While I was watching the Stax Records Story on PBS a few weeks ago, I kept thinking of the first Big Star record that got neglected in the label's early 70s shuffle when Stax declared bankruptcy and were bought by CBS. Ardent Records (a Stax subsidiary) released Big Star's #1 Record in early 1972, and the album received lots of glowing reviews from the rock press, but no one could find it in stores. The album sold fewer than 5000 copies, and was ostensibly "out of print" just a few months after it was released, since it wasn't available to purchase.
In his introduction of "Thirteen" on Ryko's Live album, Alex Chilton says "this is a song from our first record, that can't be found anywhere. I can't even find any copies at Ardent Records". He said this less than two years after the album came out. Until it was reissued, #1 Record was as rare as Game Theory's original Blaze of Glory LP is now.
In the CD age, #1 Record has always been paired with Big Star's second album Radio City, so it's hard for most folks to think of it as it's own standalone album. Radio City is one of the greatest albums ever, and #1 Record is half great/half okay (if you throw out Andy Hummel's "India Song" which isn't bad, but doesn't fit at all). The first side has four or five great songs in a row (thru "The India Song"), which are some of their most popular and best-known songs. Below are covers of these first five songs on #1 Record.
One of Big Star's biggest acolytes who brought them to prominence in the early 90s were The Posies, who covered #1 Record's "Feel" on the B-side to "Suddenly Mary". Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer had the Big Star sound down pat, and later joined up with Chilton and Jody Stephens in Big Star II, initially a one-off Missouri show in 1993 (documented on the out of print Columbia CD) then a 1994 appearance on the Tonight show (viewable on youtube), which developed into an ongoing touring Big Star band. They even made a studio album in 2005. The less said about that, the better, but the reunited Big Star are still touring -- they're playing the Fillmore in SF later this Fall.
Matthew Sweet's and Juliana Hatfield's covers of "El Goodo" and "Don't Lie To Me" are from a Big Star tribute Small World, which was recorded in the mid 90s but didn't come out until last year. It's a standard 1996 tribute album with all the big names from that age (Sweet, Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, Whiskeytown, Afghan Whigs) that didn't come out until 2006, so it's like a double anachronism. What an appropriate way to pay tribute to Big Star?
Elliott Smith's cover of "Thirteen" was also recorded in the early 1990s but not released until 2007, on his posthumous New Moon CD. "Thirteen" is Big Star's most popular song according to last.fm, with nearly twice as many plays as any of their others. It's been covered a bunch of times (probably because it's easy to play) and credited as the first "emo" song, which is probably not a good thing. The song is kind of played out now, but it's still a gem.
"In The Street" (played on that Tonight Show clip) is now mostly known as the theme to That 70s Show, and it's one of the few Big Star songs that Alex plays at his solo shows. The link is from a solo live album recorded in Belgium in 2004, demonstrating that Chilton might be an oddball, but the dude can still sing it. Most of the Chilton/Bell songs on #1 Record were either Chilton songs or Bell songs, but "In The Street" was truly co-written. If only they were both around to make money from its TV show residuals.
Note: I've received complaints in comments and via email about divshare as a web host. All the uploading and downloading has always worked for me. And it's free, which fits my budget. If it doesn't work for you, keep trying. If I keep hearing complaints, I'm going back to esnips for hosting. And nobody wants that!In his introduction of "Thirteen" on Ryko's Live album, Alex Chilton says "this is a song from our first record, that can't be found anywhere. I can't even find any copies at Ardent Records". He said this less than two years after the album came out. Until it was reissued, #1 Record was as rare as Game Theory's original Blaze of Glory LP is now.
In the CD age, #1 Record has always been paired with Big Star's second album Radio City, so it's hard for most folks to think of it as it's own standalone album. Radio City is one of the greatest albums ever, and #1 Record is half great/half okay (if you throw out Andy Hummel's "India Song" which isn't bad, but doesn't fit at all). The first side has four or five great songs in a row (thru "The India Song"), which are some of their most popular and best-known songs. Below are covers of these first five songs on #1 Record.
One of Big Star's biggest acolytes who brought them to prominence in the early 90s were The Posies, who covered #1 Record's "Feel" on the B-side to "Suddenly Mary". Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer had the Big Star sound down pat, and later joined up with Chilton and Jody Stephens in Big Star II, initially a one-off Missouri show in 1993 (documented on the out of print Columbia CD) then a 1994 appearance on the Tonight show (viewable on youtube), which developed into an ongoing touring Big Star band. They even made a studio album in 2005. The less said about that, the better, but the reunited Big Star are still touring -- they're playing the Fillmore in SF later this Fall.
Matthew Sweet's and Juliana Hatfield's covers of "El Goodo" and "Don't Lie To Me" are from a Big Star tribute Small World, which was recorded in the mid 90s but didn't come out until last year. It's a standard 1996 tribute album with all the big names from that age (Sweet, Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, Whiskeytown, Afghan Whigs) that didn't come out until 2006, so it's like a double anachronism. What an appropriate way to pay tribute to Big Star?
Elliott Smith's cover of "Thirteen" was also recorded in the early 1990s but not released until 2007, on his posthumous New Moon CD. "Thirteen" is Big Star's most popular song according to last.fm, with nearly twice as many plays as any of their others. It's been covered a bunch of times (probably because it's easy to play) and credited as the first "emo" song, which is probably not a good thing. The song is kind of played out now, but it's still a gem.
"In The Street" (played on that Tonight Show clip) is now mostly known as the theme to That 70s Show, and it's one of the few Big Star songs that Alex plays at his solo shows. The link is from a solo live album recorded in Belgium in 2004, demonstrating that Chilton might be an oddball, but the dude can still sing it. Most of the Chilton/Bell songs on #1 Record were either Chilton songs or Bell songs, but "In The Street" was truly co-written. If only they were both around to make money from its TV show residuals.
- Feel - The Posies
- The Ballad of El Goodo - Matthew Sweet
- In The Street - Alex Chilton
- Thirteen - Elliott Smith
- Don't Lie To Me - Juliana Hatfield
2 comments:
I use Divshare too - and aside from every once in a while it being slow, I've had no problems. Sure, it'd be nice if you could just right-click on the link and have it automagically download the mp3...but at least for my site, I'd do that only if people were willing to pay me for the cost of a service that does that. Plus, Divshare claims they're releasing a big upgrade in a short while: could be they just need to upgrade their servers or something. Or hire new gerbils to power them. Or however that works.
I always thought that "in the street" was a cover from cheap trick, but now I don't know if they covered it.
When I first heard 1st record, I couldn't believe it was made at 1972.
REM, who are 3000 million times more famous than Big Star seems like amateur musicians comparing to Big Star.
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