Time was Big Star records were more likely talked about than actually heard. But the folks at Omnivore Recordings take musical archaeology quite seriously. Having previously released a Big Star box set as well as the complete recordings of the band’s LP Third, they naturally took things a step further.
Big Star founder Chris Bell left the band after the debut album and never released an LP in his lifetime. In 1978 he died in a car accident at age 27. Bell’s lone release, a 45 RPM single “I Am the Cosmos” was long considered among the holiest grails to record collectors.
Yet Bell was busy recording and The Complete Chris Bell offers the listener six albums to answer those “what if” questions. It can be argued the blueprint for Big Star was laid with the band Rock City in 1969. There was a select group of young Memphians who were taught by John Fry at Ardent Studios the basics of recording, engineering and production and Bell certainly seems to have learned his lessons well. The Rock City tracks reveal a band that is as professional as any major label release of the day.
The recordings by Icewater find Bell inching ever closer to the sounds in his head, influenced by the latter Beatles albums and other British Invasion bands who began to take their art in more serious directions. If this material is a bit heavier and displays more virtuoso than Big Star, it pads Bell’s early resume as no slouch.
In 1992 Rykodisc released the first compilation of Chris Bell recordings as I Am the Cosmos on CD. Omnivore added other post-Big Star recordings, and this here is the cracker jacks. The title cut is a staggering monolith, maybe even the apotheosis of dream-jangle power pop. The songs that surround it show Bell as a talented songwriter on par with Badfinger or The Raspberries. To consider that Big Star and Bell’s music was virtually unheard at the time it was made is nothing short of a tragedy.
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As a writer Bell’s lyrics provide a field day for interpretation. The Big Star documentary Nothing Can Hurt Me offers insights into this talented and complicated young man and his battles with his spirituality and sexuality. Lucky for us he channeled his feelings into his art.
Big Star Live At Lafayette’s Music Room—Memphis, TN finds a post-Bell trio of Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel sharing a gig with Archie Bell & the Drells in early 1973. The lack of applause—or any audience response—suggests this may not have been an ideal double bill.
Originally released as part of the Keep an Eye on the Sky box set and now remastered, this live set finds a band that was all but defunct playing a gig to honor a booking. In essence, they had nothing to lose. Chilton fronts the band and delivers more genius guitar playing than even his most ardent fans would expect. Stephens and Hummel provide rhythmic support that borders on ESP. Whatever is the opposite of a power trio, Big Star was it on this night. Covers of The Flying Burrito Brothers, T-Rex, Todd Rundgren and the Kinks offer a glimpse into their personal listening habits.
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