Hey Everyone - Happy July!  It's mid-July and I still haven't turned on the AC.  (I know, I know, the fact that the Earth has gotten cooler over the past decade and this is one of the coolest summers on record is just more proof that the Earth is getting warmer...just like the weak sales of the latest U2 album is proof that they're getting more popular...and Boston isn't a college town).  Just back from cleaning out 40 years of accumulated stuff from my wife's family home near Boston and it's been hard to concentrate on anything other than endless trips to the dumpster.  Driving back home I listened to the Beach Boys Today! / Summer Days and Summer Nights.  I'm not a good enough guitarist to be able to explain it in words, but I could definitely hear more of how Carl Wilson influenced Alex on guitar when I focused on his parts.  There's this subtle little flourish thing Carl did that Alex picked up and...well, I told you I couldn't describe it...

By now I'm sure you've perused the track list for the Big Star box set (link to Amazon below if you haven't – they're also starting to lower the price for pre-orders).  What's my take?  I'll be thrilled to get it.  My only concern before hearing it (CAVEAT!  PLEASE NOTE! I'm not one of those obsessive fans who freaks out and criticizes a recording / movie / whatever before they see or hear it.  This is just idle musing for entertainment purposes.  Got it?)  the use of alternate mixes for some of the tracks for #1 and RC to the exclusion of the LP versions (it appears that 3rd is presented intact).  There's an assumption made that you have the original recordings (and I'm sure that few who buy the box set won't have the originals).  But knowing at least some of the people involved, I'm sure there was good reason for the way things were done.  I'll probably just load all the discs into my Mac and then make discs that edit out all the original versions, not wanting to mess with the perfection of the original discs in my head.  Even if the alternate mixes are better (who knows?  they might be...) I'll still want to hear them separately rather than in the flow of the album.     

As I've noted before, Big Star fans are going to freak when they hear Alex's acoustic demoes for Life Is White and What's Going Ahn.  The only track not on the box that I would have lobbied to include would be an instrumental track for September Gurls without the vocals.  It's an absolutely stunning testament to the band as creative musicians and John Fry as a brilliant engineer.  Maybe a little too "inside" for some, but for anybody who's ever been in a band, it would be revelatory.  A textbook example of how it's done...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BFO8HS/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p15_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1P5H4J5HJAA3QQEBQ70V&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Brief postscript on Michael Jackson.  There's an excellent article in today's (7/01) Wall Street Journal by Jim Fusilli (one of the best music writers around) that delves into the making of Off The Wall and Thriller in a very 33 1/3 manner.  Who played what.  How the tracks came together.  Interesting little tidbits.  All focused on the music.  A nice antidote to all of the media madness.  And when you separate the cream and wheat from the hype and chaff, Big Star produced in their short time more minutes of great recorded music than MJ recorded over his solo career.  Hard to believe...just like the fact that Wilt Chamberlain NEVER fouled out in 1045 NBA games.  Use that little nugget to win a few bets at your family barbeque this weekend

Well, everyone seems to be weighing in on Michael Jackson so here are my few thoughts.  I think that Off The Wall was his best album by far.  A really talented artist still trying to be heard and great producer / arranger working on a record without any of the intense superstar / fame overhang.  When I interviewed Alex Chilton for the book we talked about how much we both liked the song Rock With Me (which Alex has been performing for years).  Alex thought it was written by someone from Earth Wind and Fire but I tipped him off that it was Rod Temperton from Heatwave (Rod also wrote the song "Thriller" – hope he kept most of the publishing!).  Alex was a little bemused that when he plays the song some people think he's making some kind of musical joke (the cool indie legend poking fun).  The real reason: "It's a great song."  

When Michael ordained himself the King of Pop it reminded me immediately of another charismatic business-savvy frontman: Mick Jagger.  When the Rolling Stones toured the US in late 1969 Mick insisted that Sam Cutler introduce them as "the worlds greatest rock and roll band" (as heard on the Get Your Ya-Yas Out LP).  You know, no one was really thinking about that stuff back then.  The "greatest" this or that.  The Stones were working their way back from a few down years and there were any of number of bands that could have said that about themselves.  The Who.  The Kinks.  Probably even Ten Years After or even Canned Heat.  The first band to claim it would have everyone nodding their (stoned) heads in agreement.  But the Stones (Mick) claimed it and it sure gave them the slack to get through an awful lot of crappy albums and concerts to this day.  So was Michael the King of Pop?  If he said so....I don't even know what that would mean.  I'll always dig the Jackson Five's "I Am Love"and Michael's Off The Wall...but certainly no more than Smokey, Marvin, and Stevie (none of whom never saw fit to deem themselves The King of Soul).  

http://www.blurt-online.com/features/view/385/

I've been getting a lot of emails about the book and somehow last week this review at Blurt online didn't hit my radar until Friday.  I can't tell you how gratifying it is as an author to read a review like this one from someone who is as passionate about Radio City as I am.  Equally gratifying was a reader review at amazon.com from Memphis musician Jeff Golightly.  Click on the amazon.com link to the right to read his comments and be sure to check out his power pop combo The Everyday Parade.  Great sounds and really cool graphics (memo to self: check to see if they have t-shirts).   http://www.myspace.com/theeverydayparade

Once again, thank you to everyone for your kind words and support.  And in response to a question, yes, positive reviews at amazon.com really do help so feel free to let your inner-Lester(Bangs) loose and write a review.  

Last night was the annual Buffalo Spree (the glossy life-style monthly for the Buffalo area www.buffalospree.com) Best Of party at Shea's Buffalo Theater.  The wife and I planned on sampling some of the award-winning food from local restaurants and then strolling down the street to catch a free concert by Los Lobos.  Upon arriving at the bash I learned that Radio City had been cited as the Best Recent WNY-related Book by Associate Editor Chris Schoebert.  Chris is a really fine writer (and obviously a Big Star fan) who covers a wide range of topics so this nod is especially appreciated.  It more than made up for the Lobos being rained out.  We arrived home just as the Michael Jackson news was breaking.  More on that in the next post but in the meantime here's the review:

Best recent WNY-related book

Bruce Eaton visits Radio City

Has there ever been a cooler album opener than “O My Soul,” the “drink till we drop” first track of Big Star’s immortal Radio City? And has there ever been a sweeter tortured love song than “September Gurls”?

I’m the wrong guy to answer these questions—Bruce Eaton is a better choice. A frequent Spree contributor, Buffalo native, and programmer for the Albright-Knox’s stellar Art of Jazz series, Eaton is the author of the latest book in Continuum’s stunning 33 1/3 collection, in which noted writers tackle some of the greatest albums in music history—everything from Kick Out the Jams to If You’re Feeling Sinister. 

Eaton’s selection of Big Star’s Radio City is a classic one for many reasons. Alex Chilton’s Big Star is the legendary lost power-pop band behind three shoulda-been-chart-toppers: #1 Record, Radio City, andThird/Sister Lovers. The reclusive, often difficult-to-pin-down Chilton is deserving of a study himself, but approaching him through Radio is wise, as it is the quintessential Big Star album. Eaton discovered it the way many did—not through ad campaigns or radio play, as there really were none—by simply spotting it in a record store, and recalling something read in the pages of Creem. “I had a good feeling Radio Citymight be worth the six quarters,” he writes. Thus began a journey into Chilton’s universe, one which later brought Eaton into contact with AC himself; Eaton “reached [his] summit” on June 26, 1979, as Chilton joined the author’s band onstage at McVan’s nightclub in Buffalo, the first of several encounters. 

In addition to the personal details, the book breaks down the Big Star sound and myth in stunning fashion. Fascinating details are unearthed, including the band’s own opinions (Chilton on “September Gurls”: “It’s not a song that grabs me to this day”), info as to why the album was not heavily promoted (“Columbia executives deemed the cover to be pornographic by virtue of a day-glo poster of the Kama Sutra partially visible in the background of William Eggleston’s cover photo”), to in-the-studio tidbits (Chilton on “O My Soul”’s guitar work: “I think that was probably copping the lick from Dave Edmunds”).

The book does not go into great detail regarding Chilton’s recent output, but it doesn’t have to. This is Radio City’s story, and as such, it truly demonstrates why Big Star is so important, and why commercial success never quite came to pass. But what’s most special about the book is the way Eaton captures the precise moment that a record changed his life, and what that means. It happens to many of us—it certainly happened to me—but to be able to put that feeling into words? It takes real talent, and Bruce Eaton has that in abundance. “To me, the definition of a great record is simple,” he writes. “When you finish playing it, you want to play it again.” For Big Star fans, the same is true of Eaton’s Radio City.

—Christopher Schobert

Welcome to summer.  One of my all-time favorite albums is All Summer Long by the Beach Boys.  It always gets moved into my playpile in June and stays right near the top for a few months.  Last year while I was working on the book I started to pay close attention to the instrumental Carl's Big Chance.  It's sort of a throwaway guitar instrumental on side two but I listened to it more closely knowing that Carl Wilson would be teaching Alex Chilton how to play the guitar not when the Box Tops toured with the Beach Boys not that long after the record was made.  Some people have speculated as to how much influence Carl had on Alex and two overriding concepts came to mind.  The first is that Carl was a lead guitarist who didn't see himself as a soloist working within band but rather a band member who played an instrument whose solo capabilities could be used to build a great band track.  They came up with parts that fit the particular song and didn't focus on the particular part of the song where they could grab the solo spotlight.  Neither Carl nor Alex seemed to feel a need to be the archetypal lead guitarist – an extended show-off guitar solo from either of them would seem as out of character as a Levon Helm drum solo.  The second influence that Carl might have had on Alex is in the area of tone.  Clean, articulate, without effects.  Alex would eventually use all sorts of guitars and amps but the guitar sound of Radio City is largely the sound of a Fender Strat through a Fender Twin (or Hi-Watt) with no pedals.  Alex undoubtedly heard other guitarists who employed the same simple approach but has expressed his greatest admiration for Carl Wilson.  

Last night I was reading Inside the Music of Brian Wilson by Philip Lambert (also published by Continuum) and learned this little tidbit: the original working title of Carl's Big Chance was Memphis Beach!  Although likely inspired by the chunka-chunka guitar rhythm from the Chuck Berry tune (a recent hit for Johnny Rivers at the time), it's also an eery sign of the future friendship between a kid from California and a kid from Memphis.  

I came across an outtake of the Beach Boys doing an impromptu version of The Letter sometime in the late 60s.  Knowing of Alex's affection for the Beach Boys, I asked him over the phone if he'd ever heard it.  His reply, "I think so."  

  

http://powerpopaholic.blogspot.com/

Nice blurb about the box set and the book at powerpopaholic.  Thanks!  If you see a review that hasn't been noted in the blog, please send me a heads-up.  

With #1 and Radio City being reissued in remastered from yesterday by Fantasy I've read a number of comments about the "brightness" of the records, especially #1 Record.  There's a reason the albums (especially #1) sounded the way they did.  They were recorded, mixed and mastered with an eye (and ear) towards being heard in mono on car (or portable radio) speakers.  Most of my listening to Big Star for the first five years after I first heard them was in my Ford Maverick.  A cheesy cassette system cranked up to LOUD.  Sure sounded good.  Especially when compared to the recordings today where there's no dynamic range.  One thing that's been lost in the recent loudness wars is my ability to listen to new music for more than a few minutes.