There is music that brings sunshine to one's life, and then there is something like Alex Chilton's "Like Flies On Sherbert" that expresses an inner terror. The world, in a sense, is a very organized series of relationships, that when one gets up in the morning, it is a high percentage that you will make out OK to get to bed that evening. "Like Flies On Sherbert" conveys a life that is not in that motion. One wakes up and faces a series of disasters, and how one dodges the bullet by the end of the way, depends on how you win out in the end if you are not damaged that badly. This recorded mess of an album is a masterpiece.
Big Star's third album, was a record expressing Alex Chilton heading in a direction in life that there were no guarantees that things will end up OK. "Like Flies On Sherbert" is more of a mental state than a piece of music. Its Southerness is of the gothic variety, and Chilton is one of the great figures of the South, in my opinion, in the same territory as William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor. The fact that the album cover is an image by the great photographer William Eggleston, gives this album a special nod to a culture that is both beautiful and rotting at the same time. The music here, as played, is like the best food on the planet, but rotting in the back of a fridge, that is not always plugged in.
Like Big Stars' "Third Album" this is a recording that has a few different editions and song selections. The one I 'm commenting on is the album that was released by Vinyl Lovers in 2010 and includes four extra songs or bonus cuts. Nevertheless, it fits into this aural madness. Chilton's first official solo album is not a country or garage rock album, but hardcore Rockabilly. Not nostalgic rock n' roll, but Rockabilly as a modern piece of music. It has strains of The Legendary Stardust Cowboy or Hasil Adkins, then say Elvis Presley at Sun Records. This is not about the music performed as tightness, but blown-up in a careless manner. It's the audio equivalent of Gustav Metzger's work as a visual artist. Alcohol never sounded so dangerous and crazed than "Like Flies On Sherbert."
The album is half originals and half covers. The covers are mostly obscure rockabilly songs or deep country music. The one surprise here is a cover of KC & The Sunshine Band's "Boogie Shoes." The original pieces of music on this album are minimal but carry much emotional weight. The sexuality is wreckless such as "Girl After Girl," "My Rival," and "Hey! Little Child." Being in the gutter and looking up at the stars, or even death can be a positive light. One of the great albums of all time.
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