In Space

Big Star

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 2005)
• Original Release Date: September 27, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B000ALLLRK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,447 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dony

2. Lady Sweet

3. Best Chance We’ve Ever Had

4. Turn My Back On The Sun

5. Love Revolution

6. February’s Quiet

7. Mine Exclusively

8. A Whole New Thing

9. Aria Largo

10. Hung Up With Summer

11. Do You Wanna Make It

12. Makeover

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If a band releases a pair of the most brilliant slabs of Revolver-cum-Fifth Dimension power pop in successive years, and no one is around to hear them, do they make a sound? If the answer were yes, perhaps this record--marketed as Big Star’s "first studio album in 30 years"--would be receiving more fanfare. Unfortunately, both #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1973)--subsequently reissued together on one disc--went virtually undetectable, save for the hundreds of bands who cite them as influences and the thousands of fans who discovered them long after the Memphis band had disintegrated. Starring two of the four original members (including the unpredictable Alex Chilton) with two members of the Posies in tow, In Space is far from a Big Star record, though it does feature some of Chilton’s most catchy work in 15 years: "February’s Quiet" mimics Matthew Sweet, "Mine Exclusively" comes straight out of Stax, and "Best Chance We’ve Ever Had" is as close to the original band as we’re going to get. If you’ve been waiting patiently for this one, it will fit in your collection. But if you’re starting from scratch, go back three decades and catch up. --Scott Holter

Product Description

Japanese pressing of the 2005 album features the 12 original tracks plus an exclusive bonus track TBA. Vall. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What it isn't: Radio CIty. What it is: real good., October 1, 2005

By	J. Chasin (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

If you expect this record to be of a piece with Number One Record or Radio City, you will no doubt be disappointed. Those records (and Third/Sister Lovers) were of a time and place, and the circumstances surrounding them cannot be replicated.

Chilton and Stephens have been performing as Big Star with Auer and Stringfellow of the Posies since 1993, and making a new record was a wholly logical idea for the band. And it IS a band; most of the songs are credited to the four of them; Auer and Stephens share lead vocal chores with Chilton. I think I'd describe the album as sounding like jangly solo Chilton, which makes sense. There are some pure power pop tunes-- these cluster toward the begining-- that are evocative of the Big Star sound, but also sound contemporary, and if this was a brand new band you could as easily say they were influenced by the Posies.

There are several songs that would be right at home on a Chilton solo record; "Love Exclusively" is a funkier, jauntier take on something like "Thing for You." "A Whole New Thing" would not be out of place alongside his cover of "Little GTO" or his original "Jailbait." Overall the record is tauter and more jangly and catchy than Chilton's solo work, and more ragged and R'n'B-inflected than classic Big Star.

One thing that seems to jump out from what once would have been grooves: this is four guys having fun together. And fun is generally infectious. Don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of fun.

All of this is to help you triangulate the sound, and to help you to form-- or really, dissolve-- expectations. Because free of baggage and taken on its own terms, In Space is a sheer dance-party-fun romp. Nothing more-- and nothing less. Play it loud and invite the neighbors over.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What I see is so exactly what I need to find, March 13, 2006

By	Scott10758 "scott10758" (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I'm a little surprised to see so much wringing of hands over "In Space" not being like the old Big Star.

First of all, the three `70s Big Star albums were really different from each other. I wasn't aware of the group until 1980, but I'm pretty confident there was wailing enough when Third didn't sound like Radio City, Radio City didn't sound like #1 Record, and #1 Record didn't sound like "The Letter."

That said, are people listening to "Lady Sweet" disappointed? That is one gorgeous piece of record-making by my ears (I'd rate it the second best track of 2005 after Sufjan Stevens's "Chicago"), and right in the Big Star style. Unquestionably worth the purchase price by itself. To gripe that Jon Auer sings lead rather than Alex is more or less to recapitulate the not-taking-quality-at-face-value problem that left the other Big Star albums selling five thousand copies in the day.

And the great shame is that this album should be loved all the more for its context. I find "Dony" great at face value, but it's the more refreshing as a signifier for authentic studio work by a combo doing real takes, not (to quote Henry Rollins from the Shatner album) "quantized, pitch-corrected, and overly inspected" like every other demo project on up in the world today. We should adore the jagged rudeness of Alex's guitar. You can't go down to Best Buy and get that.

Finally, we're all so terribly offended at the R&B content, the tongue-in-cheek disco piece, etc; is that a pleasant attitude? From a critical appraisal perspective, Alex now sits up there on Mount Olympus with all three Big Star albums in the Rolling Stone "500 Best ever" surveys, and I find it strangely inspiring that rather than wallow for a whole album in the historical triumph of "September Gurls" over "Get Down Tonight," he effectively says, "you know, a lot of other people were making some great sounds then, too, if I remember correctly."

You know what? I like "Love Revolution." And I laugh every time I hear it! And, nice horns!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sounds influenced by Big Star, February 26, 2006

By	Mark A. Horowitz "maddogm13" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A perfectly nice pop record that sounds halfway like an Alex Chilton album from the past two decades (lots of goofy R & B and garage rock) and halfway like (pick your favorite Big Star derivative: Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Velvet Crush, Imperial Teen...). Which means that it's a Big Star record in name and half its personnel only--because what made Big Star unique was that they sounded a lot more desperate than perfectly nice while cranking out the indelible hooks. So don't necessarily avoid--but don't be disappointed if what you hear sounds nothing like Radio City and only a little bit like #1 Record.