Big Star | BIG STAR LIVE | CD

Big Star: Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar); Jody Stephens (vocals, drums); John Lightman (bass).
Recorded at Ultrasonic Studios, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Robert Gordon.
A previously unreleased concert originally broadcast on WLIR (Long Island, NY) in the mid-70s. The CD was assembled from the original master tape.
Big Star formed and unraveled in the first half of the seventies. An enduring legacy of three studio albums (#1 RECORD, RADIO CITY and SISTER LOVERS/3RD) has left its mark on a slew of bands who fell under the spell of their initially commercially unsuccessful releases. LIVE finds the trio with their new bass player playing a radio broadcast in a studio in New York City. Released nearly two decades after it was recorded, this is a rough and tumble set in every regard--the mood of the band, their playing and the earnest attempt by the engineer to achieve and maintain a reasonable sound mix.
Opening with what may be their most well known song, "September Gurls," the set is prototypical Alex Chilton, replete with soulful phrasing filtered through a depressed sort of hallucinogenic abandon. He also had the good taste to cover Loudon Wainwright's "Motel Blues." This wouldn't be the album to start exploring this band with, but it does fill in the cracks between their other releases quite nicely.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Rock and Pop
• Genre: Rock
• Released: 02/21/1992
• Released: 2/21/1992