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#1 Record/Radio City

Big StarAudio CD
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)

Price: $8.97 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Audio CD, Original recording remastered, 2009 $16.43  
Audio CD, 1992 $8.97  

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#1 Record/Radio City + Third / Sister Lovers + I Am the Cosmos
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Product Details

  • Audio CD (June 10, 1992)
  • 2-Album Edition edition
  • Original Release Date: 1972
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Stax / Ardent
  • ASIN: B000000XHA
  • In-Print Editions: Audio CD
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,181 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

1. Feel
2. The Ballad Of El Goodo
3. In The Street
4. Thirteen
5. Don't Lie To Me
6. The India Song
7. When My Baby's Beside Me
8. My Life Is Right
9. Give Me Another Chance
10. Try Again
11. Watch The Sunrise
12. St 100/6
13. O My Soul
14. Life Is White
15. Way Out West
16. What's Going Ahn
17. You Get What You Deserve
18. Mod Lang
19. Back Of A Car
20. Daisy Glaze
See all 24 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A two-for-one combo of the first two Big Star albums (they only recorded three). Heard side by side, #1 Record and Radio City only add further testament to Big Star's seminal greatness. On the first album, Chris Bell and Alex Chilton share songwriting credit, though each brings a remarkably different sensibility to the band: Bell creates pure pop nuggets ("Feel") while Chilton swaggers with reckless melancholy ("Ballad of El Goodo," "Thirteen."). After Bell's departure, Chilton took control of the helm for Radio City, and what a ride it is. While not abandoning Bell's penchant for pop, Radio City careens wildly through some of the most exhilarating music ever created, from the rave-up opener, "O My Soul," to the pure pop masterpiece "September Girls" to the whimsical ditty "I'm in Love with a Girl." It's too bad that Big Star didn't create more albums, but thank God they made the ones they did. --Tod Nelson

Product Description

24 tracks - both great Ardent albums on one CD. Lots of scuffs on disc do not affect play - graded just GOOD.

Customer Reviews

Listening through, several really good songs and a couple of greats pop out. Michael Alexander  |  16 reviewers made a similar statement
The result, in both cases, is music that sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded. The Kid  |  8 reviewers made a similar statement
Radio City, Big Star's second album, is clearly Chilton's record. JC  |  15 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 62 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Here's The Truth About Their Commercial Failure August 30, 2000
Format:Audio CD
No group in the history of rock 'n' roll ever put out three albums in a row as brilliant as Big Star. And it's hard to find any group that changed so radically as Big Star did in the span of three records. I've found that Big Star fans tend to fall into three camps:

1) Regards #1 RECORD as an all-time masterpiece, loves or likes RADIO CITY a lot, has a problem with SISTER LOVERS -- it's too acid-casualty incoherent.

2) Regards SISTER LOVERS as an all-time masterpiece, loves or likes RADIO CITY a lot, has a problem with #1 RECORD -- it's too slick and commercial.

3) Regards RADIO CITY as an all-time masterpiece and loves both the other two in their own very different ways.

And, of course, some of us are "3+" -- they're all masterpieces in my book, but RADIO CITY is the creme de la creme.

Other reviewers have done a wonderful job of describing this music and its enormous influence on indy rock. However, some have repeated the rather pernicious myth about the commercial failure of the listener-friendly #1 RECORD: that radio programmers didn't like it, that the record's sound was somehow wrong for its time.

There are folks at BILLBOARD and CASHBOX magazines who were paid well to listen to new releases and report on their commercial potential. Here's what BILLBOARD said on 9/9/72: "Each and every cut on this album has the inherent potential to become a blockbuster single. The ramifications are positively awesome." Boy, hedging their bet, huh? Here's CASHBOX a week later: "An important album that should go to the top with proper handling."

But just after the record was released, Ardent Records and its parent label, Stax, got into a distribution mess. Not only was there no promo activity at radio stations, there were no records in stores for people to buy. No radio station was going to go out on its own to play a record that wasn't in stores, no matter what the trade mags were saying. End of story. And it's impossible to understand why Alex Chilton and Chris Bell fell apart psychologically (and why Chilton has gone out of his way to be anti-commercial ever since) without knowing this part of the story.

In the spring of 1975 I was a college radio DJ. I happened to be playing "When My Baby's Beside Me" while a group of high school kids were being given a tour of the station. A bunch of them knocked on the control room door and wide-eyed and breathlessly demanded to know what the song was and who did it. So, yeah, 16 year old kids hearing #1 RECORD for the first time, back more or less when it was made, had the same jaw-dropping reaction to it that people do now. Genius is timeless. And had Big Star been signed to a major label, rock 'n' roll history would be enormously different.

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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Incalculable influence - great songs and performances December 1, 2003
Format:Audio CD
The merits of Big Star can hardly be overstated due to the band's lasting influence on soooo many artists - an ABRIDGED list might include Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Replacements, R.E.M., Game Theory, Bangles, Teenage Fanclub, and Jimmy Eat World. Of course, with most of these bands becoming MUCH more well known than Big Star, the influence is diminished somewhat because the original is heard AFTER the followers. Regardless, Big Star's 1st 2 albums create an essential release made even sweeter by the 2-for-1 deal, and the tunes still sound fresh listen after listen. A few songs drag a bit, to my ears anyway, but even the less enjoyable tracks like "Don't Lie To Me" and "Life Is White" are worthy due to great performances and lyrics. Along with Badfinger, Big Star is the absolute touchstone for melancholy pop songs that should have been huge hits - forming the basis for every power pop pretender to the throne. Fans of any aforementioned bands will do themselves a favor to pick this up, along with fans of absolute classics such as the Who, Beatles, and Byrds (lead genius Alex Chilton's faves).

Best Tracks:
"The Ballad Of El Goodo" - George Harrison-esque, shimmering ballad with stunning harmonies and guitars. One of the most celebrated examples of Chilton's genius.
"In The Street" - The feel-good Chris Bell classic that was used in "That 70's Show" (warning: that version was done by Cheap Trick!)
"Thirteen" - Another Chilton gem. Gorgeous acoustics, tender and somewhat striking lyrics. A great, honest portrait of youth.
"Way Out West" - Oh, those guitars... What a tune, this is the blueprint for all left of center jangle pop (and the guitar tone is frequently channeled by pop wonders such as Myracle Brah)
"Back Of A Car" - Great drumming! This song follows typical pop song structure but is quirky enough to stand out, and that chorus is to die for.
"September Gurls" - Depending on personal preference, this may edge out songs like "Surrender" and "Couldn't I Just Tell You" to be the #1 pop song EVER.
"I'm In Love With A Girl" - Heartbreaking and sweet, this is a pure and simple folksy ballad with engagingly imperfect vocals. Great album closer.

Comment | 
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
So much has been written by the brilliant pop music of these two albums, that there's little left to say about the music itself. Lauded by critics and ignored by pop music buyers, Big Star became the most influential rock band never to make it commercially. Their debut album, cheekily titled "#1 Record" (1972) and its follow-up, "Radio City" (1974), were reissued in 1978 as a gatefold two-fer that pricked the ears of pop fans and collectors who'd missed their original release. The group's name would be bandied about by an ever-growing underground of in-the-know fans-turned-worshippers. The group's unreleased-at-the-time third album (alternately titled Third and Sister Lovers) appeared briefly on vinyl on the PVC label shortly thereafter. The `80s passed before a CD reissue of the seminal first two albums appeared on Big Beat in 1990. This was followed by a domestic release on Fantasy in 1992, which was paralleled by a period live FM broadcast from 1974, Big Star Live, and a CD reissue of Sister Lovers.

The attention finally brought vocalist/songwriter Alex Chilton back to his Big Star catalog, and along with original drummer Jody Stephens and the Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, a reconstituted Big Star recorded a live album at Missouri University, Columbia. Additional reissues of the three studio albums followed, along with more archival live recordings and rehearsal tapes (Nobody Can Dance) and a studio album in 2005, In Space. The selling point of this latest reissue, aside from renewing media and retail interest in two of the greatest rock albums ever recorded, is a pair of bonus tracks. The first is the single version of "In the Street," which is an entirely different take than the album track. This version was previously reissued on a grey-market vinyl EP in the 1980s, and appeared on Ace's Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story. The second bonus is a single edit of "O My Soul" that shortens the original 5:35 to a radio-friendly 2:47.

The fold-out eight-panel booklet includes liner note from Brian Hogg penned in 1986 (as previously included in both Big Beat and Fantasy's earlier CDs), and shorter liner notes by Rick Clark, penned for Fantasy's previous domestic reissue. In fact, the booklet reproduces Fantasy's 1992 insert almost exactly, with the original's solicitation for a Fantasy catalog trimmed away and the two new tracks grafted onto the song listing in a font that doesn't quite match. Those who've purchased one of the many previous reissues might see if download services offer the bonuses as individual tracks; if not, buy this for yourself and give your old copy to someone yet to discover Big Star. That should hold you until Rhino's Big Star box set arrives in September. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars the music was right with God (but society isn't)
I sympathize strongly with people who feel reviled for going against strong odds and on my side is God, but having such strong views is not like the entertainment values that make... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Bruce P. Barten
5.0 out of 5 stars Great pop music.
I found out about Big Star from one of my favorite singer/songwriters Paul Westerberg who was in the influential band The Replacements, he wrote a song simply titled Alex Chilton,... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Great music, and great sound.
I gave to my neighbor, my other copy of this dual-album CD, so just got this re-mastered version. The sound is really beautiful - crisp and clean. Read more
Published on April 8, 2011 by Peter Kaufman
2.0 out of 5 stars Now I know why they weren't successful.
After reading for years how the critics thought Big Star was highly influential, I finally bought this 2 CD set. Read more
Published on March 24, 2011 by TSC
3.0 out of 5 stars It's a bummer...
that I didn't hear of these guys sooner! This is a great album with great dynamics. I can easily listen to it in it's entirety in one sitting. Read more
Published on September 28, 2010 by Kris
4.0 out of 5 stars Half Great
Alex Chilton and Chris Bell together made a classic 5-star album with "#1 Record", but there was a big drop-off with "Radio City" when Bell left the band, contributing only to a... Read more
Published on June 14, 2010 by Russell Docteur
5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh as a daisy
This music may have been recorded over 30 years ago, but it sounds as fresh as anything being recorded today. Read more
Published on May 27, 2010 by D. Cover
5.0 out of 5 stars Band That Was Decades Ahead Of Its Time
way back in the 80s and into the 90s, I was fortunate to, primarily to the auspices of a progressive (albeit, narrow-minded some times too, a contradiction in terms, I'll grant... Read more
Published on May 10, 2010 by Carlos Bernal
5.0 out of 5 stars one of the finest classic rock records ever
Although Big Star has not blown up to the extent of the likes of Led Zepplin and Cheap Trick, they certainly should have. Read more
Published on April 29, 2010 by Robert Gruber
3.0 out of 5 stars Some genius, some throwaway, great overall look at Big Star
Big Star is one of those bands that had some amazing music, some of it was way before it's time. When you listen to this double-album collection, you'll hear tracks that sound... Read more
Published on April 19, 2010 by William Conner
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