Big Star: #1 Record

Big Star: #1 Record

1972

Ardent Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Feel  2. The Ballad of El Goodo  3. In The Street  4. Thirteen  5. Don't Lie To Me  6. The India Song  7. When My Baby's Beside Me  8. My Life Is Right  9. Give Me Another Chance  10. Try Again  11. Watch The Sunrise  12. ST 100/6


Alright, this is totally unrelated to Big Star, but I was digging through some old papers and ran across a couple of creepy clown-based collages I did a couple years ago, that I thought I would share with you...

This one is called "Let's Talk About Music."

This one is called "Starboy."

There's another one in this series that I have lying around somewhere, but I can't find it right now...I'll try and dig it up tonight so I can post it tomorrow...

Oh yea, I invited you here today so we can talk about "#1 Record." This is the first album by legendary power-pop band Big Star, and their only album featuring Chris Bell, who would leave the band after this album. Chris and co-vocalist Alex Chilton trade vocals over detailed, chiming  guitar arrangements...They have a heavy Beatles/Byrds/Badfinger influence, but they weren't afraid of getting a little dirtier or rocking out a bit more than those bands...

That said, this album is a lot more polished than their subsequent albums...There's not a single thing out of place...The songs have a slick, finished quality and the harmonies are beautiful..."#1 Record" didn't initially knock me out the same way "Radio City" did, most likely due to the lower-key material, but after many listens I honestly like it almost as much now...There's a lot of great stuff here...Probably the most well-known song would be the pop-rock classic "In the Street" which was later used as the theme song for some TV show you'd have to pay me to watch...

...Okay, I take it back...That photo just jogged my memory on how you couldn't pay me to watch it...

...I've always been more of a "Head of the Class' type...

But yea, "In the Street" is a great song...Those harmonies in the chorus...Ooo..I think that's what was so special about the record...At the time, things that rocked this hard didn't have those types of beautiful harmonies...Rockers like "When My Baby's Beside Me" and "Feel" are just as sweet as their dreamy ballads...And  boy,. these guys knew a thing or two about dreamy ballads...Check out "The Ballad of El Goodo"...Man, if I wrote this I would've called it "The Ballad of El Greatest Evero." A dewy eyed masterpiece...That shimmering guitar is so damn gorgeous...

The only bum track is  "The India Song," which is hippie shit. Everything else is gold.

This album was originally released through Ardent Records, which was a rock-imprint distributed by the soul giant Stax Records, this album sold poorly during its initial release, but history has been kind to the band...New generations of power-pop fans continue to discover their work and not a year goes by that I don't hear some new acclaimed band sporting their influence...So, let's Check out "The Ballad of El Goodo" below and tell me this doesn't rock your world (in the gentlest way possible)...