The Box Tops - "The Letter/Neon Rainbow" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1967 (Bell)

I have to presume that this is the first Alex Chilton album, as him being a member of The Box Tops.  The blue-eyed soul of Chilton's singing plus the aural pleasures supplied by producer and songwriter Dan Penn makes "The Letter/Neon Rainbow" a real delight.  I'm intrigued by Penn's production of the album.  The orchestration is both understated and there to support Alex's vocals. I don't get the feeling that this is a band at work, but more of a singer with a remarkable writer and arranger.  I love "Trains & Boats & Planes" as well as their version of "Whiter Shade of Pale."  There is a mellow aspect to the vocals, and yet, it is hard to believe that Alex was a teenager at the time of these recordings.  Chilton had that genius aspect in that whatever he touches on, it becomes gold. Penn and Chilton are a great working relationship. 

Big Star - "Radio City" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1974/2011 (Ardent Records)

I haven't heard this album in a long time, and just tonight, I found a vinyl copy, so I thought, "OK." What's incredible is discovering how much I still love this album. The performance by Big Star on "Radio City" is energetic, powerful, and layered with guitars that pulls the listener into a concept of imagery that comes with their music. It's perfection as practiced by Jody Stephens, Andy Hummel, and of course, Alex Chilton. 

The DNA of their sound, at least for this album, is The Beatles "For Sale" or at the very least, "Revolver." But it's work that doesn't imitate the fab four sound, but more used as a platform for Alex and company to build their music on. At the time, there were a lot of power-pop bands and artists. A lot of them were good, including Cheap Trick. But I find Big Star very much on the spiritual side of the music than getting the right guitar sound, or the perfect melody arrangement. There is magic in these recordings and songs.  I think a lot has to do with the "It" quality of Alex and the band. John Fry, their engineer, really caught the essence of the sound in the studio. For some odd reason listening to this album on vinyl, it really grabbed me by the heart and head. 

The essence of Alex Chilton is here, and there is something reckless, sexy. Yet, in firm control of the material, that is his personality. I don't think there is such a thing as a 'bad' Alex performance or even album. One can like something more than the other, but his genius is to give every song he sang a distinctive quality that can only be Alex. Like hearing Bowie, or Billie Holiday, who' put a stamp on their songs cannot be imitated, Alex is in the same league as those singers. There are those who sound like students when they do this sort of music. Still, Big Star owns their material in such a manner that it is characteristic of their genius. And then there are the Bill Eggleston photos. That's brilliant, as well. 

The Cramps - "Songs The Lord Taught Us " Vinyl, LP, Album, 2016/1980 (Drastic Plastic Records)

The first full-length Cramps album.  Originally released in 1980.  Alex Chilton is the producer.  If I was at these recordings in the studio, I would sit by the exit just in case something weird breaks out.  More likely nothing odd happened during the recording of "Songs The Lord Taught Us" but sound wise it sounds like mayhem and within its vinyl grooves there are these people trapped within those grooves and they're trying to break free.  In other words, this is very much an intense listening experience.   It is also the perfect rock n' roll album.

The genius aspect of the early version of The Cramps is that they didn't have a bass player, neither an electric or stand-up bass.   It's two electric guitars, a voice, and drums without cymbals.  On paper, it sounds primitive, and that is an often descriptive term for their sound, but for me, that is like saying Harry Partch's music is primitive.  It's actually so simple that it's complex within the wave of sounds between the two guitarists with the addition of the big beat of the drums. 

Alex Chilton doesn't smooth out the sound but allows it to go crazy within the studio landscape.  It's Sun Records, but leave out the sanity button on the mixing/recording table.  It's both a tribute to the Sun sound and also acknowledging that it is using that 'sound' as the foundation to go onward.  The beauty of The Cramps is not their originality (which they have plenty of those ingredients) but also the fact that they are curators of a sound that they know well, and what they convey to the listener is the real deal. 

Chilton is the perfect producer for The Cramps.   The band knows a fellow traveler by instinct and it's interesting that afterward they never used an outside producer for future recordings.  In that sense, The Cramps became an isolated group that kept their world within its reach, and never comprise its sound or image to another corporation or another artist - unless it's a tribute to their sensibility of rock n' roll history.    In the nutshell, the perfect band making the perfect album, with the perfect producer of that time.  The Cramps with the help and assistance of Alex Chilton.   Perfection in practice. 

Alex Chilton - "Like Flies on Sherbert" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2010/1979 (Vinyl Lovers)

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. 

V.A. - "Ork Records: New York, New York" Box Set, 4 x Vinyl Compilation, Book, 2015 (Numero Group)

"Ork Records: New York, New York" is a crazed pandora's box. Once opened, it's hard to keep that energy contained within its packaging.  One of the best thought-out box sets ever in the vinyl world, "Ork Records" exposes the foundation, and how everything changed from the floor and up.  The record label had to happen due to the dynamic music being made in New York City in the mid and late 1970s.  With respect to Terry Ork and Charles Ball's label, Ork Records, it was ground zero for a literal rebirth of rock n' roll, when rock almost lost its roll.   It's a label that attracted brilliant and troubled characters as well as visionary geniuses who used the sonic abilities to capture inspiration as it was being made and processed through the local NYC presses at the time. 

Terry Ork sounds like he would make a great Patricia Highsmith character.  Gay, with numerous name changes to avoid the law, and an obsessed fascination with the cinema also had a thing about drugs and sleeping with young men.  What brings him to our attention is his cultivated taste for great music and the artists who committed themselves to their music.  The band that opened up the world of possibilities was Television.   It was Television's idea of doing an independent single release of one of their great songs, "Little Johnny Jewel."  Both Television members Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell were into poetry and printed their own book of poems, which was not an unusual practice for poets at that time (and still), but in that fashion, why not put out a record in such a manner as printing up a book of poems.  Terry Ork helped financed the move, and as a tribute to their manager, they named the label Ork Records.   Later with Charles Ball, who had more financial smarts, released a few dozen   45 rpm singles of various bands and artists.   This box set is the result of those releases.  The tremendous and weird thing about all of this is that there isn't a stinker in any of their releases on Ork Records.  Terry and Charles had the touch of genius in choosing their artists.  

With Terry (and Charles) being the center of the perfect storm, Ork Records was the springboard for New York City punk and new wave music at the time.  Television release of their single, brought Richard Hell's first record, and which meant Hell's guitarist Robert Quine making a record with rock writer legend Lester Bangs recording, which drew on Television's Richard Lloyd recordings, which got Chris Stamey, which led to Alex Chilton and so forth.   Ork was the head engine struggling to get over the steep hill, and they were carrying all these great musicians in their train compartments.  

"Ork Records" is a work of perfection.  The box set consists of four vinyl LP's and a hardcover book.  The book alone is worth the price of the whole package, but the music is exceptional.  As a teenager in Los Angeles, I have found New York as this mystical land where great things happen. When I hunted down the original Ork Records singles, such as the Hell and Television recordings, it was like getting a message from another part of the world.  I got the same feeling when I purchased the Chris Stamey recordings as well - his Ork release as well as music from his own label, Car Records.  It was an extraordinary world at the time, and re-listening to these recordings on this box set does not disappoint.  They were indeed excellent recordings of their time, and they still kick ass.  It's great to hear the Alex Chilton records in the context of this box set, because it's part of the narrative and it's essential that it is part of the story or Ork and the others who were involved in this world.  

By however anyone looks at this package, it's essential for those who will study NYC cultural history of the 70s.  For instance, if you are studying the arts such as conceptual art, painting, and especially poetry, you must have the Ork Records box set.  It's part of the puzzle or piece that when you look at it, the story becomes more evident. It shows how a group of individuals can make marginal music (due to the financial and structional cultural world of its time) and how in its weird way is sort of the mirror image of Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes. 

The Cramps - Gravest Hits (Drastic Plastic Records) Vinyl 12", 45 RPM Red Vinyl

The Cramps are perfect.   Perfect as a concept, and perfect sound.  This five-song E.P. is a fabulous introduction to one of the great American bands.  So American, I often think they came from France or another foreign country.  I write that because it seems to me that they came from the outside to comment on their culture.  Which are a world of horror and obscure rockabilly recordings.  The Cramps are very much about curating and collecting as well as making music.  At the time of this album's original release, 1979, I only knew "Surfin' Bird."  Although the other songs are now well-known, for instance, Jack Scott's "The Way I Walk" and Ricky Nelson's "Lonesome Town." At that time I wasn't familiar with the 1950s rock world.  Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" of course, but his Sun Records version of "Domino," no.  So this particular E.P. not only introduced me to this band but also a whole music culture that I wasn't aware of.  I suspect that many of their fans and listeners were in the same boat as me.  Ignorant! 

Alex Chilton's crazed production that was both a tribute to the original recordings, as well as a new sound - at least for me, was a huge 'oh wow.'    The genius real life couple of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, plus the additional guitar (no bass!) of the goth-like Bryan Gregory, with the minimal drumming by Nick Knox, was a force that hit me in the stomach hard - but in a somewhat healthy way.  As I mentioned, total perfection.  

Big Star - "Third/Sisters Lovers" CD Album

Big Star – Third/ Sister Lovers

CD Album, 1992

Rykodisc

A horror show. Or I should say an album posed as a horror show. A Big Star album by name, but really except for one song, pretty much of an Alex Chilton solo album. Here it is at the end of the line, and what comes up is a combination of a manic/depressive state known as Third or Sister Lovers. In parts it reminds me of late 1960's Beach Boys meeting the Velvet Underground. He even covers Lou Reed's “Femme Fatale” in a faithful, yet full of the Alex menace and a certain amount of grace. For instance is there a more haunting song than “Holocaust?”

At times the album yells out 3AM, but it is an album full of shadows and shades. Not exactly colors mind you, but it's rich like a John Ford black and white movie. Also there is a lot of experimentation with respect to sound and there's a tension from the first cut to the last. If possible I would get the Rykodisc edition due to the artwork, but also the bonus cuts. All good. “Downs” is calypso done with a Memphis aesthetic and again, “Nature Boy.” Essential work.

  

Big Star - "Keep An Eye On The Sky" CD Box-Set

Big Star – Keep An Eye On The Sky

4 x CD box set, U.S. , 2009

Rhino Records

If only for Alex Chilton's haunted version of “Nature Boy” with photographer William Eggleston on piano, that this 4 CD box set by Big Star is a must. It's funny due to this version of the classic, I think of Chilton as being Chet Baker's younger soul brother. Lost, but on solid ground with his music. They also share a real sense of cool, not movie cool, but cool that one can only be born with.

Keep An Eye On The Sky is very much an essential package to get, not only for the demos of Big Star and Chris Bell classics, but the way it packages and frames the career and vision of Chilton & Co. Listening to Big Star and all of its off-shoots is a highly emotional ride into a dark night that has no answers. In a way it is a hopeless meditation on one's place on this earth. Blues music that is not technically the blues, but expresses the anxiety of those who wander into the myst that's culture. In this case its strongly placed in the Memphis landscape. I rarely buy box-sets (I have about five, and they're all pretty essential, and will get to them later here), but Big Star is a band that is often seen in fragments, so this set places them in a bigger frame. Wonderful.  

Big Star - "#1 Record/Radio City" CD Compilation Reissue

Big Star - #1 Record/Radio City

CD, Compilation Reissue, Remastered 1992

Stax/Ardent Records

The Memphis fab four that became the mighty three by the second album is one of the great music adventures in the pop world. Of course at the time, one couldn't give away their records. I think I orginally bought both of their albums in the cut-out bin at Warehouse Records in Woodland Hills. But alas, this little lighter turned into a huge fire over the years. There are at least three excellent books out on the band, plus a wonderful documentary. So being quiet, and over time, the attention came to the band. Unfortunately too late for Chris Bell, the co-writer and player in Big Star. Now there is only one surviving member, which is sad, because there is great sadness in their music. Big Star is an all-white band in Black Memphis, but still, they had a great deal of soul.

Many years later I found this CD, that is both the first and second album on one disk. Which economically speaking is great, but I find both albums totally the opposite of each other. Sound wise as well as attitude. The now ironically called #1 Record is full of hope that a love will come around and success is around the corner. The melodies sneak up on you and the guitars keep charming the pants and dresses off you. There is darkness on the edges, but it is held inside. The only really silly song on this album is “The India Song” which is about drinking gin and tonic in the forest. Probably the most un-spiritual song ever with the name India attached to it. A minor song yes, but a great minor song.

What is interesting is the sweetness of the voices blending together, but also Chris Bell's idea of pop maybe a tad different than Alex Chilton's. So there is the tension between the two figures in Big Star, and especially in #1 Record. By the second album, Chris is out and it's just Alex, Jody, and Andy. And here is where it gets really interesting.

Radio City is a masterpiece. Alex Chilton is one-of-a-kind force in nature that when he's on, there is no one that can beat him on his game. Over-all there is never a moral issue with Chilton, it is basically he sees the world in a certain light, and that is what he goes by. When I hear a Chilton song I am hearing something from his mouth to his music, and there is no interference with a third party. There are songwriters who make grand statements, but Chilton is basically focused on the only source he can trust – himself. And even with that, “Way Out West” by Jody, their drummer is my favorite song off this album. But never underestimate the beauty of “September Gurls.”

Alex Chilton - "Like Flies on Sherbert" CD Album

Alex Chilton – Like Flies on Sherbert

CD Album, Reissue, 1996, France

Last Call Records

Truly one of the great albums in my collection of greats. Alex Chilton's demented, wild, and perhaps insane album Like Flies on Sherbert is a like following a lighted fuse as it approaches the TNT. Instead of cartoon violence, we're getting psyche warfare where one doesn't know how this is going to end up. Half originals, and half covers, this album is a dictionary of ill will but not going silently into the night. If Sgt. Pepper is the grand point of pop, then Like Flies … is the very peak of rockabilly. To me it always represents the end of something, maybe even music?

Without a doubt, Chilton changed gears after this album. But what he left on the operating table is emotion, that I think only an artist like Sam Fuller can appreciate. “Boogie Shoes” is a perfect opening to this chaos. Throw-a-way, loose version of KC and The Sunshine Band's southern soul is the entrance that leads to the deadly “My Rival.” The distorted guitars fighting towards a blissfulness of revenge. “Hey! Little Child” is just brutal, with darkness lurking in its soul, and Alex sometimes sounds like a David Lynch villain. Nevertheless this is the end results of Big Stars' great “Third” album, it goes nowhere, and this is the sound of that state of mind. Masterpiece.

Alex Chilton - "Live In London" CD Album

Alex Chilton – Live in London
CD, Album 1980
Line Records

Certain musicians compress all their taste and knowledge in their music. Alex Chilton was not only an incredible songwriter but also a curator of sorts with respect to musical history. A man who loved the most obscure rockabilly song to American songwriting standards. He had that whole world in his hands, and the beauty of his work is how he put his stamp on the music. It is sort of like he is the driver, and you are the passenger, and off you go!

I suspect one thing that Clinton never had a concern about is a typical 'music career.' It seems he had a strong 'fuck you' attitude to the business side of that world. But what is impressive about the man is that when I saw him in various clubs around the world, he was like a human jukebox. Mind you he was not going to take any requests (at least when I saw him) but if he wanted to – he could do anything musically. And the fact he's dead now, he left an enormous empty hole in contemporary music. But alas, there are the recordings....

"Live in London" with a pick-up band which I believe are members of the Soft Boys. He rocks in an intense way that is partly existential, spiritual, and just nasty rock. But never forgetting the beautiful melodies that come out of the evening's chaos. Live in London is that and more. Recorded right after he put out his masterpiece Likes Flies on Sherbet this is an album that goes right into his past from the Box Top's “The Letter” to Big Star songs. One of my favorite live albums, in fact, one of my favorite albums period.