I never travel far.... without a little Big Star!

[VicAjax]

so, i was digging through my old sidelined cd's, and i can't believe i ever stuck my Big Star albums in storage. popped on sister lovers, and just got swept right back into sweet, melancholy adolescence.

any other Big Star fans?

 

[sno1man]

A bunch of Memphis boys done good. Alex Chilton is still royalty there.

I've got the #1 record-radio city CD re-release. I love September Gurls and In the Street

 

[AdamWill]

heck yes. BTW, an amazingly good Big Star CD if you can find it is called Columbia. I got a copy in a random small second hand store. It's from a reunion show at some college in 1993 - Alex Chilton was around, they asked him to play a Big Star gig and he said 'sure, why not?' They pulled a band together for it (couple of guys from the Posies along with Alex and Jody), and it's an amazingly good show. They even played Chris Bell's 'I Am The Cosmos', from his solo album released before he died (it's also called I Am The Cosmos, definitely buy it if you can find it, too). They're inexplicably unknown outside music geeks, but massively influential and very well-respected by musicians.

Oh, and finally, Sister Lovers is more of an Alex Chilton solo album, according to the history. He wrote it all and he's pretty much the only consistent artist, the rest of the music was done by a wide range of people. Radio City and #1 Record are the only true Big Star studio albums, sadly. Sister Lovers *is* a great record, though, for all its oddness - Holocaust and Kanga-Roo are amazing tracks.

 

[markl]

The new SACD of #1 Record / Radio City is friggin AWESOME!

Much much better sounding than the early 90's Ryko CD version. There's also a recent Best Of called "Big Star Story" that also sounds very good. I could never get into Sister Lovers/Third when I owned it years ago, way too sordid and depressing; I need to try to find another copy and try it again.


P.S. And when oh when are they going to remaster and rerelease the Replacements albums anyway?

 

[sno1man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl P.S. And when oh when are they going to remaster and rerelease the Replacements albums anyway?

Heh, The Replacements song "Alex Chilton" is how I heard of Big Star

Two great bands

 

[AdamWill]

markl: is it pure SACD or hybrid? Is there a standard CD version, if it's pure? A nicer version than the Rykodisc one sure sounds good.

 

[markl]

AdamWill, yes, it's a hybrid. CD layer is almost as good as SACD.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamWill heck yes. BTW, an amazingly good Big Star CD if you can find it is called Columbia. I got a copy in a random small second hand store. It's from a reunion show at some college in 1993 - Alex Chilton was around, they asked him to play a Big Star gig and he said 'sure, why not?' They pulled a band together for it (couple of guys from the Posies along with Alex and Jody), and it's an amazingly good show. They even played Chris Bell's 'I Am The Cosmos', from his solo album released before he died (it's also called I Am The Cosmos, definitely buy it if you can find it, too). They're inexplicably unknown outside music geeks, but massively influential and very well-respected by musicians.

yes... i have this... great supplement to their original albums. chilton full of spit n vinegar, as always. i love the cover of "Motel Blues."

Quote:

Oh, and finally, Sister Lovers is more of an Alex Chilton solo album, according to the history. He wrote it all and he's pretty much the only consistent artist, the rest of the music was done by a wide range of people. Radio City and #1 Record are the only true Big Star studio albums, sadly. Sister Lovers *is* a great record, though, for all its oddness - Holocaust and Kanga-Roo are amazing tracks.

yeah... it's sort of big star's abbey road... but man, what an epic album. possibly the darkest, saddest album i've ever heard.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl AdamWill, yes, it's a hybrid. CD layer is almost as good as SACD.

oh... that's good to know. i'll definitely have to get that.... i'm not sure, but i think my copy actually predates the ryko release. i've had it since the early 90s. my copy of sister lovers is ryko, though... and sounds decidedly better.

bell/chilton reminds me of the creative chaos of grant/mould. too bad big star couldn't last for one or two more albums.

 

[AdamWill]

markl: great news, I'll have to track it down! thanks for the pointer.