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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | William Rabeneck <largro13@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: Big Star - In Space |
| Date | Sat, 1 Oct 2005 20:58:44 -0700 (PDT) |
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-----Original Message-----
From: audities-owner@smoe.org [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org] On
Behalf
Of Michael Bennett
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 7:36 AM
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: Big Star - In Space
Both make valid points. But I do think that fans have
a right to carp a bit if a record branded Big Star
strays from what made Big Star Big Star. I don't
think it's an indictment of Big Star fans to have that expectation. If
you're going to call it Big Star, then you accept the brand name
benefits and must accept the backlash consequences.
Just my opinion...
Mike Bennett
NP: The 88 - Over and Over
Hi Mike and all,
I feel similarly. I bought this album at the same time that I got the new Paul McCartney, and the new Rolling Stones. And I think Big Star's "In Space" is way better than McCartney's "Chaos and Creation...." and the Rolling Stones' "Bigger Bang". It has some of the best work that I've ever heard Alex Chilton do since the original Big Star. My main problem with it is the name issue too because the sound of the music is so far out of the "expected Big Star realm". I think that Alex's contributions to this album would be a lot more believable as Box Top's music if he wanted to resurrect one of his former band names.
I also think that there's a little too much contrast between Auer, Stringfellow, and Stephen's songs with Chilton's songs. Auer, Stringfellow, and Stephen's basically work within the "city limits" of Power-Pop on the songs that they sing the lead vocal on, while Chilton only really sings one song that falls within that zone; his other songs are more in the Stax-R&B, Rockabilly, and Glam Rock range. The album also sounds odd because it is a twelve track album with four lead vocalists, but by song number six, three of the lead vocalists are done taking turns at the mike, and one guy finishes the album out. This makes the album sound kind of unbalance. I think the album might have had better balance if the track listing was elevated to 14, and Auer and Stringfellow each got one more vocal, on what would have been side-two on cassette or vinyl album.
Just some observations. This album shocked me a little on first listen; but by fourth or fifth listen, I accepted it for what it is, and like it quite a bit. I like nine out of the twelve tracks even if they don't necessarily sound like they belong on the same album to my ears.
Peace,
Large
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