When we first started talking about doing a music blog, Ryan and I discussed if we should keep it obscure or if it was ok to throw in some of the better known albums as we relearn to write. I've opted to put in one of my all time favorite records because it's an album I'm passionate about and as this blog is in part for me, an exercise in learning to write reviews, it may be easier to write about music that I have been able to relate to at various stages of my life.
I moved to The Fan District of Richmond VA in 1999. I had yet to discover and accept my true love of power pop back then. It happened when I stepped inside the local record shop, Plan9. "You and Your Sister" was playing over the store stereo and I was instantly enthralled. I asked the bored looking hipster boy behind the counter what this was and he pulled out the record for me. I took it home, played it on repeat and then eventually, through I Am The Cosmos, found Chris Bell's better known band, Big Star. It was the begging of a musical love affair for jangly guitars and fast beats that I still carry a burning torch for to this day.
It would be impossible to talk about Chris Bell's solo work without discussing Big Star and the relationship with Alex Chilton a bit more in depth. Before the birth of Big Star, Bell played in another Memphis band called Jynx. Chilton, also a Memphis local would come to see Jynx play and eventually sang lead vocals at a couple performances. Thus sealed the meeting between two men who would later form one of rock's most notable and influential power pop bands. Chilton eventually moved on and joined the teen group The Box Tops while Bell continued to play in various garage bands around Memphis. Two of these bands, Icewater and Rock City, featured a revolving set of musicians which included Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. Chilton was asked by Bell to join this group and did soon. Soon the four musicians settled into one band and decided on the name Big Star, named after a local Memphis grocery store.
Depressed by #1 Record's failure in commercial sales, Chris Bell left the band to pursue his solo career. After recording numerous demos in Memphis' Ardent studios, the only real physical release during Bell's lifetime was a single on Car Records which included "I Am The Cosmos" on Side A with a B Side of "You And Your Sister". The above album, entitled after Bell's greatest pop song (personal opinion of me!), the album I Am The Cosmos, was actually released in 1992, 14 years after Chris Bell's death, by Rykodisc and mostly includes unreleased tunes from after his time with Big Star, due to his untimely death in 1978. Of course the two released on the Car single deserve attention. I Am The Cosmos is easily one of the most passionate songs ever written and Bell's haunting vocals and lyrics instill listeners with the primal fear and desperation that comes with our need to cheat loneliness. You And Your Sister is an innocent and melodic love song featuring Alex Chilton on background vocals. The Rykodisc release features an acoustic version of the song as well as the original release on the Car label. I Got Kinda Lost could easily have been a Big Star song and reminds us of how significant Bell's influence was on the first Big Star record, something that eventually became overshadowed by Chilton's later popularity.
Big Star, via Chris Bell was the real thing that turned me onto power pop. Like an addict who couldn't get enough, I quickly devoured all of their albums and soon moved on to other power pop delights such as Dwight Twilley, Pezband, the Boston based Real Kids and Big Star Memphis contemporaries, The Scruffs. I will forever be thankful to Chris Bell's music leading me to these places. Although one can't deny Alex Chilton's songwriting skills and that Big Star could never have really been Big Star without his distinct vocals, Chris Bell was the beginning and the tenderness that balanced out Chilton's more icy personality. He was, in a sense, the biggest star.Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos
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1 comment:
...every night i tell myself...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dhkN3-e1N8
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