TOP 1974 PROMO BIG STAR RADIO CITY Chilton Beatles

$

220

                                                  ***  ATTENTION! **

    1974 RARE ORIGINAL PROMO TOP COLLECTIBLE

             BIG STAR

            RADIO CITY  

                 USA - ARDENT RECORDS - ADS 1501 (promo)    

Highly sought after for goood reason...ORIGINAL 1974 first pressing (promo copy) on the obscure ARDENT RECORDS label... with the (scarce) original printed inner sleeve... 

Some hard core collectors think "Radio City" by Big Star may be the finest rock recording ever reduced to vinyl. Read this again for emphasis: This recording may be the finest recording ever reduced to vinyl.

Contrary to the haunting, lurching words and refrain of "What's Goin' Ahn" on this 1974 masterpiece, there is much to say about this Memphis band and the album Radio City. A few have said quite a bit about the band and its story, and we will do our best not to rewrite the deserved accolades written by other critics. 

Yeah, Big Star has nice melodies, shiny guitars and lilting harmonies, but it is a lot more complex than that, and there was a reason that a Revolver magazine story cited "Big Star...America's #1 Cult band."

This review focuses on their second album Radio City, because many consider this to be the band's creative peak, capturing on vinyl all the chiming glitter and power of melody that can be expressed with electric guitars and high, lilting, tortured, I-Don't-Care-If-You-Like-It lyrics and vocals. Sure, Big Star have similarities to The Beatles. But not even Lennon had the pent up angst and raw anger of a real live Southern boy with Steve Cropper guitar chops and an attitude that allowed him to raise his middle finger to the record industry, you, me and the rest of the world. This, combined with awesome, spontaneous performances that seem to have been captured magically, made comparisons to The Beatles inevitable, except the majesty of Big Star on Radio City had everything to do with how Chilton appeared to want to break free from The Beatles shadow and the shadow that was his former bandmate, Chris Bell.

Like The Beatles, Big Star had at its core two great forces: Chilton, and the enigmatic, cult icon Chris Bell. The band started with Chris at the throne, and he was a died-in-the-wool Beatles disciple. There was a tacit power struggle as to the direction of the band during their first album, #1 Record, and Alex wanted control. By Radio City, Bell was intimidated out of the band and Alex had free reign.

No one before Chris or after ever really challenged Alex musically, and Alex might have even admitted that to himself. Radio City was Chilton's way of showing only to himself that he could write better Beatles-like songs than Bell ever could. Chilton's motivation for Radio City may have been to show up Bell. That is the source of the passion, angst and intensity on Radio City. That type of rivalry made The Beatles great, except they stayed together despite their dissonance, creating a larger body of work. That the late Chilton showed up Bell with Radio City may have literally killed the late Bell, a tortured, complex man who never had the chance to find a support system that would have allowed him to accept his homosexuality. Indeed, his early death some label as a suicide was a tragedy of the highest order.

Radio City opens with the instrumental, "O My Soul," putting on display the kind of guitar playing that only could be accomplished by mastering the guitar parts from the best Stax/Volt records. To follow, you have the classic "Life Is White." There, Chilton speaks directly to Bell in response to Bell's spiritual opus, "Life Is Right" off of #1 Record: "...don't like to see your face, don't like to hear you talk at all." He sings about a girl named Ann, but perhaps he speaks directly to Bell here. Following that is "Way Out West," with its stutterring, tension-filled intro and the magical bass line that follows the chorus.

The next track, "What's Goin' Ahn," to me, embodies everything about Big Star that put them into Beatles, Brian Wilson category. When Chilton sings, "I like love, but I don't know, all these girls they come and go, always nothin' left to say...," he is tapping into that honest confession-to-yourself territory that only greats like Brian Wilson can pull off. It is the type of line that could be put on the tombstone of many a lonely person. A literally perfect song. "You Get What You Deserve" shows the f... you side of Big Star again: another melodic masterpiece. "Mod Lang," like "O My Soul," puts Chilton's guitar chops on display. A perfect sequencing breather for the anthem, "Back of a Car" which follows.

Any melodic music fan has to revel in the chiming, resounding arpeggio that explodes at the outset of "Back...". The lyrics say it all: "...sitting in the back of a car, music so loud, you can't tell a thing." Anyone who hears this is "there" at a stadium Rolling Stones show with a bottle of Jack in one hand, and a bong in the other, listening to blaring Zeppelin out of distorted Jensens. For those with a drug-free past, substitute anything very exhilirating here.

"Daisy Glaze" is the ideal setup for the next track, "She's a Mover," a track that puts on display the style and taste of drummer Jody Stephens. The track is mixed in "Beatles stereo", i.e., all of the drums are panned through one speaker. Stephens, on all the Big Star work, played sparsely where it was required, but had/has the skills of the best of the best drummers. Think Ringo, except he could play like Keith Moon.

The next track is considered the climax of the recording, "September Gurls," an idyllic, synergistic combination of simple power chord structure, melody and harmony. It is the the model for many songs in the genre of "power pop". The last two tracks, "Morpha Too" and "I'm in Love with a Girl" are perfect closers, allowing one to literally catch his or her breath after the power that has been experienced.

• Alex Chilton – guitar, vocals
• Andy Hummel – bass guitar
• Jody Stephens – drums, vocals

• Danny Jones – bass guitar
• Richard Rosebrough – drums

1. "O My Soul" – 5:40 (Chilton) (this track is always mono...no stereo mix has ever been released)
2. "Life Is White" – 3:19 (Chilton, Hummel)
3. "Way Out West" – 2:50 (Hummel)
4. "What's Going Ahn" – 2:40 (Chilton, Hummel)
5. "You Get What You Deserve" – 3:08 (Chilton)

6. "Mod Lang" – 2:45 (Chilton, Rosebrough)
7. "Back of a Car" – 2:46 (Chilton, Hummel)
8. "Daisy Glaze" – 3:49 (Chilton, Hummel, Stephens)
9. "She's a Mover" – 3:12 (Chilton)
10. "September Gurls" – 2:49 (Chilton)
11. "Morpha Too" – 1:27 (Chilton)
12. "I'm in Love with a Girl" – 1:48 (Chilton)

CONDITION: The cover is solid and stiff with small promo cut at top left, "EX" (excellent) having no split seams, no bends, no writing. The white cover portion is snow white, clean and prone to be dirty, which it is not.  

The vinyl is all glossy over both sides, "EX" (excellent) and plays outstanding...the labels are both clean

                keeper copy!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for more & more of similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record