Back to Big Star A CD/vinyl reissue and companion book inspire a new look at a classic Memphis band.by Chris HerringtonArticle Tools * Email a Friend * Print * Share o Digg o Newsvine o del.icio.us o Facebook o Reddit * Save this Story Saving… * Add to Custom List Loading… * Comments (1)music_feature1-1.jpgPerhaps no artist or band in the annals of Memphis music has had as long and significant a shelf life based on such a small catalog and as little success in its own time as Big Star, the '70s Memphis rock band that united former Box Tops lead singer Alex Chilton with a pre-existing trio of Chris Bell (vocals/guitar), Andy Hummel (basBack to Big Star | Music Features | Memphis FlyerBack to Big Star
A CD/vinyl reissue and companion book inspire a new look at a classic Memphis band.
by Chris Herringtons), and Jody Stephens (drums). (Though initially his band, Bell left Big Star after the band's first album and died in a car crash in 1979.)In its initial run, the band recorded three haphazardly distributed albums over the course of just a few years (only Chilton and Stephens on board for each record), toured sporadically, got good press, and had no hits. This obscurity grew over time into a considerable cult that famously yielded a generation's worth of alternative and college-radio bands such as R.E.M., the Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, and countless others inspired by Big Star's skewed Memphis take on what became known as power pop.Recently, the band's afterlife — a reunited version of the band, led by Chilton and Stephens, now performs and records occasionally — got a couple of new chapters: The single-disc edition of the band's first two albums, #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974), has been remastered and reissued by Ardent/Stax via the Concord Music Group, with the addition of singles mixes of the songs "In the Street" and "Oh My Soul." There are also separate re-released vinyl editions of each album with faithful re-creations of the original artwork.Simultaneous with the CD and album reissues is an installment in Continuum's 33 1/3 book series — a popular collection of pamphlet-style treatments on individual albums — on Radio City by Bruce Eaton, a Buffalo, New York-based jazz concert producer who is an acquaintance of Chilton. In the preface, Eaton recounts first buying Radio City at a used bin of a Buffalo record store in 1976 and three years later finding himself on stage with Chilton playing the Big Star classic "September Gurls."The Radio City book can be rough going at first: Eaton's repeated faux-self-deprecating descriptions of himself as a "vinyl junkie" and recovering "rock snob" become annoying. (Typical example: "For rock snobs, the more obscure your favorite band, the better.") And his fandom sometimes results in overwritten overstatement, as when Eaton connects his post-college love of Radio City to the '60s pop he listened to on the radio as a teenager:"It's as if all the music coming out of all the little transistor radio speakers ... had somehow been beamed into outer space to some distant planet and then transformed by a band of musical alchemists into something both fresh and yet familiar and sent back to Earth in a stream of glowing super-charged electrical particles by a wizard of sound."Um, yeah, dude. (The book is also hampered by frequent copy-editing oversights.)music_feature1-2.jpgWhat Eaton's book has going for it is a personal connection to Chilton that provides him with rare access to the somewhat reclusive icon and an insistence on focusing more on the music itself and the circumstances of its recording than the more familiar personality-based story of the band's brief initial life.Eaton tells the story in something close to oral-history form with lengthy interview segments primarily from Chilton, Stephens, Hummel, and Ardent founder John Fry, including song-by-song commentary that is particularly illuminating if you're reading along with the album.The musical discussion includes lots of techie talk and recording jargon that non-musicians may struggle to fully grasp. (Example: "We used an oscillator to vary the speed of the two-track tape recorder, and thus vary the pitch of the instrument being overdubbed.") But you'll also learn a lot about the record and hear things in it you may not have before.In the discussion of "Life Is White," for instance, you see that, in Big Star's hands, slide guitar, honky-tonk piano, folkie harmonica, and maracas somehow joined forces to create "power pop." Eaton's book helps you hear the influence of baroque classical music on the middle guitar-only verse of "Way Out West" and the Paul McCartney influence on Hummel's bass playing on the same song.Partly it seems due to Eaton's own musicianly biases and partly because of Chilton's at times dismissive and at times regretful attitude on the subject that the Radio City book doesn't spend much time on lyrics or even meaning."I had no clue about what songwriting stuff I wanted to do," Chilton says to Eaton. "I knew what musical structures I wanted to play, but putting lyrics with it was not my strong suit in those days. I tried, but I don't think I ever succeeded on the Radio City album. I don't think there's one good song of mine on the record. To me the only good song on the album is Andy's ['Way Out West']. I definitely prefer #1 Record. There are four or five tunes on that record I think are really good."Chilton is too hard on himself here, but there's a kernel of truth to it, which is probably why I agree with him in preferring #1 Record, with its classic, hushed teen anti-anthem "Thirteen" and the rock-and-roll haiku of "In the Street" sitting beside Bell's devotional testaments "My Life Is Right" and "Try Again."With the new two-albums-on-one-disc reissue, it's easy to judge for yourself — in the event you haven't already spent years doing so.
Perhaps no artist or band in the annals of Memphis music has had as long and significant a shelf life based on such a small catalog and as little success in its own time as Big Star, the '70s Memphis rock band that united former Box Tops lead singer Alex Chilton with a pre-existing trio of Chris Bell (vocals/guitar), Andy Hummel (bass), and Jody Stephens (drums). (Though initially his band, Bell left Big Star after the band's first album and died in a car crash in 1979.)
In its initial run, the band recorded three haphazardly distributed albums over the course of just a few years (only Chilton and Stephens on board for each record), toured sporadically, got good press, and had no hits. This obscurity grew over time into a considerable cult that famously yielded a generation's worth of alternative and college-radio bands such as R.E.M., the Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, and countless others inspired by Big Star's skewed Memphis take on what became known as power pop.
Recently, the band's afterlife — a reunited version of the band, led by Chilton and Stephens, now performs and records occasionally — got a couple of new chapters: The single-disc edition of the band's first two albums, #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974), has been remastered and reissued by Ardent/Stax via the Concord Music Group, with the addition of singles mixes of the songs "In the Street" and "Oh My Soul." There are also separate re-released vinyl editions of each album with faithful re-creations of the original artwork.
Simultaneous with the CD and album reissues is an installment in Continuum's 33 1/3 book series — a popular collection of pamphlet-style treatments on individual albums — on Radio City by Bruce Eaton, a Buffalo, New York-based jazz concert producer who is an acquaintance of Chilton. In the preface, Eaton recounts first buying Radio City at a used bin of a Buffalo record store in 1976 and three years later finding himself on stage with Chilton playing the Big Star classic "September Gurls."
The Radio City book can be rough going at first: Eaton's repeated faux-self-deprecating descriptions of himself as a "vinyl junkie" and recovering "rock snob" become annoying. (Typical example: "For rock snobs, the more obscure your favorite band, the better.") And his fandom sometimes results in overwritten overstatement, as when Eaton connects his post-college love of Radio City to the '60s pop he listened to on the radio as a teenager:
"It's as if all the music coming out of all the little transistor radio speakers ... had somehow been beamed into outer space to some distant planet and then transformed by a band of musical alchemists into something both fresh and yet familiar and sent back to Earth in a stream of glowing super-charged electrical particles by a wizard of sound."
Um, yeah, dude. (The book is also hampered by frequent copy-editing oversights.)
What Eaton's book has going for it is a personal connection to Chilton that provides him with rare access to the somewhat reclusive icon and an insistence on focusing more on the music itself and the circumstances of its recording than the more familiar personality-based story of the band's brief initial life.
Eaton tells the story in something close to oral-history form with lengthy interview segments primarily from Chilton, Stephens, Hummel, and Ardent founder John Fry, including song-by-song commentary that is particularly illuminating if you're reading along with the album.
The musical discussion includes lots of techie talk and recording jargon that non-musicians may struggle to fully grasp. (Example: "We used an oscillator to vary the speed of the two-track tape recorder, and thus vary the pitch of the instrument being overdubbed.") But you'll also learn a lot about the record and hear things in it you may not have before.
In the discussion of "Life Is White," for instance, you see that, in Big Star's hands, slide guitar, honky-tonk piano, folkie harmonica, and maracas somehow joined forces to create "power pop." Eaton's book helps you hear the influence of baroque classical music on the middle guitar-only verse of "Way Out West" and the Paul McCartney influence on Hummel's bass playing on the same song.
Partly it seems due to Eaton's own musicianly biases and partly because of Chilton's at times dismissive and at times regretful attitude on the subject that the Radio City book doesn't spend much time on lyrics or even meaning.
"I had no clue about what songwriting stuff I wanted to do," Chilton says to Eaton. "I knew what musical structures I wanted to play, but putting lyrics with it was not my strong suit in those days. I tried, but I don't think I ever succeeded on the Radio City album. I don't think there's one good song of mine on the record. To me the only good song on the album is Andy's ['Way Out West']. I definitely prefer #1 Record. There are four or five tunes on that record I think are really good."
Chilton is too hard on himself here, but there's a kernel of truth to it, which is probably why I agree with him in preferring #1 Record, with its classic, hushed teen anti-anthem "Thirteen" and the rock-and-roll haiku of "In the Street" sitting beside Bell's devotional testaments "My Life Is Right" and "Try Again."
With the new two-albums-on-one-disc reissue, it's easy to judge for yourself — in the event you haven't already spent years doing so.
August 13, 2009
Back to Big Star | Music Features | Memphis Flyer
Michael Jackson Laid to Rest at The Insider
After weeks of speculation regarding the burial site, Michael Jackson has finally been laid to rest. The King of Pop was buried in an unmarked plot at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills over the weekend. According to a source, the Jackson family and Forest Lawn management are the only people who know the exact location of the grave. The source said “The fear is that thousands of Jackson fans will descend on the cemetery and damage or deface the grave.” If the site is discovered, they already have plans to move the body. It is also being said that the singer has been laid to rest near his grandmother, Martha Bridges, who passed away in 1990.Michael Jackson Laid to Rest at The Insider
Michael Jackson and Self Esteem » Blog Archive » Genetic Lottery
Michael Jackson and Self Esteem » Blog Archive » Genetic LotteryOn Monday, August 10, 2009—two women filed court papers saying they were biological mothers of Michael’s kids. Billie Jean Jackson (apparently her real name) claimed that she was Blanket’s mother while Claire Elisabeth Fields Cruise (CEFC ) filed a petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court saying that she is bio mom of all three MJ’s kids.
Earlier, CEFC had also claimed that she was legally married to Michael back in the 80s and at one point had claimed and she and Michael are biological parents of one of Tom Cruise’s son Connor Cruise!
L. Londell McMillan, Katherine Jackson’s lawyer called these allegations a “genetic lottery” after Mark Lester, a friend of Michael Jackson and ex-Oliver (child artist from the 50s) claimed to be the father of Paris Jackson – but not of either Prince Michaels.
Now, the latest ‘lottery’ is being played by a Mexican nurse who goes by the name of “Helena”. She claimed earlier today that she is Blanket’s mom and was paid by Michael to carry His sperm and another woman’s embryo to term. Basically, she, Michael and an unknown woman are biological parents of Blanket. That Michael paid her (Helena) $20,000.00 to give birth to Blanket while the other woman got approx $3,500.00 to donate her eggs to Michael. Michael is the sperm donor.
While it is funny initially, especially when you hear the likes of CEFC give a “press conference” like Q & A session with the media, the humour quickly runs out when you realize what Michael had to go through since his early teens and still isn’t done answering allegations of who parented what child of his.
And, while it really doesn’t matter who gave the sperm or who carried what child to term, what does matter is the three kids surfing the net and reading all this crap (as Michael would put it) about them and their origins.
Michael’s three kids will really have to work very hard all their lives to remember how much their dad, their ONLY dad, Michael Jackson loved them. And even if He turns out not to be their biological father, fact of the matter remains that no one loved those kids as much as Michael Jackson did.
I truly hope Prince, Paris and Blanket grow up to love, respect and appreciate their father for not only the great human being that He was but also for what He faced daily not only from the media, the paparazzi but also from evil children of satan like Evan Chandler, Jodie Chandler and his family, Martin Bashir, Tom Sneddon, Ian Halperin, Diane Diamond, Randy Taborelli, Uri Gheller and all the others like them who tried to make a buck by taking advantage of Michael’s good heart, innocence, His trust in human decency and His love for children of all ages and race.
It will take those kids to muster the strength of Michael Jackson’s name and fame to face the world and say SO WHAT? Who cares what people think? It will have to take Michael Jackson’s love from the grave to get these kids to say “Michael Jackson, and only He was our daddy and we love Him even today—just as He was”!
Michael Jackson—He will always be in my heart!
Les Paul R.I.P. - June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009 - OBITUTWEET via @mrjyn
jimmy page and i say, thanks for 'the log'!Les Paul R.I.P.
http://bit.ly/BhJmn
http://bit.ly/BhJmn
June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009via @mrjyn
Lester William Polfuss, known as Les Paul (June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009
STAY TUNED @mrjyn http://twitter.com/mrjyn for more Les
Paul tribute news and video:
He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible."
His many recording innovations include overdubbing, delay effects such as "sound on sound" and tape delay, phasing effects, and multitrack recording.
He was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin to George and Evelyn Polsfuss. The family name was first simplified by his mother to Polfuss before he took his stage name of Les Paul. He also used the nickname "Red Hot Red".
Paul first became interested in music at the age of eight, when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning to play the banjo, he began to play the guitar. By 13, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist. At the age of 17, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri on KMOX.
In the 1930s, Paul worked in Chicago in radio, where he performed jazz music. Paul's first two records were released in 1936. One was credited to Rhubarb Red, Paul's hillbilly alter ego, and the other was as an accompanist for blues artist Georgia White.
In January 1948, Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Doctors told Paul that there was no way for them to rebuild his elbow in a way that would let him regain movement, and that his arm would remain in whatever position they placed it in permanently. Paul then instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.
*Follow @mrjyn Or @nichopoulouzo for latest obitutweetsCategory: News & Politics
Tags:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)