On the subject of Big Star, words pretty much fail me.
But I think it's safe to say that if there's any band that sums up the mission statement of the blog you're reading at the moment, it's Alex Chilton and company.
Here's their ineffingly poignant "Ballad of El Goodo" in very serviceable amateur video footage from a 1993 reunion show.
That's two of the Posies along with Alex and original drummer Jody Stephens, and yes, this is from the same show immortalized on the "Columbia" live album.
BTW: There's a really good version of "Out on the Street" from the Leno Tonight Show a few months later somewhere; here's hoping somebody will YouTube it at some point.
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6 comments:
Steve, one of the best shows I ever saw was Alex Chilton at the Paradise in Boston in 2002.
He played 2 Big Star songs, "When My Baby's Beside Me" and "Out on the Street"...amazing.
sir foxbat:
I don't doubt it.
Have I mentioned I saw Big Star at Max's Kansas City? They were touring the second album.
"September Gurls" live was astounding...
sir foxbat:
I don't doubt it.
Have I mentioned I saw Big Star at Max's Kansas City? They were touring the second album.
"September Gurls" live was astounding...
I am soooo jealous...
Well, I first learned of Big Star from you, Steve, upon reading your keen and eloquent review of Radio City in Stereo Review. You even commented on the mastering that made the record sound like a mid-60's production. A prescient comment, given that no Big Star release in any format since those originals (mastered by Larry Nix) has managed to sound truly satisfying ... at least not to these ears.
I've seen Alex ten times (he toured around Virginia a lot in the mid-80's) and spoken with him on several occasions. You never know which Alex you're going to get, but on balance, he was good to talk to. I saw the reunited Big Star once, in 1994 at the Fillmore in San Francisco: a great show, despite Alex's insistence on playing "Patty Girl" as an encore and his petulant refusal to play "O My Soul" after that. At the next show, in Chicago, the paper said that Jody, Jon, and Ken played the song by themselves when Alex refused to come out.
I wish there were footage of Chris Bell performing, or that the footage that exists (I think it must) would surface. Chris was the heart and soul of that band, though Alex was the magic man who took them beyond escape velocity. It's always comforted me that Alex came out of a drunken haze in the 70's long enough to sing gorgeous harmonies on Chris's "You and Your Sister."
I have a recording of "In The Street" from that Tonight show. I'll try to dig it up and YouTube it. It's quite fine, even better than the lurching, headlong, sublime version on Columbia.
Ain't no one going to turn me 'round.
Wow... thanks. Big Star on YouTube, could there be any greater joy?
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