Big Star- Live In Cambridge 1974

 

 

It's been over 11 years since Alex Chilton passed away and last month, I picked up an original pressing of The Letter/Neon Rainbow, the debut album from Alex's first band, the Box Tops for cheap and got me reminiscing about Alex and Big Star. I think I have most of their official releases (and some unofficial), but it's unfortunate there aren't a lot of live recordings of Big Star, at least in their earlier incarnation (1971-1975). The 1992 release of Live was recorded and broadcasted in 1974 in New York for WLIR was the only official live album until the more recent release of Live At Lafayette's Music Room recorded in 1973 and released January 2018. Both are excellent documentations of the band as a trio performing live. Not sure if there are any live recordings (or performances?) when co-founder Chris Bell was still in the band?

When a Big Star live recording surfaced on Dime a short while ago, it was very exciting! This is a re-mastered, cleaned-up version of a cassette recording that has circulated for a while and it remains one of their few non-officially released live recordings. Big Star played two sets (early/late) opening for Badfinger in March 1974. The taper recorded both Badfinger sets and only the early Big Star set, but we should be thankful it was recorded at all considering a lot of tapers (me included) sometimes don't tape the opening band. There literally sounds like there are a few dozen people in the audience which makes this an intimate performance with surprisingly excellent sound for a tape recorder from this time period. (Thank you Steve Hopkins for the recording and Captain Acid for the remaster!) According to the liner notes from Live, Jody Stephens remembers that later in this tour, they played two shows on the same night in Boston, opening for Badfinger. He recalls that for the first set, they played their worst ever, and for the second-their best. Well, we don't have the second set to compare, but the first set sounds pretty good to my ears...judge for yourself!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

 

Big Star
Performance Center
Cambridge, MA
March 31, 1974 (early show)
Steve Hopkins recording/Captain Acid remaster

recorded by Steve Hopkins on a Panasonic mono cassette recorder
Lineage: first-gen cassette > DAT > CD-R > .flac > Captain Acid remaster

01 In The Street
02 Baby Strange (T. Rex cover)
03 Mod Lang
04 Candy Says (Velvet Underground cover)
05 Till The End Of The Day (Kinks cover)
06 O My Soul
07 Motel Blues (Loudon Wainwright III cover)
08 Thirteen
09 Way Out West
10 September Gurls
11 Come On Now (Kinks Cover)

 

BIG STAR- 1974-03-31 Cambridge, MA FLAC. rar