Okay, so I have posted some recommendations and appreciations in the past year or so for Fountains of Wayne, Rooney and a couple of other bands I thought were worth bringing up. I have gotten positive feedback, so have decided to keep going.
Since this band existed 30 years ago, I tried to do an SDMB search on other threads and have really had problems, mainly because (near as I can tell) the word “big” has only 3 letters which gums up the search engine, and searching on Big Star is too common and leads to too many hits, also gumming up the works. If there are other threads about this, sorry.
Bottom line: Probably the best album I have heard in about 10 - 15 years. I have heard that the only band that might’ve held a candle to the Beatles for pure pop/rock brilliance was Big Star, but I wouldn’t’ve believed it if I hadn’t heard it.
The album you can buy now is a CD with Big Star’s two albums on one discHere is the link to it on Amazon.
The sound: Start with the Beatles around Rubber Soul, in terms of perfectly catchy melodies and constructed songs that sound immediately familiar yet fresh and innovative. Also include the Beatles ability to sound commercially poppy yet honest and true, and the wide variety of songs.
Add the harmonies of the Byrds on the acoustic/ballad songs.
Add a dose of Southern Rock Blues n’ Boogie to the up tempo songs.
That’s Big Star’s #1 Record and Radio City.
I have heard about this band for at least 20 years - certainly before The Replacements had a hit with the song Alex Chilton who is Big Star’s lead singer. But I had never gotten around to getting the CD until now.
I had heard that the band was considered great, but by being on the Stax label right when the label was foundering due to mis-management, weren’t well represented and even though CBS agreed to help distribute the album, radio basically decided they had been on the shelf too long and passed them by. The other key member of the band besides Chilton, Chris Bell, left before their second album was completed, further eroding the band. When the second album was also unsupported, they faded.
Alex Chilton had had a previous hit with the Box Tops, singing The Letter (“Get me a ticket for an aeroplane - ain’t got time to take a fast train - lonely days are gone, I’m-a goin’ home - my baby, she wrote me a letter”).
Rolling Stone rated this two-album CD as #438 on their top 500. I am telling you, if the first album had been properly released, it would easily - easily - have been in the top 10. It is that good.
Check it out; or, if you know the band, add your thoughts here.