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Brian and the Boys covered the Letter which was of course sung but not written by Alex Chilton. And Alex covered I wanna pick you up. IMO I think of Alex as kind of like the American John Lennon. Good songwriter who was just cool as heck as well. Anyways, does anyone know if Brian has said anything specific about Big Star or Alex? I think Brian would the like the first two Big Star albums.

his cover of i wanna pick you up makes me wish i could hear that album with a usual band.

http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm (http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm)

You mean Love You?

Apparently he also covered "Solar System" in his live sets saying, "I just think it's a beautiful song."

He's also done Surfer Girl and Wouldn't It Be Nice live solo and with Big Star.

Don't forget-Alex and the Box Tops played a number of shows with the BBs in 67-69.  I have a photo of Alex with Dennis and Carl from Newfoundland August 1968.

Chilton was a fascinating guy.  Was listening to my Box Tops Greatest CD over the weekend -- just unbelievable that voice came from a teenager!  Him and Little Stevie Winwood.  Then he does that about face into the greatness that was Big Star followed by one of the most inscrutable solo careers ever.  Anyway, obviously his musical taste ranged far and wide -- he is the only artist I know who covered my two favorite artists ever -- Brian Wilson and the greatest country artist you've probably never listened to -- Gary Stewart ("Single Again").  And he nails "I Wanna Pick You Up" -- definitive!

Alex was a wonderful musician and a fascinating multi-faceted guy...I produced his version of I Wanna Pick You Up with my friend Duglas T Stewart for the Caroline Now! album. AC was very happy to be 'produced' - he was very old school in that way - but did bring one fabulous idea to the session which was to transcribe the synth lines from the BBLY version for 12 String Electric, in this case my old 1960s Baldwin. Standing round the microphone with Alex and Francis MacDonald to sing the 'She's Gone To Sleep' line is a very happy memory. Later I went on a short tour with Alex and learned so much from his brilliant musicianship and single minded dedication to the song. Before one show he said 'Hey we should do Wouldn't It Be Nice for an encore tonight' and showed me the chords. 'Such a great guitar part' says I. 'Yeah' he said, 'Carl showed me that'...I know that Alex was responsible for getting the Teenage Fanclub guys in to see the Brian Wilson tribute (where our man played I'm A Little Teapot) and he really really loved Brian.
RIP Alex.

This post made my day.  Thanks David for the wonderful memories.  My head has still been reeling from Alex's passing earlier this year and all the wonderful personal stories I've heard of the man have helped ease the hurt a bit.

um.  let me try this again.
hearing chilton's cover and then hearing love you makes me wanna hear love you with regular instruments.  ie not synths

That's what I figured.

Great post David.

Nice call, David. Lovely recollections. Chilton for me was, apart from being greatly gifted, also the personification of 'ramshackle' and 'shambolic', in the good sense. With him, almost everything tended to fall in place just at the right time, but only just... :)

Yeah, great to read that post about the recording of "I Wanna Pick You Up".  That caused me to go back to my copy of "Caroline Now" to peruse the liner notes and I see you are all over that album, David!  Great job!  Speaking of "'Love You' without synths"  -  I see Mr. Scott also produced my other two favorite tracks -- Chip Taylor and Evie Sands on "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" and the Radio Sweethearts' " rollicking "Honkin' Down the Highway".  As I said about the AC track I consider these versions as definitive -- by which I mean I like them best!  I could go on but don't wish to be a major butt kisser -- BUTT -- good job on "Go Away Boy" which I had never heard before getting this amazing comp.

Are Big Star any good? I have never heard anything by them. They have been on my list of 'groups to try out' for months now.

All three LPs are ace: #1 Record, Radio City, and 3rd/Sister Lovers. Perhaps the box set is the one to go for, it's not that expensive (here in Holland). I don't really need it, I have all three LPs on pristine vinyl (#1 even on white).

Yes.  Hearing the opening notes of "Feel" off #1 Record was a life-changing moment for me.

Cool, they have just moved up the queue in my 'what music to buy next' list. It's a big list.

Did we push it from #5000 to #4879?

The first two albums can be easily purchased as a two-fer...make sure you get the 1990 issue, the sound is better than the compressed remaster from 2009.  Here's a link to the original release:

http://www.amazon.com/1-Record-Radio-City/dp/B000000XHA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286903167&sr=8-1

And then the band only has one more "official" album, and that's Big Star 3rd/Sister Lovers (Sister Lovers...sounds like a lost Brian Wilson album title circa Love You!):

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Sister-Lovers-Big-Star/dp/B0000009OB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286903268&sr=8-1

The first album is shiny pop goodness, the second album a bit more dirty...a psychedelic blues, almsot...and the third album is a frightening, yet beautiful descent into madness.  Even if you just stay a casual fan, those three LPs are essential.  But once yer hooked, you'll wanna check out Chris Bell's excellent solo album "I Am the Cosmos" and the various live albums and "footwears" floating about.  Hope this helps!

Good call; I noticed meanwhile that the box is around € 42, whilst the twofer and Sister Lovers (Rykodisc, beautiful cover) add up to around € 30. They are all sublime and more than sufficient for starters. I must admit that Sister Lovers is my personal favourite: as you say, it's weird, delicate, decadent, sometimes a document of a man (or his beloved one?) in free fall ('Holocaust'), and then redemptive ('Jesus Christ'). Indeed, Brian fans will love it, I guess.

Agreed that the Box Set is a worth investment, and there's a lot of amazing music and essential outtakes, but for your first listening, stick with the original albums and mixes.  One the box there's a few remixes and alternate takes while, interesting to hear for die-hards , disrupt the flow of the original albums.  And yeah, Sister/Lovers has a "vibe" doesn't it.  Wonderful 3am record.

Have to add a "+1" to all the recommendations for all three Big Star albums. Essential one and all.

BTW, I collect Alex Chilton interviews and I just found this exchange (not sure when it's from):

Q: Are you into the Beach Boys?

A: We toured together a lot and I was always a big fan of their music and still am.

Q: What do you think about Brian Wilson's situation?

A: It’s hard to understand for me exactly what is going on there. It just seems like he needs a good kick in the butt or something, I dunno. He needs to go get a job and see what the world is like again, you know?

Q: Do you have that attitude in general towards mental illness?

A: In some cases yeah. Some people just think it’s cool to be crazy. It’s everywhere. You can be okay but if you behave in a way that’s not okay, before long you’re not going to be okay.

Thanks for the nice comments on Caroline Now! I meant to post on one of the other threads that was talking about Rainbow Eyes. The girl who sang on that was called Kle (no second name that I know of although she surely has one) who, bizarrely enough was Alan McGee's PA at Creation. She's a great singer who I first heard singing on the BMX Bandits track I Wanna Fall In Love. The sonic reference point for our cut on Rainbow Eyes was the music of The Bangles. One of the things I love most about Brian Wilson is his mixture of humility and world-straddling confidence. In our little interview he told me that Rainbow Eyes was 'one of the most beautiful songs written by anybody' or words to that effect. I had to agree...

On Big Star - my tuppenceworth is that there is loads of wonderful music in there, particularly the famous cuts like Thirteen, Ballad Of El Goodo, In The Steets etc. It's all worth hearing imo...I also love Alex's solo recordings, particularly Like Flies On Sherbert, some of the lovely cuts on Cliches and the 1970 recordings of which Everyday As We Grow Closer is a real beauty. On the way to one show I was enthusing about that album and Alex was sitting in my passenger seat curling his lip and rolling his eyes in horror. After the show the DJ played EDAWGC and Alex came grooving across the floor proffering a wide grin and a large glass of red wine saying 'hey, you know I think you might be right, this is pretty good'.

For me the thing that Alex and Brian have most in common is this utter respect for the song and the songwriter - Alex showed it by spending most of his solo career cutting classics and relatively obscure soul sides - Brian recently with that wonderful sustained hymn to his great hero Gershwin...
I also agree with Runaways that it would be interesting to hear BBLY 'organic'...I hope Evie and Chip's version of Let's Put Our Hearts Together and the Sweethearts Honkin go some way towards that.

As I type Scotland have just come back from 2-0 down against the World and European champions Spain to level at 2-2. Bloody hell.

 :lol It's currently weighing in at a muscular #47 Don. I've just started a bit of a Frank Zappa fixation. He's got one or two albums out there...

Yeah, you need Big Star in your life.

I never go far, without a little Big Star....

 :lol Be careful. Our own Luther went bankrupt for just that reason. His children already suffered from hunger edema because he badly wanted 'Joe's Garage Pt. 1 and 2'.

The cheese on "Catholic Girls" alone could feed an average family for a week.

Toe fat?

The coolest thing about Frank was while everyone else was jumping on the hippy bandwagon he was taking the piss out of them for being a bunch of lame phonies.

Agreed. I am sorry I never could come to terms with my idea of his stuff being too rational, at the cost of direct emotion. Same with Steely Dan, by the way.

...and let's please not forget that Alex Chilton produced the Cramps...

Brian on why Love You rocks: I think because I felt so sad I had to bring out my feelings, and try to create music that would make me and all my friends feel better. I think the "Love You" album is one of the best we have ever made. My favourites are "I Wanna Pick You Up" and "Ding Dang". that was a good cut, wasn't it? Just a very short song, that's all. One of the shortest records we have ever made. It's funny because now people are beginning to see that album as a classic - it was quite revolutionary in its use of synthesizers.

As far as I'm concerned Radio City is one of the greatest albums of all time.

my other favourite band. they also did honkin down the highway

Got the first two albums yesterday. First impressions - good not great. Bound to grow on me with repeated listens. "Ballad of El Goodo" sticks out for me. They don't sound from a production point of view like they were recorded in the early 70's at all.

Keep listening, they will grow. IIRC the late, great Jim Dickinson produced, right? BTW, for this listener, the Replacements' 'Alex Chilton' is one of the all-time greatest pop songs. It has thrice the number of great uplifting melodies that the average 'classic' sports.

Dickinson produced Third/Sister Lovers.  John Fry produced the first two.  He gets what may be the best acoustic guitar sound I've ever heard on record.

I stand corrected. And you are right about that guitar sound.

Blug. I hate him so much. I like his instrumental music a bit but he was just such an unfunny, gross, creep.
Plus doesn't he look like the kind of guy who smells a little bit?

Another thing for the new Big Star fan to listen to is Chris Bell's solo 'record' (really a collection of assorted singles, b-sides, and so many great things left in the can until his suicide) I Am The Cosmos. The title track here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR594Kkxmzg

Big Star definitely grow on you. I didn't love them for about a year after i started listening to them, but i think the key is to stick them on shuffle (and to buy Third/Sister Lovers too, although that is the sound of a man falling into drunken despair) and absorb them. Thirteen might be their greatest song....

Alex actually hung out with Dennis on the west coast a bit during the downtime between the Box Tops and Big Star.  I know I read that in the band bio or in an article somewhere, anyway.

Just bought "A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton" and am slowly making my way through it (I like to read just a couple of chapters a day when its something I'm really interested in)

Plenty of Beach Boys references in the early chapters. Alex apparently expressed a wish to call his 1st 3 sons (Brian, Dennis and Carl) - I actually said this to my GF a few years ago and she said she didn't like any of the names  ??? (oh well)

He talks about Carl teaching him guitar and hanging out with Dennis. He said he was like Carl's puppy dog.

One chapter is entitled "I slept with Charlie Manson" which obviously has a few bits about staying at Dennis s house,

Mentions going to a session at Brian's house where they were recording "Were together again" and also going to the Whisky a Go Go with Brian where Brian preceded to do press ups in the booth across from him.

Really enjoying the book so far, learning lot of new stuff about Alex, very informative and well written.

Buy all three and prepare to become obsessed!

There's a song on Chilton's "1970" album which could've easily been a Dennis Wilson song ("I Can Dig It"), similar in style to "Pacific Ocean Blues".

I've just gotten into Big Star lately, after years of hearing how great they were; I would try a couple of songs here and there, and didn't get it. Then one afternoon, while looking around Netflix, I saw the documentary on them, 'Nothing Can Hurt Me'. I started watching it for the hell of it, and I really got into it. I don't think that Alex did a better song than 'Nightime'!

Whoever interviewed Brian for Caroline Now! did an awesome job. I wish we had more interviews like that. To hell with asking Brian why Smile didn't come out. He's not gonna give us anything new in that regard. I'd rather hear his general thoughts on music.

Everyone should own all Big Star albums.

There's one version of a Box Tops Greatest Hits (which I've seen used in most record stores) that features liner notes on the back recalling Alex's story of sharing a bed with Brian, Dennis, and Charlie (iirc) as well as a line about how Brian once called Alex in the middle of the night later in the 70s ask him to come straight to LA so that Brian could produce an LP for him... Always wondered why they'd include those anecdotes on a Box Tops greatest hits but there they are... I'll take a pic next time I see it.

My first Big Star album was Third/Sister Lovers. I fell in love with it upon first listen. Highly experimental and emotive. "Kangaroo" is one of the most beautiful, harrowing songs I've ever heard. Radio City is the greatest 70's bludgeoning-power-pop album of all time. #1 Record is only slightly less substantial musically as the aforementioned, (easily disputable,) but in my opinion, contains absolute essentials per "Feel," "Ballad of El Goodo," "In The Street," "Thirteen," "My Life Is Right," alongside a handful of beautiful acoustic tracks, and still ranks among the greatest albums of all time. I Am The Cosmos, too, is a fantastic listen, most appropriately paired with Radio City.

Note - Never would have thought my first words on a Beach Boys board would be regarding Big Star.

Heresy, right?

Right. You could've instead posted it here: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,214.50.html

Same goes to Mr. Verlander & job. Your thoughts on Big Star didn't mention the BBs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqupS8x0i1c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqupS8x0i1c)

  Good Heavens, yes. Duplicate threads are bad. Must use search function....

Whew it's time for YOU  to meditate  Maybe get a life away from this board

You know, I've now read that thread.  It's damn good, just without too many names of folks still around here.  I'm going to bump it up to the top.