9. Big Star - #1 Record

I have written a whole lot about Big Star before, so I will try to keep my thoughts as succinct as possible here. I have too many things to say about them, so it will take some effort.

Simply put, my discovery of Big Star was maybe my most exciting musical discovery ever. I don’t remember how I first heard about them, but I know that I had no idea they were so critically beloved and well-known when I found #1 Record/Radio City hidden away in some Best Buy CD shelf. So hearing these records for the first time was a stunning, out-of-left-field experience. How had I never heard these songs before? Why weren’t “Feel” or “When My Baby’s Beside Me” well-worn FM radio standards? So strange, but so beautiful. I don’t think hearing a band for the first time will ever feel quite that special ever again, for me.

Any Big Star album could make this list, but #1 Record makes it ‘cause it’s so full of joy, so full of promise. It’s the sound of a bunch of guys playing nigh-perfect pop music with audible confidence, like they know they’ve got a huge hit on their hands. Which, of course, makes the whole affair a lot more bittersweet than it should be.

It’s also the only Big Star record with Chris Bell as an official member (he contributed a little to Radio City but didn’t get much credit for it). As much as I love Alex Chilton, he tends to get most of the credit for Big Star’s magnificence, which isn’t entirely true. Bell’s songs on here are just as good as Chilton’s, and one listen to the former’s posthumous solo release I Am The Cosmos make it clear that he was an exceptional talent. Bell and Chilton together complimented each other perfectly.

The track I’ve picked out, “Give Me Another Chance,” is a gorgeous Chilton ballad. The second side of #1 Record doesn’t get as much attention as the first, ‘cause it’s slower and doesn’t have “The Ballad Of El Goodo” or “In The Street” on it. But I love it so. “Give Me Another Chance” is one of Chilton’s best songs, I think.