|
Along with Badfinger the band Big Star became the poster
child for musical talent, poorly handled who reached icon
status in spite of those who were supposed to promote their
music and take care of them or due to the devastating impact
of drugs. Founded by the late Chris Bell and Alex Chilton
after Chilton left The Box Tops, Big Star wore its Beatles/Badfinger
influence on its sleeve but they were far more than mere
imitators-Bell & Chilton who wrote almost all of the band’s
material (with occasional contributions from bass player
Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens brought a melodic
but hard edge style to the music. Coupling their innate
melodic sense to an almost angular musical sound that influenced
REM, The DB’s and other indie rock bands from the 80’s and
90’s, Big Star never made it “big” but it did earn the respect
of their musical peers and found a devoted audience. ***
Big Star almost ceased to exist the moment after they
finished their debut album which, in retrospect, was titled
with more than a touch of irony—“#1 Record”. Bell an amazing
songwriter who complimented Chilton perfectly left the band
after erasing most of the multi-track masters. Luckily the
two track master tapes still existed allowing Ardent the
small Memphis label to put out the band’s debut album. Unfortunately,
that meant that a four piece had to rearrange the material
for a three piece with Chilton assuming all lead vocals.
Even though Ardent had a distribution deal with Stax the
album ended up with very few copies reaching record stores
at the time. The album didn’t get the airplay that it deserved
and sold poorly. ***
Two more albums resulted during the brief period that
the band was together (they reformed in the 90’s and recorded
a new album with members of the cult band The Posies in
place of the late Bell and Hummel)with the band losing a
member after the second album(Hummel left to be replaced
by bassist John Lightman)was completed and the third album
the brilliant but schizophrenic “3rd/Sisters-Lovers” featuring
only Chilton and Stephens as the remaining members. ***
Conflicted former member Chris Bell moved away from
the music world for awhile. Bell who suffered from confusion
over his sexual orientation eventually embraced Christianity
and recorded a brilliant solo album “I Am the Cosmos” over
four years at Ardent. His older brother took David took
Chris overseas for a break where David was able to convince
long time Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick to mix Bell’s songs.
Sadly, Bell was killed in a tragic automobile accident before
the release of his album but after the limited release of
the single “I Am the Cosmos”/”You and Your Sister”. The
latter song allowed Bell to find some closure with Alex
Chilton with his old band mate singing backing vocals on
the song. ***
Big Star would have been lost to obscurity if not for
the bands that were influenced by them touting their albums.
While the band never found the large audience they deserved
from the 80s on the band began to get more and more exposure
with “In the Streets” used as the theme song to “That 70’s
Show” and key songs by the band that appeared in a number
of films. Chilton went on to a hit and miss (mostly miss)
solo career recording a mixture of albums that varied in
quality from brilliant to bad. ***
This box set put together and released by Rhino just
before the mass firing that decimated Rhino (and two years
after the firing of key producer/mastering engineer Bill
Inglot)gives the band the love, respect and attention that
this seminal 70’s band deserved (and will be followed by
a deluxe edition of Chris Bell’s only solo release “I Am
the Cosmos” later by Rhino). ***
While this isn’t as loud or compressed as most remasters,
it’s does sound a bit harsh and less natural at times. Nevertheless,
the four disc set which includes the band’s three albums
as well as demos, previously unreleased tracks and live
rarities sounds pretty good overall. It may not sound like
an audiophile release but it’s a heck of a lot better than
most harsh, noisy and nasty sounding reissues. ***
It’s a minor point but this is the type of material
that needs to be remastered using something other than solid
state equipment. Remastering engineer Dan Hirsch and engineer/co-producer
Andrew Sandoval (who has done a terrific job of reissuing
The Monkees catalog and The Kinks “Village Green Preservation
Society” deluxe edition a couple of years back) do a good
job of walking that fine line between the harsher sound
of modern remasters and the more natural sound of earlier
releases. ***
The four disc set features over 60 previously unreleased
demos and live tracks as well as some rare tracks that appeared
on compilations and the original mix of Chris Bell’s “I
Am the Cosmos”/”You and Your Sister” single released on
CAR Records. If you throw in some of the alternative mixes
of material from the first, second and third albums, you’ve
got a cornucopia that Big Star fans will love.
|
