time. Rundgren, however, sold way more records because he had better distribution.


I don't know how you can say this, Rev. How do any of us know why some records/artists sell and some don't? In fact, if we did, this board would probably have about 500 fewer threads and thousands of fewer entries speculating on that very subject.

I'm also not sure that Big Star and Rundgren were similar artists. Some of Rundgren's stuff overlapped w/ Big Star, but as lotus pointed out in so many ways in his excellent Rundgren AOTW, Todd did so many different things in so many different styles from the most straightforward pop to the most obscure experimental that I think it's a stretch to say they were similar artists. I suppose they did both use the studio in creative ways but I'd say that there too there's some overlap rather than similarity.

Rocky wrote:The general consensus seems to be that the third record is the best and it seems so unfinished and deprressing to me.
I thought the first was the best of the lot but I seem to be alone on this one.


I can't back this up at all but I'm gonna say it anyway: Third is for critics, the first is for fans. I bet that almost everyone who got into Big Star after the band broke up, which is pretty much everyone who's a fan now, did so through one of the first 2 records and not the 3rd.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

User avatar
RevMatt
Posts: 3339
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:13 pm
Location: Normaltown, USA
Contact:

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by RevMatt »

Here is a live concert from 1974. It is a three piece.


I love all three albums. Third is one I have to really be in the right frame of mind for. It is like listening to a Nick Drake album. Third is a great record but it is less of a collaboration than the others.

As far as why they didn't sell, both the Big Star bio and the documentary lay it on the distribution. The first album received great reviews but Stax at the time couldn't get the record into the stores. This had a negative effect on radio airplay because the stations were reluctant to play a record that the listeners couldn't purchase.
I have nowhere else to go. There is no demand in the priesthood for elderly drug addicts

User avatar
GW in IA
Posts: 1621
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:46 pm
Location: You're never too old to go to Space Camp dude.

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by GW in IA »

Just saw the doc tonight. I've been too distracted and maybe just a bit obstinate to give them a chance, but timing is everything, I just fell head over heels, and now I have an eleven hour drive down to AR to submerse myself. Cant wait.
Reluctantly, our hero rises to the day, with a moan and a curse to an absent God.

User avatar
Shakespeare
Posts: 2452
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:25 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Shakespeare »

i love all three records (and i am the cosmos) dearly, but radio city is easily my favorite. #1 record is second. i love the bell/chilton dynamic, but some of the acoustic stuff on the second half starts to lose me. good songs (big star didnt really do bad ones, except maybe the india song) but definitely a comedown from the ridiculous first half. i adore watch the sunrise though. top 5 big star song

i just love the guitar work on radio city, and september gurls might be my favorite song ever. its a shame alex and chris couldnt stick it out long enough to adapt and grow as a pair, but if bell leaving gave chilton the chance to indulge his inner guitarist more, totally worth it.

third is a great album but its definitely more of a mood piece. i can listen to the first two pretty much whenever, not so much with third. when im in the mood it kills though.

i am the cosmos (the song) is about as good as any big star song. underrated album for sure

havent seen this doc yet, but probably in the next few days.

User avatar
sactochris
Posts: 2581
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:47 pm
Location: Orangevale, California

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by sactochris »

Rocky wrote:The documentary came out on Netflix last Tuesday (Nov. 26th) and I watched it over the weekend.



Did you stream it? I can't seem to find it on Netflix.
Keep calm and have a cigar

User avatar
Rocky
Posts: 1958
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Richmond, Va.

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Rocky »

sactochris wrote:
Rocky wrote:The documentary came out on Netflix last Tuesday (Nov. 26th) and I watched it over the weekend.


Did you stream it? I can't seem to find it on Netflix.

Nope they sent me an ol' fashioned disc in the mail. I think it's called Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

emandrisdad
Posts: 648
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:20 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by emandrisdad »

Its available for streaming on Netflix now

User avatar
sactochris
Posts: 2581
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:47 pm
Location: Orangevale, California

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by sactochris »

emandrisdad wrote:Its available for streaming on Netflix now




I finally got to see it now that you can stream it on Netflix. It's amazing! It makes me want to move to Memphis; the 1973 version of Memphis that is.
Keep calm and have a cigar

User avatar
Kudzu Guillotine
Posts: 11761
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:46 am

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

From the Big Star's Third blog, news of four new shows happening in August and September. #1 Record will also be covered this time out. I just pulled the trigger on a ticket for the Cat's Cradle show on the 22nd. This is the line up for that one (I understand Ken Stringfellow of the Posies will also be taking part):

Featuring JODY STEPHENS (Big Star), MIKE MILLS (R.E.M.), MITCH EASTER (Let's Active), TIFT MERRITT, CHRIS STAMEY (the dB's), THE CONNELLS, GARY LOURIS (the Jayhawks), DJANGO HASKINS (The Old Ceremony), BRETT HARRIS, SKYLAR GUDASZ, MATT MCMICHAELS (Mayflies USA) AND MORE

We’re pleased to announce four upcoming shows in August and September!

August 22: Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC
August 23: 9:30 Club in Washington, DC
August 31: Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA
September 27: Benefit for The Wild Honey Foundation in Los Angeles, CA

Stay tuned for guest vocalists and musicians for each show.

User avatar
Rocky
Posts: 1958
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Richmond, Va.

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Rocky »

Very cool.

Head's Up: all songs will be backed by a chamber orchestra.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

User avatar
Kudzu Guillotine
Posts: 11761
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:46 am

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Rocky wrote:Head's Up: all songs will be backed by a chamber orchestra.


I'm not sure if this one will be different but when they did this at the Cradle for 2 nights back in 2010, the "orchestra" featured members of Lost In the Trees (who have since downsized). There was also a local trumpet player named Michael Stipe who was part of the ensemble that caused a bit of confusion.

teleburst
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by teleburst »

Chris' death was definitely a fluke. But he wasn't drug free at the time. He was on Quaaludes when he had the wreck. It wasn't that serious of a wreck EXCEPT that the light pole that he hit fell backwards on him. He was driving his convertible Triumph (a TR-6 IIRC).

I don't have time at the moment but I'll post my 2 Alex stories later.

BTW, I've been a Big Star fan since the first album. The "underground" dj in Memphis played the first album a lot when it came out and I was a big fan in my senior year in high school. Big Star is part of my DNA. When the 3rd album came out, I didn't get it at all (I had a white label test pressing that I got from Rick Clark, who wrote the liner notes to Bell's album). I played it on the radio long before it was first released (I think it took something like 2 years to get released). The test pressing was the version that was finally released. The first version in the late 70s was different. I didn't really like it much at all but it's become my favorite album. It's dark, intense, and full of chaos, and that's why I love it so much. And Steve Cropper's on the album.


teleburst
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by teleburst »

Here are my two Alex stories.

Around '75, one of my roommates decided that he had to have a goldtop Les Paul. So he decided to sell his pristine '63 sunburst Strat. He put an ad in the paper for $400. I was sitting around the house one afternoon when I got a call about it. I told the guy to come over and about 15 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. When I opened it, it was Alex and Lesa, looking for all the world like two waifs from The Dead End Kids. I invited them in and Alex sat down for a couple of minutes with the guitar. He asked if I thought that the roomie would take less for it. I told him that I didn't think so but that he was welcome to call back. He never did. My roommate ended up selling the Strat and buying a brand new goldtop LP. Looking back now, one is probably worth $20k (or more) and the other about a third of that.

About a year or two later, we were having a party for about 100 of our friends. The house had 4 roommates and we had one of those big boxy 4 bedroom stone houses in midtown Memphis with a large parlor and living room, just perfect for parties. This was one of our typical 3 keggers with all sorts of "party favors". Back in those days, we were all about stuff like Zappa, Beefheart, Velvet Underground, and import records like Can, Amon Duul, etc. Together, we had cobbled together a mighty audio system. We had a Crown IC-150 preamp and a DC-300 power amp. We had Large Advents. We had a Dual 1225 turntable, and a high end Teac cassette deck and reel to reel. I had about 500 albums and scads of homemade cassettes. I had been doing radio shows for around 3 years by that point. I was around 24. Our parties were full of smoke, beer, and loud music. Anyway, that night, we must have been playing something like Trout Mask Replica or Roxy and Elsewhere very loud when I saw Alex come in with a mutual friend. He made a beeline to the keg, pulled a beer, and started talking to someone, who pointed to me. He came over, with a kinda pained expression on his face. He shouted to me something like, "Do you mind if I look through your records and put something on"? I thought to myself, "You're Alexfuckingchilton, of course you can". I pointed him to the albums and said, "Sure thing". He got down on the floor and started going through the crates. I think that I thought to myself, "He'll see the Big Star albums and be impressed <g>". He went past them, stopped and pulled out an album right after Big Star, handed it to me and said, "This one"? I looked at it and said, "Sure". I took off whatever was blasting and put on the album. Soon, the opening started wafting through the house - "Wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long...". His face brightened, he looked around, put his mostly full plastic cup of beer on the mantle next to the turntable, and left the party. I could almost see the thought balloon over his head that said, "My job here is done".

User avatar
Tequila Cowboy
Site Admin
Posts: 20230
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:12 pm
Location: The Twilight Zone, along with everyone else

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Great stories! Thanks for sharing!
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

User avatar
Rocky
Posts: 1958
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Richmond, Va.

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Rocky »

Teleburst, I want to party with you cowboy.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

teleburst
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by teleburst »

Rocky wrote:Teleburst, I want to party with you cowboy.


Well, maybe in the 70s. Those were some wild times. I got to have Furry Lewis play on my couch once for a few bucks and a pint of cognac. He deserved a lot more, but what did WE know as snotty, albeit hip, middle-class kids?

I'm just kinda surprised that I survived the 70s. There was definitely risky behavior going on. Memphis was as good a place as any to indulge in recklessness. I think doing radio at WLYX FM-89 (at the time Southwestern at Memphis, now renamed Rhodes College) as a volunteer for 7 years might have kept me from going overboard. I probably did more hours over there than anyone else. As an aside, that's the station where Alex and Jody performed as Big Star in Feb. '75 and can be found on boot as Big Star Live on WLYX 1975 (no, I wasn't there, nor did I actually hear the broadcast live - I had been there about 6 months at that point). You think Sister Lovers is chaotic? This is one shambolic performance.

I did eventually interview Lesa when her band The Klitz put out a single. She gave me an autographed 8X10 B&W of her nude but wrapped in saran wrap.

I never saw the original band but saw them in the early noughts here in Nashville. Only saw Alex two other times. The first was in the late 70s with his only-around-for-about-a-minute band, The Yard Dogs. It was a trio, with Richard Roseborough on drums, an unknown brilliant guitarist named Chris Thompson (I think), and Alex. They did a busking gig at noon on the Mid-America Mall downtown doing Charlie Feathers tunes, blues rambles, etc. Man were they great. The other time was a solo gig in the 90s down on Front Street at The North End. Lesa was actually there, having been married for a long time at that point and having moved to Nashville I think.

I mostly missed the Tav Falco and Panther Burns period as I had joined the Army and moved to Germany from 83-91. In fact, I missed a lot of the American music scene of that period, some of which I'm grateful for but also meant that I had a lot of catching up to do on the good stuff when I got back. But ask me about Paul Young and Simply Red and Depeche Mode and I can hang with the best of them.

teleburst
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by teleburst »

One day, I might tell the story of how I helped bail Chrissie Hynde out of jail in Memphis in 1980 and how I pissed off Bono the next year on the Boy tour.

User avatar
tinnitus photography
Posts: 7251
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:49 pm
Contact:

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by tinnitus photography »

teleburst wrote:I did eventually interview Lesa when her band The Klitz put out a single. She gave me an autographed 8X10 B&W of her nude but wrapped in saran wrap.


decades ago, a friend of mine bought a t shirt from Christina at a Boss Hog show which featured the first LP cover. he said it was a little awkward (for him, anyway - i'm sure she didn't give a shit).

User avatar
RolanK
Posts: 3037
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:52 am
Location: drivin' home early Sunday morning through Bakersfield

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by RolanK »

teleburst wrote:One day, I might tell the story of how I helped bail Chrissie Hynde out of jail in Memphis in 1980 and how I pissed off Bono the next year on the Boy tour.


Let me guess. You're the guy who stole his suitcase which had his notebook in it with all the scribblings and lyrics ideas for the upcoming recording session for the October album?
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa

User avatar
Rocky
Posts: 1958
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Richmond, Va.

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by Rocky »

teleburst wrote:Well, maybe in the 70s. Those were some wild times. I got to have Furry Lewis play on my couch once for a few bucks and a pint of cognac. He deserved a lot more, but what did WE know as snotty, albeit hip, middle-class kids?

I read all about Furry Lewis in your fellow Memphisian's Don Nix's book . I'm jealous.

Never saw Alex or Big Star. The reconstituted Big Star (with the Posies) played the Beale Street Music Festival in 2006. I booked the trip and went the next year but they didn't play that year. Arrrrghhh!

Teleburst, anyone that pisses off Bono is Ok with me. :D
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

teleburst
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: BIG STAR might change your life...

Post by teleburst »

RolanK wrote:
teleburst wrote:One day, I might tell the story of how I helped bail Chrissie Hynde out of jail in Memphis in 1980 and how I pissed off Bono the next year on the Boy tour.


Let me guess. You're the guy who stole his suitcase which had his notebook in it with all the scribblings and lyrics ideas for the upcoming recording session for the October album?


I wish. I'd be a wealthy man now. If I had known that he might have been carrying it around, I'd have snatched that sucker quicker than you could say Belfast.

Just kidding.

But it WAS the eve of Bono's 21st birthday. Which is the crux of the story.

Post Reply