So I have a lot to be thankful for. A wonderful family. The ability to attend a couple of great concerts this week (Springsteen and Cowboy Junkies! Spoiler alert-Cowboy Junkies are neither "cowboys" nor "junkies!"). With that in mind, our song of the day is "Thank You Friends."
This little tune is by the late, great Alex Chilton, who was the lead singer of the Box Tops, singing "The Letter" when he was only 16 years old. He later formed, with Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel a little combo called "Big Star." Big Star was another of those bands that didn't sell many copies of any of their three albums ("#1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers"), like the Velvet Underground. But many who did buy it, or heard it on a friend's homemade tape, passed around like "Soviet-era Samizdat" went on to form bands.
Now for me, the music of Big Star is like a Better Made Potato Chip (no Lays for this Detroiter). I can't eat just one and I can't play just one Big Star tune so indulge me for a moment.
Based in Memphis, the band's catalog was released on Stax, which was barely a functioning label by that time. The original vinyl went out-of-print and became hard to find. A sad fate for a band that Rolling Stone called the "quintessential American Power Pop band."
The band broke up. Chris Bell was killed in a car accident after a great solo album. (I Am The Cosmos). Alex had personal problems. Disinterestedly pursued a solo career. Reformed the Box Tops and broke them up again. Reformed a version or two of Big Star. Alex was a square musical peg that the music business could not quite fit into a round hole.
His song "September Gurls" got covered by The Bangles. "Out In The Street" was used as the theme to "That 70s Show" with the show's first season using the Big Star version. You can click on the above links to hear Big Star doing those tunes.
In the 90's Big Star finally got it's due, as a briefly blooming "Power Pop revival" led to the band receiving overdue acclaim and as well as finding them doing some live shows including an appearance on the Tonight Show. The lineup was Chilton, Stephens backed by Posies mainmen and Big Star acolytes Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. In interviews, and in recounted conversations with folks who got to meet Chilton, it was pretty clear that he was always puzzled by the adulation given what he considered to be, after all, only a 3 year stretch in a recording career that stretched back to the mid-60's. He was apparently bemused by the attention given this particular set of recordings. He would often appear live, and almost entirely ignore his Big Star discography.
The good news is that, in the cd and mp3 era, all these tunes are available, along with live recordings of the 90s lineup. And, of course, like all significant artists, Big Star was "boxed" in the fine "Keep An Eye on the Sky" four cd set released in 2009 which contains 52 alternate takes, unreleased tracks, demos and live cuts. The bad news is that there will be no more Alex Chilton music, in any of his incarnations as he dropped dead on St. Patrick's Day 2010, reportedly after mowing his lawn. Alex was 59. He had been scheduled to play with Big Star in Memphis 3 days later. The concert went on without him, becoming a memorial to his memory with all of his friends and followers taking the stage in his honor.
Full disclosure. I was slipped a cassette of the first two Big Star albums by one of my great musical mentors, Warren Westfall, owner of the great Record Collector store in Ferndale, back when he was my boss at Full Moon Records in Pontiac. I didn't get it at first. Now I consider it some of the catchiest music I have ever heard and wonder what kinda mush my college-age ears were full of. This would have been back in about 1977. Guess it got overlooked at first among all the punk rock I was listening to. But it stayed with me. Highly recommended stuff. I shall close with "Thirteen" from "#1 Record."
This little tune is by the late, great Alex Chilton, who was the lead singer of the Box Tops, singing "The Letter" when he was only 16 years old. He later formed, with Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel a little combo called "Big Star." Big Star was another of those bands that didn't sell many copies of any of their three albums ("#1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers"), like the Velvet Underground. But many who did buy it, or heard it on a friend's homemade tape, passed around like "Soviet-era Samizdat" went on to form bands.
Based in Memphis, the band's catalog was released on Stax, which was barely a functioning label by that time. The original vinyl went out-of-print and became hard to find. A sad fate for a band that Rolling Stone called the "quintessential American Power Pop band."
His song "September Gurls" got covered by The Bangles. "Out In The Street" was used as the theme to "That 70s Show" with the show's first season using the Big Star version. You can click on the above links to hear Big Star doing those tunes.
In the 90's Big Star finally got it's due, as a briefly blooming "Power Pop revival" led to the band receiving overdue acclaim and as well as finding them doing some live shows including an appearance on the Tonight Show. The lineup was Chilton, Stephens backed by Posies mainmen and Big Star acolytes Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. In interviews, and in recounted conversations with folks who got to meet Chilton, it was pretty clear that he was always puzzled by the adulation given what he considered to be, after all, only a 3 year stretch in a recording career that stretched back to the mid-60's. He was apparently bemused by the attention given this particular set of recordings. He would often appear live, and almost entirely ignore his Big Star discography.
The good news is that, in the cd and mp3 era, all these tunes are available, along with live recordings of the 90s lineup. And, of course, like all significant artists, Big Star was "boxed" in the fine "Keep An Eye on the Sky" four cd set released in 2009 which contains 52 alternate takes, unreleased tracks, demos and live cuts. The bad news is that there will be no more Alex Chilton music, in any of his incarnations as he dropped dead on St. Patrick's Day 2010, reportedly after mowing his lawn. Alex was 59. He had been scheduled to play with Big Star in Memphis 3 days later. The concert went on without him, becoming a memorial to his memory with all of his friends and followers taking the stage in his honor.
Full disclosure. I was slipped a cassette of the first two Big Star albums by one of my great musical mentors, Warren Westfall, owner of the great Record Collector store in Ferndale, back when he was my boss at Full Moon Records in Pontiac. I didn't get it at first. Now I consider it some of the catchiest music I have ever heard and wonder what kinda mush my college-age ears were full of. This would have been back in about 1977. Guess it got overlooked at first among all the punk rock I was listening to. But it stayed with me. Highly recommended stuff. I shall close with "Thirteen" from "#1 Record."
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