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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Mark Eichelberger" <markeichelberger@comcast.net> |
| Subject | Re: How does Big Star rate with you? |
| Date | Fri, 11 May 2007 23:22:12 -0400 |
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Hmm...even if that story of jumping out the window is not true (and I am
thinking it is not), it certainly was entertaining to read. Thanks!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donnie" <largro13@yahoo.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: How does Big Star rate with you?
> Hi Mark,
>
> I've read a couple of different explanations of this; some may be
> myth, and some may be for real.
>
> I read where the Box Tops producer Dan Penn had a way that he thought
> things should sound and coached the heck out of Alex on his vocal
> performances. And though I've yet to hear a Dan Penn solo album,
> I've read where Penn sounds just like Box Top-era Alex, so he must
> have had Alex doing it how he thought it should be done.
>
> Then I've also read, a myth possibly (?), where 16-year old Alex was
> having sex with his girlfriend at her parent's house on the day
> before "The Letter" was to be recorded. The girls father or mother
> knocked on the door, and Alex ended up jumping out of the window,
> naked on a cold winter day, and sneaking back to his own house,
> hiding behind shrubs and stuff along the way. So he had this gruff
> voice the next day, due to a cold night out. And then supposedly,
> Dan Penn liked the voice, and before recording future Box Tops songs
> had Alex drink a little whisky, smoke a pack of cigarrettes, and sit
> in a restaraunt freezer for a period of time before recording vocals.
>
> Then after the break up of the Box Tops and before the actual start
> of Big Star, Alex was supposed to have admired the style of Roger
> McGuinn of the Byrds, and had tried to develop a style like that for
> himself, which I think I can hear a little bit in "The Ballad of El
> Goodo" and "Watch the Sunrise".
>
> I've also read where the Big Star voice is closer to Alex's natural
> voice, and part of his reason for eventually leaving the Box Tops was
> that he hated doing his Box Tops voice. This may be true because on
> the Box Tops' 1999 reunion album, Alex doesn't use his 1960s Box Tops
> voice, he sings more in the style of his 1980s and 1990s solo work.
>
> Peace,
>
> W.D.
>
> --- In audities@yahoogroups.com, "Mark Eichelberger"
> <markeichelberger@...> wrote:
>>
>> This is an aside to the ongoing discussion regarding Big Star. I
> admit
>> that I have not heard a lot of Box Tops songs other than The
> Letter, but can
>> someone explain why Alex's voice sounds so much different when he
> sang with
>> the Box Tops than when he sang with Big Star? It's as if 2
> different
>> singers were in those bands. Was he just trying to sound
> more 'soulful' in
>> the Box Tops?
>>
>> Mark E.
>
>
>
>
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