Well, what can I say about the ultimate cult album by the
\nultimate
\ncult band? Only that Big Star’s third album is part
\nentertaining,
\npart moving, part annoying, and totally fascinating.<\/p>\n
First, a little background for the uninitiated: Big Star was an
\nobscure Memphis-based rock band in the early 70’s. Led in the
\nbeginning by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, they recorded three
\nalbums and then disbanded. However, like the Velvet Underground in
\nthe 60’s, rock musicians had great admiration for them (most
\nnotably Peter Buck of R.E.M.) and through word of mouth, they
\nbecame a big cult band, long after they had called it quits. If you
\nare a fan of the television sitcom, “That 70’s Show”, the theme
\nsong is a cover of Big Star’s “In The Street”.<\/p>\n
Big Star’s first album,
\n#1 Record<\/i>, was their most commercial sounding work,
\ninfluenced by the music of the Beatles, Byrds, and the Kinks, but
\nadding their own particular stamp to it. However, the album tanked
\ncommercially, in part due to distribution problems from the record
\nlabel. Bell left the band, and Big Star temporarily broke up. They
\nwere persuaded to regroup (without Bell) and recorded their second
\nalbum,
\nRadio City<\/i>.<\/p>\n
With Chilton as the sole leader, this album was quirkier, less
\npolished, but still included some great pop songs.
\nRadio City<\/i> was
\nalso a commercial failure prompting bassist Andy Hummel to
\nquit.<\/p>\n
These further setbacks set the stage for a frustrated Chilton to
\nstart
\nwork in 1974 on the band’s third album, alternately titled
\nBig Star Third<\/i> or
\nSister Lovers<\/i>. If
\nRadio City<\/i> revealed a quirkier, more cynical side to Big
\nStar, it seemed tame compared to the music on the third album.<\/p>\n
With
\nThird<\/i>, Chilton seemed to have set out to make an anti-pop
\nalbum. Gone are any concessions whatsoever to making commercial
\npop-rock music, and in its place Chilton poured his heart out,
\ntaking the listener on an emotional rollercoaster that, depending
\non your point of view, is either a masterpiece or self-indulgent
\ncrap.<\/p>\n
The first three songs alone on
\nThird<\/i> show the wild mood swings that Chilton was
\nexperiencing at the time. The album opens up with “Kizza Me”, which
\nlike the opener of the first two albums, is a rousing rocker,
\nalthough this time there is an oddball minor key piano part that
\nfloats in and out of the track. This plea for love is sung by
\nChilton as if his life depended on it.<\/p>\n
The mood changes to sarcasm on the next song, “Thank You
\nFriends”, a sort of a thanks for nothing tribute with Chilton
\ndisplaying the right amount of venom and fake humility. This is
\nfollowed by “Big Black Car”, a slow, piano based dirge. This stark
\ntale of isolation is chilling, and it is easy to see how he
\ninfluenced a later generation of alternative rockers.<\/p>\n
The rollercoaster ride continues with the religious song “Jesus
\nChrist”. There is nothing in the lyrics to suggest irony, but
\nthe jaunty horn arrangement suggests a lack of seriousness in the
\nsubject. This is followed by a dead-on cover of the Velvet
\nUnderground’s “Femme Fatale” which, thanks to Chilton’s expressive
\nsinging, improves on the original version. Chilton’s songwriting is
\nmore abstract than Lou Reed’s, and the next song, “O Dana”, is
\nproof of that with its cryptic lyrics.<\/p>\n
Finally, we come to “Holocaust” which is an incredibly
\ndepressing song. Like “Big Black Car”, its a piano dominated tune
\nthat moves along slowly and sadly. This song is about a lost soul
\ncoping with the death of his mother. With not an ounce of hope, the
\nsong ends with the line “You’re a wasted face\/You’re a sad-eyed
\nlie\/You’re a holocaust”.<\/p>\n
The song “Kangaroo” is just plain weird. Not quite as slow paced
\nas “Holocaust”, but the arrangement is dense, including what sounds
\nlike cowbells as percussion at one point, and a feedback guitar
\narrangement that is more creepy than noisy. The lyrics are no less
\ndense, as I really do not understand what this song is about.<\/p>\n
Then suddenly,
\nThird<\/i> takes a sharp turn. The skies clear up and the
\nalbum turns sunnier. Four out of the last five songs of the
\noriginal
\nalbum turn out to be touching ballads, the exception being
\nthe Who-like rocker, “You Can’t Have Me”. The sunnier section
\nbegins with “Stroke It Noel”, which has an irresistable string
\narrangement and finds Chilton in a good mood, wanting to dance with
\nhis girl.<\/p>\n
Drummer Jody Stephens contributes the song “For You”, and this
\nwould probably have been my choice for the single because it is
\nvery typical of soft rock songs of that era, sounding like a lost
\nMoody Blues ballad. Chilton shows he can write a pretty ballad
\nhimself with “Nighttime”. Only a little of the album’s earlier
\nmelancholy creeps into this song.<\/p>\n
However it is the next song that I feel is the highlight of the
\ncollection: “Blue Moon” is an achingly pretty song, boasting
\na gorgeous melody, and sweet, tender lyrics. It is hard to believe
\nthis is the same guy who earlier sang “Holocaust”. “Take Care”
\ncloses
\nThird<\/i>, thankfully ending this wild ride on a hopeful
\nnote.<\/p>\n
But wait, there’s bonus tracks! Big Star show off their musical
\nknowledge with three covers spanning the decades. “Nature
\nBoy”, a hit for Nat King Cole in the late 40’s, always seemed like
\na song ahead of its time and actually fits neatly on this release.
\nThey also do a faithful cover of the Kinks rocker, “Till The End Of
\nThe Day”. However, their cover of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta
\nShakin’ Going On” doesn’t compare to the original.<\/p>\n
There are also two original bonus songs, the eerie “Dream
\nLover”, and the experimental track, “Downs”, which boasts using a
\nbasketball as a snare drum. Both are interesting in their own way
\nas bonus cuts with neither of them really adding or taking away
\nfrom the album. Kudos toproducer Jim Dickinson for creating the
\nright mood for each of Big Star’s many moods.\n<\/p>\n
\nThird<\/i> was not released at the time it was recorded because
\ntheir record label went under. Available as an import album several
\nyears later, it wasn’t until 1992 that Rykodisc Records released
\nThird<\/i> in the States. By that time, it had gained legendary
\nstatus. The amazing thing about
\nThird<\/i> is that it pretty much lives up to its hype. Despite
\nits flaws, I’m giving it a high grade because when it does click,
\nwhich is certainly more often than not, it is about as satisfying
\nas any album I’ve ever heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":28133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5658],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39528","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-big-star","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39528"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}