ALBUM: Big Star, ‘Live In Memphis’
You could make a case for Big Star being one of the most ephemeral bands of all time. Perhaps this was part of what makes the Memphis power pop combo so popular amongst a small, yet hopelessly devoted cadre of fans. Big Star left behind only three studio albums (one of which wasn’t released until four years after the band broke up for good), rarely played live in their heyday, and went through an ever-morphing permutation of lineups, with the one constant being the brilliant, infant-terrible Alex Chilton. For 20 years after Big Star disbanded, Chilton followed his own erratic muse, playing in other people’s groups, producing seminal albums for bands like The Cramps, and releasing highly idiosyncratic solo albums with titles such as Like Flies On Sherbert and Feudalist Tarts. Everyone wanted Chilton to do a certain thing, but as one of Big Star’s catchiest tunes put it, you couldn’t have him, no, not for free.
So it was something of a shock when Chilton’s muse apparently told him to reunite Big Star in the early-1990s, bringing along original drummer Jody Stephens and two members of power pop revivalists the Posies, guitarist/vocalist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow. What started as a college gig in Columbia, MO, on April 25, 1993, would eventually lead to a world tour, an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and finally, what was billed as their “Farewell US Performance,” a homecoming show at Memphis’ New Daisy theater on October 29, 1994. This is the only professionally recorded Big Star concert known to be in existence, and an essential snapshot of what makes them so beloved: for a band whose history is so fraught with sadness, Live In Memphis reminds you just how damn fun Big Star’s music is.
In the liner notes, it’s striking how many people recall just how happy and carefree Chilton seemed to be that night. It’s easy to imagine how validating this gig must’ve been for him, to see not just fans, but friends and collaborators, looking on and rocking out with such devotion and abandon. And boy do Chilton & Co. deliver on that excitement, packing the set with nothing but the cream of the crop, all the songs that are probably indelible pop classics in another dimension somewhere, but instead serve as rallying cries for the disenfranchised eternal teens who still believe in the power of rock ‘n’ roll. All your favorites are brought back to life: “In The Street,” “Feel,” “September Gurls,” “The Ballad of El Goodo,” “Back of a Car,” “Daisy Glaze.” We’re even treated to some deep cuts (including the lovely, Stephens-sung “For You” and the haunting “Big Black Car”), and Chilton gets to indulge in his love of covers with versions of songs from the Kinks, T. Rex, Todd Rundgren, and others.
The recording itself, especially on opener “In The Street,” is warm and a bit eccentric, just as Chilton would’ve liked it. Also evident is Chilton’s tendency to try anything, even if it doesn’t quite pay off: their cover of “The Girl From Ipanema” is genuinely bizarre; Chilton messes with the lyrics and delivery on “The Ballad of El Goodo” as if he’s trying to keep the crowd from singing along; and Auer’s lead vocal on “I Am The Cosmos” are a little too clean-cut compared to the genuine pain and sorrow heard in the voice of late Big Star co-founder Chris Bell on the studio version. But flying by the seat of one’s pants was the only way Chilton liked to fly, and it would be wrong to buff those edges out.
Big Star would perform (and even record a fourth studio album, In Space) until Chilton’s unexpected death in March of 2010. Live In Memphis at its best serves as a loving tribute to Chilton, who ended up spending his life in the vocation of Big Star. For longtime fans, it’s incredibly satisfying to hear him close out the hour-plus set with “Thank You Friends,” a song that drips with sarcasm, anger, and resentment on record, but is rendered live here with genuine joy and thankfulness that befits its title. Chilton was a complicated man, but at least he finally seemed to understand he truly had a lot to be thankful about.
