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These are so good. Especially "I Want To Pick You Up" which he recorded in that fantastic Big Star style.

It would have been amazing if he covered the whole album.

I Want To Pick You Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evuWI44bRmU

Solar System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK8fOnD2yos

Honkin' Down The Highway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYNaUkTlipM

Was there more to the BB/Alex Chilton connection besides covering each other? Was he ever going to record a solo album for Brother? (A rumor i heard)

On the flipside here's Mike's terrible cover of Chilton's The Letter lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLOdnCpqutI

Thanks so much. I wasn't familiar with his "Honkin" version. Chilton's knowledge of American popular songs was amazing.

I wasn't familiar with his Honkin' rendition either, so thanks for sharing! It's great how people like Lindsey Buckingham or Alex Chilton can/could appreciate the brilliance of Love You. :)

The BBs and Box Tops played some dates together, I believe.

As for that IWTPYU version, Chilton didn't arrange or produce it.

Yeah, they toured together in 1968 at minimum.

A few things from "Big Star: The Story of Rock's Forgotten Band," by Rob Jovanovic.

"The success of 'The Letter' got the band an opening slot for a series of Beach Boys shows at the request of Brian Wilson. The first night was in front of 15,000 Beach Boys fans in Indianapolis." (p. 39-40)

"After a couple of tours, Chilton was invited to visit the Beach Boys in Los Angeles in early 1969. Gary Talley recalled that for his twenty-first birthday, 'Bill Cunningham, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson went out and bought me a birthday cake and brought it to my hotel room. The Beach Boys and Bill sang "Happy Birthday" to me.' Now Chilton was staying at Dennis Wilson's house taking acid and having a merry old time until another of Dennis's friends decided to move in for a while. "I was on the road meeting people like the Beach Boys, the Doors, Wilson Pickett, everybody," says Chilton. "Carl Wilson taught me to play the guitar. I was like the youngest Wilson brother, and I went to California and spent some time with them. I stayed at Brian's house a few times, and that's how I got to meet Charles Manson. Of course, no one knew what he was really up to."' (p45-46)

"[Chilton] approached Carl Wilson about getting a deal with the Beach Boys' Brother Records label but initial talks were slow and the album was shelved for the time being." (p 80)

Wow thanks for posting that. Sounds like the connection runs much deeper than I thought. Can't believe Stephen Despar ended up recording Manson and not Alex smh. History might have been way different if he got that deal with Brother.

"After another show some time later, he came back to my place and rifled through my vinyl collection. He pulled out Love You by the Beach Boys, and wanted to know why I even owned that piece of crap. I said "screw you Chilton - it's a great record". He then put it on my Phillips turntable, picked up my acoustic and played along with every song - perfectly. When he had played both sides, he informed me it was his favorite Beach Boys album. " - http://myvinylreview.blogspot.de/2010/04/special-feature-remembering-alex.html

What a great story - thanks for sharing! I was shocked to hear Alex disrespecting Love You and was totally wrong-footed by the twist at the end.

In regard to Big Star I think Alex Chilton is often portrayed as a Lennon in comparison to Chris Bell's McCartney*. But Alex wrote some stunningly beautiful songs (Thirteen stands out) even while apparently embracing the ugliness of dirty rock and roll, and I think he had a very special voice, capable of great expressiveness - one of my favourites in fact. I can see why he loved Brian Wilson - another tormented soul in search of (or in flight from) lost innocence.

Alex Chilton R.I.P.

(*And of course the Lennon/McCartney contrast is exaggerated anyway!)

Wow, Alex Chilton singing the whole of Love You while the record's playing in the background, I'd totally buy that DVD!

Yeah, thanks for that -- wonderful read.

Chilton comes up here every once in a while -- obviously a big Beach Boys connection.  I read and liked a lot the Jovanovic Big Star book but recommend even more Holly George-Warren's Alex bio "A Man Called Destruction." 

The article above captures something I have thought about for certain artists.  What if they had disappeared from the radar or had never gotten a sniff?  You figure Bob Dylan or someone like Keith Richards would be playing the joints, night after night, whether for a few hundred or a few.  Alex was that guy. I'm sure there are others -- I think of the great country singer Gary Stewart ("She's Acting Single, I'm Drinking Doubles) whose "Single Again" Alex covered (Dylan dug him too).  He was playing Texas and  Florida roadhouses at the end of his career after years in the Country Top 40.  Mick Jagger would own a clothing store chain or gyms.  Mike Love would have given it a year then invested his money in a gas station.  Alan Jardine would have gone back to school (and taken the bus).  Maybe Brian would make home tapes which would have been discovered in his cluttered home after his demise and become a outsider artist phenomenon.  Alex saw himself as a professional musician.  Maybe a song and dance man.  Anyway, as we know, the road is a harsh life.   Long live Alex -- his music. 

Though I think the original lyrics for "Honkin' Down the Highway" were far superior to his "upgrade."

beautiful post, abd.

We discussed this on another thread at least once-but briefly:  Box Tops toured with the BBs briefly  in October 1967 and again in August 1968 and July 1969.  Alex Chilton became quite friendly with Dennis and got to hang out with Carl a lot (Chilton later expressed great admiration for him) on those tours.  He was a huge, huge Brian Wilson fan.