SONG OF THE DAY - Its the seventh of ROCTOBER, which puts us in 1972, and since its a Tuesday and I had two really good choices for Favorite Albums Through The Years today, youre going to get both of them. First up, the debut disc from a band who never quite got the commercial success they deserved, yet whose music went on to inspire many bands, nonetheless. Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in 1974, but reorganized with a new line-up nearly 20 years later. In its first era, the bands musical style drew on the vocal harmonies of The Beatles, as well as the swaggering rhythms of The Rolling Stones and the jangling guitars of The Byrds. To the resulting power pop, Big Star added dark, existential themes, and produced a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Before it broke up, Big Star created a body of work that made them one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll. Ill give you the Readers Digest abridged version of Big Stars history, but I highly encourage you to watch the recent documentary on the band BIG STAR:NOTHING CAN HURT ME (covered last year on the show), which is available to view on NETFLIX. The band started when Alex Chilton, who was the lead singer for the blue-eyed soul group The Box Tops from 1967 to 1970, got together with Chris Bell. Chilton and Bell had known each other for some time: both lived in Memphis, each had spent time recording music at Ardent Studios, and each, when aged 13, had been struck by the music of The Beatles during the bands 1964 debut US tour. Chilton asked Bell to work with him as a duo modeled on Simon & Garfunkel; Bell declined, but invited Chilton to a performance by his own band, Icewater, comprising Bell, drummer Jody Stephens, and bassist Andy Hummel. Attracted by Icewaters music, Chilton showed them three his own new songs, and was asked to join the band. The now four-piece band adopted the name Big Star when one member was given the idea from a grocery store often visited for snacks during recording sessions.One of many Big Star Markets outlets in the Memphis region at the time, it had a logo consisting of a five-pointed star enclosing the words Big Star; as well as the stores name, the band used its logo but without the word Star to avoid infringing copyright. #1 RECORD would be their debut album, and was released in 1972 by Memphis-based Ardent Records. Although all four members contributed to songwriting and vocals on the first album, Chilton and Bell dominated as a duo intentionally modeled on John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The album was recorded by Ardent founder John Fry, with Terry Manning contributing occasional backing vocals and keyboards. The title #1 Record was decided towards the end of the recording sessions and evinced, albeit as a playful hope rather than a serious expectation, the chart position to be achieved by a big star. Although Fry—at the bands insistence—was credited as executive producer, publicly he insisted that the band themselves really produced these records. Fry recalled how Ardent, one of the first recording studios to use a sixteen-track tape machine, worked experimentally with the band members: We started recording the songs with the intent that if it turned out OK wed put it out. I wound up being the one that primarily worked on it: I recorded all the tracks and then they would often come late at night and do overdubs. One by one, they all learned enough engineering. Though many critics praised the #1 RECORDs elegant vocal harmonies and refined songcraft, the album suffered due to poor distribution from Stax Records (whom Ardent had a distribution deal with) to make the album available in stores. As such, it sold fewer than 10,000 copies. The album would be the only Big Star album on which group founder Chris Bell is officially credited as a member. Bell had a major hand in the record through songwriting, vocals, and guitar work. The more polished sound of #1 RECORD, in contrast to the messier styles of the bands subsequent albums, RADIO CITY and THIRD/SISTER LOVERS, is attributed by producer John Fry to the presence of Bell: When Chris Bell was still in the band, he took more interest than anybody in the production and technology end of things. He had a good production mind...the reason why the second album is rougher, with fewer harmonies, is due to the absence of Chriss influence in the studio. Because of the albums stunted commercial success, frustration took its toll on band relations, and by the time a second album was completed in 1974 both Bell and Hummel had left the group. Sadly, Bell would die of a car crash in 1978. As far as albums go, #1 RECORD features a near flawless first side, and the second wasnt too shabby, either. Heres the track that kicks everything off, though, Feel.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:02:46 +0000
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