if he died in Memphis, wouldn't that be cool
Alex Chilton, dead at 59.
2010 is off to a smashing start. :'(
If you don't know....
The 70s power-pop brilliance of Big Star:
- September Gurls
[How can I deny what's inside?]
Breezy and mid-tempo, this could match any catchy classic rock song you've heard on the radio, but the near-mindless lyrics belie a wistfulness found in the timbre of Alex's voice.
- Nightime
[Caught a glance in your eyes and fell through the skies]
Hauntingly captures the atmosphere of late night city streets, connection met with loneliness.
I never really got into Alex's solo work. The albums I heard seemed a bit slapdash and never grabbed me. But Big Star, I love. The summer after I graduated high school, I discovered the Replacements. Of course, it was late, several years after they'd split. And born too late to have heard Big Star during their time (though they were never in the mainstream during their short span), it was via the following homage that I was introduced to Big Star:
- The Replacements - Alex Chilton
[I never travel far without a little Big Star]
However, it was not until I fell in love with Elliott Smith's music that I really got hooked on Big Star. The first time I saw Elliott live, in October 1998, he covered the jangly and sweet (yet cheekily titled) "Stroke It Noel." Afterward, I went back and re-listened to Third/Sister Lovers (which, I'll admit, I bought in the first place because Jeff Buckley covered "Kangaroo"-it's the six degrees game, music-style, for me... oh, and there was the Posies tie too) and finally got it. Elliott also did wonderful, breath-stopping versions of "Nightime" and this simple, aching and refreshingly non-angsty song of teenage love:
- Elliiott Smith - Thirteen (demo)
[Would you be an outlaw for my love? / If it's so, well, let me know / if it's no, well, I can go/ I won't make you]
If there is life after death, I'd like to imagine that Elliott and Alex are jamming together right now, their broken voices making something whole. (And, ideally, Alex would join forces again with Chris Bell.)
Rest in peace, Alex.
2010 is off to a smashing start. :'(
If you don't know....
The 70s power-pop brilliance of Big Star:
- September Gurls
[How can I deny what's inside?]
Breezy and mid-tempo, this could match any catchy classic rock song you've heard on the radio, but the near-mindless lyrics belie a wistfulness found in the timbre of Alex's voice.
- Nightime
[Caught a glance in your eyes and fell through the skies]
Hauntingly captures the atmosphere of late night city streets, connection met with loneliness.
I never really got into Alex's solo work. The albums I heard seemed a bit slapdash and never grabbed me. But Big Star, I love. The summer after I graduated high school, I discovered the Replacements. Of course, it was late, several years after they'd split. And born too late to have heard Big Star during their time (though they were never in the mainstream during their short span), it was via the following homage that I was introduced to Big Star:
- The Replacements - Alex Chilton
[I never travel far without a little Big Star]
However, it was not until I fell in love with Elliott Smith's music that I really got hooked on Big Star. The first time I saw Elliott live, in October 1998, he covered the jangly and sweet (yet cheekily titled) "Stroke It Noel." Afterward, I went back and re-listened to Third/Sister Lovers (which, I'll admit, I bought in the first place because Jeff Buckley covered "Kangaroo"-it's the six degrees game, music-style, for me... oh, and there was the Posies tie too) and finally got it. Elliott also did wonderful, breath-stopping versions of "Nightime" and this simple, aching and refreshingly non-angsty song of teenage love:
- Elliiott Smith - Thirteen (demo)
[Would you be an outlaw for my love? / If it's so, well, let me know / if it's no, well, I can go/ I won't make you]
If there is life after death, I'd like to imagine that Elliott and Alex are jamming together right now, their broken voices making something whole. (And, ideally, Alex would join forces again with Chris Bell.)
Rest in peace, Alex.