Radio City:

Radio City is essentially three different groups of tracks, not an entire album recorded and intended as such (contrary to #1 Record). Sessions began for a second album in mid-1972. One early Bell/Chilton track for the album called "Gone With the Light" has been bootlegged on the What's Goin' Ahn? boot; the song remains unreleased commercially. Bell quit the band for the first time in September, and his brother took him to Europe for a while. In November, a final session was held with Chris Bell (Rob details this very well in his book, and I'll make you wait to read about it) in which four songs were cut all live to tape with reference vocals, done around one mic: "O My Soul," "Got Kinda Lost," "There Was a Life," and most likely "You Get What You Deserve" (no one is certain about the 4th song, although it is remembered as being a Chilton song). It is believed that Bell destroyed this tape when he quit the band for the last time, although at least two songs survive from the session. It's interesting to note that Big Star were moving towards the way of recording that Chilton prefers to this day -- record live in the studio, then sweeten and replace parts -- even when Chris Bell was in the band. At this point, Big Star drifted apart. Hummel reminisces: "Alex, Richard [Rosebrough], and I were best friends at the time, playing and recording frequently both together and separately."

All the remaining unreleased Bell/Chilton songs were subsequently split up between Chris and Alex. They each removed the other's name from the songs they kept. Exactly what these were isn't certain, but here's what we DO know. A number of tracks that wound up eventually in 1974 on Radio City began life as Bell/Chilton/Hummel compositions. As sessions began for the 2nd album, all three were writing songs together "...sitting on the floor in Alex's bedroom..." Andy finishes. These likely included: "Back of a Car," "What's Goin' Ahn," and "Life is White." The first three are credited to Chilton/Hummel on the album.

Hummel confirmed that "Way Out West" was a solo composition of his, written at home on piano (his first instrument) very much in a Joni Mitchell style, before Chilton started playing it on electric guitar and added the great guitar solo in the middle. Stephens sang it on the record because Hummel felt he was done with lead singing in public after "The India Song"; as Stephens put it "it was just my turn to step up to the plate on that song."

Chilton has confirmed that "O My Soul" was his music and Bell's lyrics, so we know that really is a true Bell/Chilton composition.

"Back of a Car" is Chilton's lyrics (which he doesn't rate very highly nowadays) and most of the music, with Bell writing part of the music, notably the famous guitar intro (he plays some guitar on the version on the album as well, which Chilton has also confirmed). Hummel remembers this song as basically only ever being recorded once, and it's probably the first song finished for the album, used intact from the session with the original 4-piece band. Fans who know Bell actually played on the song have often surmised that he came back in the studio in 1973 and did some guitar overdubs on it, but no, it seems to be a late '72 track finished before Bell left for the last time in November.

"You Get What You Deserve" was almost certainly originally credited to Bell/Chilton although it's quite clearly Alex's song.

"Got Kinda Lost," which was likely intended as a 'Bell/Chilton' track and is sung by Chilton on a Big Star demo (from the mono session mentioned above). The Big Star version was never released, but the song appeared in a new version without any other Big Star members on it on Bell's 'solo album' released posthumously by Rykodisc (the rerecording most likely dates to '74-'75). But in fact "Got Kinda Lost" was played live by Icewater long before Chilton was on the scene, so it must be a Bell solo composition. The Big Star version, incidentally, features the original Icewater lineup on the instruments -- Bell, Hummel, and Stephens, with Alex (lead) and Chris (harmony) recorded on a separate track doing reference vocals. Hummel engineered the vocal overdub, Fry the basic instrumental track.

"There Was a Life" is most likely a Bell composition (originally credited to Bell/Chilton according to Bell's tradition).

After Big Star drifted apart, Alex Chilton and drummer Richard Rosebrough along with bassist Danny Jones played together, maybe even doing a show or two. Chilton, Rosebrough, and Jones recorded a song or three under the name The Dolby Fuckers. Hummel adds: "The Dolby Fuckers were not a band. It was just a joke name Alex and Richard came up with stoned out of their gourds in the middle of the night when they were playing around in the studio. Alex was just casting about for different sounds -- always."

These tracks appeared intact on the album as if they were recorded by Big Star: "Mod Lang," "She's a Mover," and "What's Goin' Ahn." It seems that Jones only plays bass on two tracks, while Hummel overdubbed a bass on the Chilton/Rosebrough (DF) track "She's a Mover." According to Hummel: "Richard, Alex, and Jones did 'Mod Lang' through a series of overdubs on a basic Chilton/Rosebrough track. 'She's a Mover' was begun similarly but I did the bass -- [I] used an old precision bass played though an even older showman amp sitting right out in the middle of studio B and miked -- which we never did. We always ran the bass direct into the console. 'What's Goin Ahn' was a more or less normal Big Star song I think. I know I wrote some of the music and/or words 'I like love but I don't know ...,' although Jones may have done the bass -- doesn't sound like me. I believe John [Fry] engineered the band track."

"Mod Lang" appears to have been written on the spot at the afterhours session, hence the Chilton/Rosebrough songwriting credit. Stephens explained that these tracks were so good as-is there was really no reason to try to recut them when Big Star actually reformed. And for those who haven't heard the original tape from which the Big Star Live Rykodisc CD is sourced, according to Chilton: "… we called it 'Mod Lang' which is short for 'Modern Language,' because we stole all the lyrics from old blues songs." More precisely, it was the abbreviation for a class in the Memphis State University class schedule, which had caught the attention of the band members who spent some time in college, and seemed appropriate for a song whose lyrics basically consisted of lines from Memphis blues and R&B songs. On a related front, as a tangent to the rest of the story, it should be noted that "Jesus Christ" was similarly written by Chilton from the first lines of songs from a Presbyterian hymnal Chilton was browsing through while waiting at his girlfriend's house for her (her dad was a minister).

After Big Star reformed as the trio of Chilton, Stephens, and Hummel for the rock critics' convention in 1973 at which they performed a one-off reunion, they went back in and recorded new versions of several old tracks ("O My Soul," "Life is White," and "You Get What You Deserve"). These were added to the new group composition "Daisy Glaze" (Chilton/Hummel/Stephens), which Hummel recalls was "written in the studio by all, based on a guitar riff from one of Handel's Grossi Concerti" and several new tracks that appear to have been written for the album: "September Gurls," "I'm in Love with a Girl," and "Morpha Too," all Chilton solo compositions. "O My Soul" was released in mono on the album because everyone involved was a big fan of mono records, and they preferred the way the mono mix sounded; promotional singles of the song featured a short radio edit, and the full-length stereo version showed up later on a highly collectable promotional only Ardent Records sampler. Fry engineered some of the basic band backing tracks and did the final mixdown again, but this time Chilton was the de facto producer with quite a bit of help from Hummel and Rosebrough. Hummel says "[the] engineering credit [was] roughly divided among Chilton, Rosebrough, Hummel, and Fry. Chilton and Fry did the mixdown." This time all three did sing on the record, with Chilton playing piano on "Morpha Too." Manning's contribution to the album (aside from general support and encouragement) was primarily limited to adding some backing vocals to "September Gurls" -- some of the very high 'aaahhhs' on the guitar break.

There appear to be three outtakes to the album, a studio version of "Motel Blues," an instrumental (I think the one bootlegged under the title "Another Place, Another Time, and You," which seems to be a Bell/Chilton track with Bell playing, although it may really be called "Out of Gas Again"), and a track about which no one remembers anything called "Knoxville," which did have Chilton vocals recorded for it. At present, the 'real' story behind that instrumental is a bit of a mystery, but my feeling is that it is indeed a Bell composition for the 2nd Big Star album. Manning remembers only that he doesn't think it ever had lyrics, and that it probably only features Bell. Hummel thinks the song may date to '74-'75 (i.e., after Radio City), but isn't sure.

"Motel Blues" was a Loudon Wainwright III song that Chilton had learned during his folkie era. A superior live version was performed on the WLIR radio broadcast that was released by Rykodisc as Big Star Live. It was the only cover that seems to have been recorded by the band during the '71-'73 era that our story covers. Live, though, the band played about 25 career-total gigs (most on a nine-city spring tour in '74 with John Lightman replacing Andy Hummel on bass) and regularly played songs like Todd Rundgren's "Slut," T. Rex's "Baby Strange" and "Jeepster," and The Kinks' "Come On Now" and "Til The End of the Day" according to published reports (only a tape of "Baby Strange" from the Overton Park Shell show, the band's final gig in front of people in May 1974 survives -- see the Norton Records CD Nobody Can Dance). Manning and this author both attended that show. Hummel had quit almost immediately upon the release of Radio City, because it was time for him to register for his senior year in college, and having earned precisely no money from Big Star, he felt the wise thing was to go back to school, get his degree, and have a chance at a 'real' career (Hummel is now an aerospace engineer in Ft. Worth; he builds airplanes, although he still dabbles in music; he actually got a check for Big Star royalties a couple of years ago, out of the blue, for the first time).

After the Shell show, the end was near. Van Duren auditioned to replace Bell in the band in August 1974 at Stephens' request. The auditions weren't very serious, and some of the participants were thoroughly drug-addled at the time. Shortly thereafter, Lightman quit. A final radio performance on WLYX was made in late fall during which songs from Sister Lovers were previewed, the 'band' consisting of a very wasted Chilton, Stephens, and the Aldridge sisters (who they were dating, Lesa and Holiday). Jim Dickinson produced the unreleased-at-the-time final album, Sister Lovers aka Big Star Third. Some participants insist it was a Chilton solo album with Stephens and session players; Dickinson insists it was always intended as a Big Star album. We skipped over this album in the panel, and really, it's tangential to the Bell/Chilton catalog, so that's all we'll say here, too (not to take away at all from its brilliance and influence). Bell, Duren, and Stephens played together briefly as the Baker Street Regulars (a Sherlock Holmes reference). Chilton went back to New York. Bell continued to record for his own 'follow-up' album, releasing only a lone single, "I Am The Cosmos" backed with "You and Your Sister" (a track featuring Chilton on harmony vocals) on an NY indie label -- Car -- in 1977.

Chris Bell solo:

Chris Bell's tragic young death was in many ways directly precipitated by the lack of success of Big Star's #1 Record during his lifetime. Chilton may pretend he doesn't care about the fact that Big Star is still so beloved by a large number of people (I acknowledge the possibility he's not pretending, too), but everyone agrees Bell would've been very moved by the fact that over 30 years after the original band broke up, thousands and thousands of fans -- several generations of them, still rate that album among the best ever recorded.

Hopefully we'll get into Chris Bell's solo work in much more depth with some future releases of previously unissued Chris Bell songs, but here's what I can tell you right now: the 'album' released by Rykodisc as I Am The Cosmos is a random compilation of material from over about a six year span. It was never intended as an 'album' per se, with any kind of sequencing or even a final track listing ever done by Bell himself. Manning says that Bell would most certainly NOT have approved it being issued in such an unfinished, unsequenced fashion, even thought he just as certainly would have been proud that people cared so much about those songs.

Some of the songs on that Cosmos are certainly songs that were originally credited to Bell/Chilton, among them "There is a Life" and "Got Kinda Lost." In all likelihood, "I Don't Know" (which seems to date back to '73 or June '74) and "You and Your Sister" may have begun life as Bell/Chilton tracks, although "…Sister" is credited to Bell and Box Tops' bassist Bill Cunningham (who was also in the Jynx w/Bell), and may well date back to 1972. My guess is that since Cunningham did string arrangements for the song, Bell listed him a co-author. The released version of both tracks seem to have been cut in June 1974 along with "I Am The Cosmos" (which I'm fairly sure Bell composed alone post-Big Star). Those appear to be the earliest tracks on that Ryko album, with the rest likely composed after the Bell/Chilton split. Hopefully someone will turn up lists of who plays what on Chris' solo tracks, although many were recorded outside of Ardent. I don't know what details Rob's turned up, but I do know that Chilton and Rosebrough play on some of the tracks, Manning is likely to have contributed in spots; oddly, Van Duren, who played bass and guitar in all of Chris' live bands after Big Star never got to play on Bell's studio stuff, since Bell tended to do all the guitars and basses himself. Duren recorded the definitive version of Bell's post-Big Star song "Make A Scene" in 1978-79, and released on Idiot Optimism by Manning's Lucky Seven Records just months ago; Bell had taught Duren the guitar and bass parts in person.

As a final note, demos recorded in '74 and '75 by Van Duren and Jody Stephens (some produced by Andrew Loog Oldham) have been traded about as 'lost Big Star demos,' and you can read all about that in the liner notes I wrote for Van Duren's first album, Are You Serious?, which is being released very soon by Lucky Seven through Rounder.

Big Star Redux:

The rest of the story you know. Big Star is finally more or less a household name; true, the average young Republican modern Nashville fans probably still don't know them. But virtually everyone serious about music does. Like the Velvet Underground, they've eventually reached so many fans it might now be improper to call them a 'cult act.' With That '70s Show being one of the top-rated sitcoms on television for the last half dozen years, and the 'newly rewritten' (i.e., clean lyrics and Alex gets paid for it) "In The Street" serving as it's theme song, Big Star has reached an audience unthinkable in 1971. Ironically, Stephens is more impressed by what he feels is a superior version by Cheap Trick than he is that the song is finally a hit; ironic because not one single long-time Big Star fan I know prefers the new recording.

Jody Stephens has been the studio manager at Ardent Studios for many years now. Alex Chilton is still a performing singer/songwriter with many devoted fans, although his albums seem to sell less and less each time, and he's been based out of New Orleans since the early '80s. Hummel is a happy family man, who has never regretted his successful entry into corporate America, although he is still a bit sad he didn't continue to record for a while after leaving Big Star; he'd work with Chilton and Stephens again if ever asked, and it nearly did happen with the new record. Terry Manning lives in Nassau and over a 30-year career as a producer and engineer, has worked with ZZ Top, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Jason & the Scorchers, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie, and literally a hundred other acts; he's sold over 15 millions records recently with Shakira. John Fry still owns Ardent Studios, which continues to give birth to terrific records.

Big Star reformed in 1993 with Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of Seattle's fantastic The Posies 'replacing' Hummel and Bell respectively, so to speak. They're better now onstage than the original band ever was (especially vocally), although they only play a few gigs a year at most (and that's not likely to change).

And for the first time in exactly 30 years, this March and April Chilton, Stephens, Auer, and Stringfellow have gone back into the studios at Ardent Records for their first album of new material since 1974. Let's hope this reunion follows in the footsteps of two groups of Big Star acolytes who've recently reformed to make terrific 'reunion' albums, The Soft Boys and The Bangles. Reunions almost never bear scrutiny, but in a year where Chilton's old pal Brian Wilson is performing live shows with Pet Sounds and Smile, Chilton's beloved Zombies just played the best show I've seen in 2004, and the now two-man lineup of The Who is playing and recording again with undeniable fire and passion, you never know. This just might be one of the reunion albums that's worth doing after all. And with Chilton, it's even odds it won't sound exactly like anything he's done in the past. That much we can count on.

PCP editor and freelance writer Kent H. Benjamin has lived in Austin, Texas for over 20 years. Copyright April 2004. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part without permission. Contact him at: Kent.Benjamin@tlc.state.tx.us