Among the records I got from my sister recently were a couple of Alex Chilton related albums, Big Star's second album,
Radio City (a classic!) and a solo Chilton import compilation from 1985,
Document. It's evident from these records, Chilton was an extremely talented songwriter especially his work with Big Star and he carried it on through most of his solo albums, though like most artists some were uneven and inconsistent. His music has influenced a whole generation of musicians that have incorporated the (once) underappreciated sound of Big Star who have updated and expanded on their sound. A couple bands immediately come to mind, the Replacements played several Big Star covers live and Paul Westerberg paid tribute to Chilton in the aptly titled song,
Alex Chilton from the
Please To Please Me album. Chilton even produced a couple of tracks for the band on
Tim, though those tracks didn't appear on the original album.
The Posies worshiped at the temple of Big Star as their sound was clearly influenced by Big Star. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from the Posies were the obvious choice to play alongside Chilton (and original drummer, Jody Stephens) in a revised version of Big Star that was formed in 1993. They toured several times and recorded an album of new material (Big Star's last studio album), In Space in 2005.
Another band that embraced the sound of Big Star was Scottish revivalist band, Teenage Fanclub who enjoyed considerable success in the 90's and continue to this day touring and releasing excellent albums. The band hasn't shied away from collaborations with other musicians as they recorded an album with Jad Fair (Words Of Wisdom And Hope), a track with De La Soul (Fallin'), a session with Frank Black and recording (still unreleased) tracks with Alex Chilton.
When Alex Chilton played a couple concerts in Scotland in 1993 and 1996, he selected Teenage Fanclub as his backup band to perform Big Star songs, solo material and several covers. The band seamlessly performs the songs and Chilton is in good spirits and fortunately the concert is captured by BBC Scotland with an excellent sounding broadcast quality live recording. As a bonus, the latter part of the broadcast (track 19 on), the Alex Chilton Trio perform a "jazz set" (not sure if it's the same night?) which proves to be just as enjoyable. This show has been widely available, but I have seen this listed as April 8, 1993 and April 8, 1996 on different boots of this recording. The source I got this from (on Dime) several years ago was dated 1993, so for now (*) I'll stick with this date. Overall a great show with amazing sound and fans of Alex Chilton, Big Star and Teenage Fanclub will not be disappointed!
Enjoy!
Essential listening samples (buy these records!)
#14yearsoftrouble
Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats (except for personal use)
Please share!
ALEX CHILTON & TEENAGE FANCLUB
13th Note
Glasgow, Scotland
April 8, 1996?
BBC FM Radio Scotland Broadcast
01. Intro
02. September Gurls
03. Girl Like You
04. My Heart Stood Still
05. Patti Girl
06. Any Way The Wind Blows
07. Walk Right Back
08. Free Again
09. Telstar
10. Have I The Right
11. Dark End Of The Street
12. What Do You Know About Love
13. All The Love
14. Lifes A Gas
15. Audience Chat
16. Waltz Across Texas
17. Wolly Bully
18. Hey Little Child
19. Intro To Jazz Set
20. My Baby Just Cares For Me
21. We're Gonna Make It
22. I've Got A Lot Of Living To Do
23. Hide And Seek
24. Margie
25. Goodnight My Love
[* UPDATE: read the comments. Changing to date to 1996 unless anyone has a better argument. The file name will remain the same]
ALEX CHILTON & TEENAGE FANCLUB- 1993-04-08 13th Note, Glasgow, Scotland FLAC. rar
