Big Star, the band that many other bands felt as a huge influence over their emerging styles, and the band that never achieved the commercial success that they probably should have, released two albums. As the story goes, the albums never received proper introductions thereby relegating them to the realms of obscurity, where, in many ways, they still exist to this day. Even more amazing is the fact that Alex Chilton, the amazing lead singer of The Box Tops, whose magnificent voice propelled such songs like “The Letter”, “Cry Like A Baby”, “Soul Deep”, and “Neon Rainbow” to enviable number one spots on radio charts, was a part of Big Star.
Big Star is as different a style of music from the Box Tops as night is from day where Chilton was concerned. Nevertheless, dreams of a success in the changing world of Rock and Roll as we moved into the ’70s would elude the band. Of course, other issues conspired to derail Big Star, but the fact remains, there is a respectful audience for the band that exists to this day.
The two widely released Big Star albums are #1 Record (1972), and Radio City (1974). Over time, both titles have been reissued. That’s about to happen again.
On September 2, Fantasy Records will reissue both albums on CD. They are likely to be remastered although at this point any details are meager.
