Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Big Star
#1 Record/Radio City
(Fantasy, 1992)
The ill-starred Memphis group’s first two albums. A real double whammy.
Of all the fan-fleecing formats dreamed up in record company marketing departments in recent years, the two-fer has to be the greatest innovation. Not least because they’re great value (these two come in at less than a fiver on amazon) but also because some albums work perfectly in pairs, the juxtaposition adding a fascinating dimension of relative history. Heard back-to-back, Big Star’s first two albums from 1972 and 1974 plot the testy relationship of songwriters Chris Bell and Alex Chilton. A two-man dialectic, their personal conflict and song-writing one-upmanship propelled them to such heights as Bell’s Feel – which opened Big Star’s debut with such a wonderful, frustrated stomp, and Chilton’s gorgeous channelling of parent-stifled romance, Thirteen (“Tell him what we said about Paint It Black!”) – and yes, I chose to ignore the paedo-interpretation of that song. Every note of #1 Record is priceless; even bassist Andy Hummell’s India Song, with its clunky phrasing and off-key flute solo, serves as perfect punctuation to the Chilton/Bell ding dong. By the end of 1972 Chris Bell had had enough and the group disbanded, later reforming as a three-piece for a rock writers’ convention and eventually releasing 1974’s Radio City. Without his co-writer and free from the strain of their relationship’s dysfunction, Chilton’s melancholic tendencies still found no relief, channeled to heartachingly beautiful ends on O My Soul, You Get What You Deserve and the rightly celebrated September Gurls. Bell’s presence still loomed, and though uncredited, his involvement the early stages of recording is most evident on Back Of A Car’s melodic chime. Ironically, it’s one of the album’s greatest moments. Can’t live with him, can’t live without him.
Jenny Bulley
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 11/11/2008
Further Listening
The Beach Boys – Wild Honey/Smiley Smile (EMI)
Bobbie Gentry – Ode To Billy Joe/Touch ‘Em With Love (Raven)
Dion – Presenting Dion And The Belmonts/Runaround Sue (Ace)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Ah yes, nicely put, eveyrone.
Posted by Terrah at 6:55 PM GMT 23/07/2011 Report Abuse
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Ah yes, nicely put, eveyrone.
Posted by Terrah at 6:56 PM GMT 23/07/2011 Report Abuse
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