Customer Reviews

Third/Sister Lovers

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was first introduced to Big Star unknowingly via the gorgeous (though admittedly lugubrious) covers of "Kangaroo" and "Holocaust" done on the first This Mortal Coil album. I was 14 (the year was 1988) when I discovered that album, and being immersed in late 70s and 80s new wave and goth and all that 4ad stuff, I hadn't a clue nor a care about who the hell Alex Chilton was. All I knew was that these were beautiful covers of songs I naively presumed to be dated folk or something, and that these covers must have improved greatly upon the obscure originals.

Fast forward to college, mid-90s: a friend stumbles on a copy of the Ryko "Sister Lovers" reissue and puts "Kangaroo" on a mix tape for me. I immediately assumed it was a cover that some contemporary indie band had done recently. Interesting and oddly familiar. Then my friend tells me it's Big Star, that this was the original version, and that it was recorded in 1974. Needless to say, my jaw dropped to the floor. This song sounded NOTHING at all like anything written or recorded in 1974. The feedback, the ultra-clear, wet, reverbed-out production, the singing, etc, ... A lot of revolutionary artists were making ground-breaking records in '74, from John Cale to Roxy Music to Brian Eno to Can to Faust, but none of it really anticipated this particular sound that so many bands would ape (sometimes without realizing it) in the 80s and 90s.

I soon got a copy of "Sister Lovers" and was immediately blown away by the seminal songwriting and arrangements. It was clear that bands like the Cocteau Twins took something from mellow, gorgeous, melancholic, atmospheric tunes like "Big Black Car," "Take Care," and "Holocaust." It was also clear that "Stroke it Noel" and "For You" perfected what many call "baroque pop": pop songs centered around chamber-like, stringed arrangements, they pushed "Smile"-era Beach Boys and Love's "Forever Changes" into a whole new territory. Echo & the Bunnymen's classic "Ocean Rain" might not have been quite the same without this.

The atmosphere and overall mood, the sometimes incomplete arrangements, the desperate, sometimes bitter and sardonic vocals, suggested the sound of a band falling apart (which indeed was happening at the time). The use of space, reverb, and spare, sometimes jagged and jarring arrangements and mood swings, the sense of anger and defeat, all worked its way into so many 80s new wave/post-punk records, one couldn't begin to keep track. From Echo and The Bunnymen to the Go-Betweens, from the Replacements to Sonic Youth, few records have influenced such a wide array of artists.

What's even more fascinating about this album is how timeless it sounds. When you listen to those other "ahead of their time" records, like "Pet Sounds," "Forever Changes," "Another Green World," "VU w/ Nico," etc, it's pretty easy to tell which decades they were recorded in. But with "Sister Lovers," the sound isn't derivative of anything that was happening during its time of creation. If I knew nothing about Big Star and I simply heard "Sister Lovers" w/ out any band photos or anything lying around for contexxt, I swear I might've placed it somewhere in the 80s or 90s. That, my friend, is what I would call "timeless".

The hooks, the atmosphere, the anguish, the tension, it's all here in unrivaled glory. What's even more remarkable is how different this was from the first two Big Star releases, which were filled with tight, English-sounding, fairly conventional pop songs with straight-forward arrangements and sounds. (Those two albums, as important as they are in their own respective ways, do happen to sound a bit dated). This is an album that grows on you with repeated listens. An album where new surprises continue to reveal themselves even after you've owned it for several years. As a collection of haunting, pretty, offbeat pop, or a blueprint for countless bands and movements to come, this album cannot be overlooked.

My love for this record forces me to make my trivial comments...
It's a big fat messy masterpiece of tortured genius. It's likely that the lack of Big Star's commercial success (and the growing possibility that this album would never be released) gave Alex Chilton the perfect venue to pour out every emotion. Music ,especially in one concentrated album, gets no darker than this. It's spiritual brother is Tonight's the Night by Neil Young. Through the darkness stroll beautifully eerie songs like "Nightime" and "Blue Moon" or the Velvet Underground cover "Femme Fatale" (long before it was cool to cover their songs). That darkness,evident in almost every song, is born of disapointment and pain. You can feel it sure as day. Raw and self defeating, it inspires some of the most personal music ever recorded. The studio noodling only adds to the drama. "For you" is a personal favorite that will never grow old and the individual high points are really too numerous to mention. I only hope the gloominess will not scare you off(after all,if you don't like sad songs you'll be pretty disapointed ) but there are some equally good and not so downcast songs that help give the album a certain balance. The music (and story) of Big Star and it's leaders-Alex Chilton and Chris Bell-is well worth your time. The fact that they were overlooked in their prime is one of modern music's true travesties. If your tastes run anywhere near the adventerous, give this album a spin. The desolate soundscape and sprawling canvas run counter to the other 2 original Big Star records (which are also must own's and are more "accessable") but the mini-universe Third/Sister Lovers creates is a unique and amazing place to visit. I remember finding one of the chopped up versions on cassette, in a cutout bin, before the Ryko re-release in 1992. I can't remember where I heard the name but I decided to take a chance. ...

I'm actually not sure if I want to recommend this album to anyone. The songs contained herein are the most powerful and tragic songs can get. Anyone who feels that their music does not do enough for them emotionally should buy this record. Big Star had two members when this album was made, and the music was essentially made by Alex Chilton and the producer Jim Dickinson. Rykodisc's release of this never-before completelyt seen album was a godsend. I know you probably think I'm crazy now, because you have probably listened to the audio tracks at Amazon and found them atonal and pathetic, but it is definitely true that one must listen to this album over and over to really get it. The album starts off happy with "Kizza Me" and "Thank You Friends" but soon enough plunges into realms of music which haven't been explored before or since. "Holocaust" is disasterously perfect, and "Blue Moon" (not a cover, an original) is the most moving song I have ever heard. The odd lyrics I can not interpret or even sometimes hear, but I wish I had written them anyway. The instruments also chime in perfectly to match the moods, from the beautiful strings in "Strike It Noel" to the chorus in "Thank You Friends" to the instrumental at the beginning of "Jesus Christ". Music for my darkest hour.

third/sister lovers is a beautiful and brilliant, unforgettable record but it's so much more than that. excepting nick drake's pink moon and lennon's "primal scream" lp, no recording has ever captured the deterioration of hope and optimism and the cancer of fatalism like this one has.

on its own, sister lovers is full of haunting and lovely material like "blue moon," "dream lover," and "nighttime" but when listened in context, keeping in mind the innocence and youthfulness of #1 record and the "we won't give up" mentality that permeates radio city, only then does this record reveal its harrowing true colors.

take chilton's "car" songs as an example. #1 record gives us "in the street," a youth anthem in which the characters spend much of their time happily driving around town in someone's car. radio city sees this changing for the worse with "back of a car," in which the "music's too loud" and the fun is dissipating fast as the innocence and youth seeps away. here, on sister lovers, there's "big black car," painful in its sorrow and melancholy, talking about driving around as if it's only a memory in the mind of someone who can no longer enjoy any facet of life, not even that which used to give so much; "nothing can hurt me" he says, but we don't believe him, "driving's a gas, it aint gonna last."

in context, third/sister lovers may very well be the most incredible document of giving up since the advent of sound. equally jaw-dropping and miraculous as #1 record and radio city. everything you've heard about big star is an understatement.

Alex Chilton is one of rock's most fascinating mysteries wrapped in an enigma. He has been worshipped by Paul Westerberg to the point of having a song written about him. According to a man I spoke to in a bar - a highly articulate, well-informed, and obviously intelligent man - Chilton was a janitor somewhere in Tennessee not too long ago. Most recently, this New Orleans resident was reported missing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, the reports of his possible demise were exaggerated. Musically, he was the teenage vocalist on the classic #1 single "The Letter", the unlikely producer for The Cramps, and a major influence on the folky, cryptic alternative rock of R.E.M., the trashier rock of The Replacements, and the more straightforward power pop of Teenage Fanclub. (And that's just to cite the ones who are keen enough to know that they were influenced by him and his band.)

Although Big Star is thought of as the quintessential American power pop band, you would never know it from their third CD, which I will hereafter refer to as Sister Lovers, because I like that title better. Granted, the disc contains "Thank You Friends", which is in the tradition of their classic "September Gurls". (Neither of which are, in my opinion, as perfect as the greatest power pop song ever, "Shake Some Action" by The Flamin' Groovies, who are also a strong candidate for the quintessential American power pop band.) Apart from that, almost all of the songs on Sister Lovers are stark affairs, ones which stick in your head not because they are catchy but because they're haunting. The range of the band's - or just Chilton's, as the case may be - are indicated nicely by the covers on the record, which include the sparse "Nature Boy" (made famous by Nat "King" Cole), an even slower (and French-flavored) version of The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale", and a spirited take on "Till the End of the Day" by The Kinks (which they start off with the opening riffs to The Who's "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere"). Chilton is clearly the star of this CD, as he wrote all but one of the original songs. But drummer Jody Stephens gives him a run for his money with his single contribution, "For You". This track speaks as much for the tone and brilliance of Sister Lovers as any of Chilton's songs do.

There are a few weaker tracks, like "Kizza Me", "You Can't Have Me", and the cover of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On". If nothing else, at least they lighten the mood of the record a bit. The absence of Chris Bell, whose presence was so strongly felt on their debut #1 Record, may explain the lack of higher quality soul and power pop. (Bell had left the group in 1972, and was killed in a car crash in 1978.) However, this same absence allowed Chilton to make Sister Lovers the tormenting masterpiece that it is. This may have disappointed many Big Star fans, but the band was never obligated to be a pop group, and they had very little chance of coming out of this record intact anyway. Hence, the result is a record full of frightening tales of despondency, like the horrifically unsubtle "Holocaust" - "you're a wasted face/you're a sad-eyed lie/you're a holocaust" - and loneliness, like "Nighttime" - "I hate it here, get me out of here". Other songs seek comfort and salvation in whatever may offer it, be it driving ("Big Black Car"), religion ("Jesus Christ"), or love ("Blue Moon"). And that is hardly where the great songs end. The string-laden "Kangaroo", "Strike It Noel", and "Take Care" are all amazing and probably unlike anything you'll ever hear in popular music.

Given the anguished tone of the record, one does have to wonder - as many already have - if the triumphal sounding "Thank You Friends" is sincere or bitterly ironic. In this sense, it reminds me of The Kinks' song "All of My Friends Were There". While this also sounds celebratory, the lyrics indicate otherwise: "And just when I wanted no one to be there/All of my friends were there/Not just my friends, but there best friends too/All of my friends were there/To stand and stare". Alex, meanwhile, says "without my friends I got chaos". Well, if the remainder of the record is any indication, chaos is what he's got a lot of! Is Alex in fact friendless, or were the friends he had simply not there when he needed them to be?

Whatever the case, lonely is something that Alex Chilton will never be in the world of popular music, as evinced by a couple of tribute albums and dozens of artists who admire Big Star. Sister Lovers was a departure from the snap crackle pop of their first two records, but arguably even more ambitious and fully realized than either of them. But while it may be the masterpiece of the band called Big Star, it can't really stand as their most representative opus, as #1 Record and Radio City are just as essential. Alex Chilton once said that he felt that he was joining Chris Bell's band when he became a member of Big Star, and that Bell was the biggest Anglophile in Memphis. With Bell's departure, Big Star clearly became Chilton's band. Thus, Sister Lovers might more accurately be his personal masterwork, while remaining a fascinating piece of the Big Star puzzle.

I have owned this CD for about 6 years. And, to be honest, I wasn't prepared for it, especially after absorbing the sheer pop brilliance of the first two albums. Immediate is not the first word that comes to mind when listening to "Third/Sister Lovers". In fact, it was only a couple of days ago that I decided to give it another shot. Only then did then record finally hit me. Sure, certain songs would catch my attention earlier, the desparation of "O, Dana", Steve Cropper achingly beautiful guitar on the cover of VU's "Femme Fatale", the crunch of "Till The End Of The Day". But, once the music settles in, the rewards are there, such as the baroque pop of Jody Stephens' "For You", which brings to mind The Left Banke, and "Thank You Friends", where its hard to tell if Chilton is extending a hand, or simply a finger. (My guess would be the latter.) "Holocaust" ranks with Japan's "Nightporter" as one of the most atmospherically depressing songs ever written. Then there's "Kangaroo", which feels like watching someone lietrally walking a tightrope. Or how about the junkie lullabye, "Take Care", where Chilton incoherent offers advice to a lover/friend/child while staggering and swaying over their bed? And, yet there are so many beautiful melodies, such as "Nighttime" and "Blue Moon" (one of the few honest moments of hope on this album.) No, this is not clean, sweet pop all packaged nicely. To get to this album, most listeners have to go through #1 Record/Radio City. Its only through the darker moments of that album do the joys this album become revealed. Somewhere, in an alternative universe, where Paul Wetserberg is granted his due as a songwriter extraordinaire, where the Raspberries are dominating the pop charts, and Pete Ham continues to write pop gems, Big Star are exactly that... big stars. Of course, we might not have this very record if that was the case.

i agreee 100% w/ the chap who said this hadto grow like "exile on main street" and "astral weeks"; i feel exactly the same w/ this record and w/ those records...and also now Kid A. Y'gotta let a little love grow. I even felt kinda th' same w/ "pet sounds" and "highway 61" and "blonde on blonde" and several others...we expect too much immediacy w/ even nominally "popular music'. For me, it is only the very pinnacles of classic pop (ie the beatles, motown etc) which have that kind of immediacy, most everything else needs to be LISTENED to OVER & OVER again before one can 'get it'...admittidely some take longer than others...ie "trout mask replica" but there y'go...IN Short: this record (and the two before it) is marvellous and will make you wonder how you had gone so long w/out listening to big star...the best songs arre the slower ballad ones ("blue moon", "nightime", "holocaust" etc) and then the weird-kick-ass psycho ones ("kanga roo", "stroke it noel" etc etc)...but really the entire album kicks (i even like the much-maligned "whole lotta shakin goin on" cover...talk about acknowledging yr influences...)...

This is a great unfinished work. The original PVC release of 1978 contains the best and most logical sequence of songs, even if that is not what Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson (the authors of this work, not "Big Star") intended. "#1 Record" and "Radio City" are, of course, very fine albums, and the best "power-pop" recordings ever made. "Third/Sister Lovers/Beale Street Green" is something else entirely. Perhaps you could call it experimental, but I would just call it confused. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There are moments of great beauty here--"Nightime" and "O, Dana" and "You Can't Have Me." The way Alex Chilton sings "she's not afraid to take a chance" in "O, Dana" is probably the highlight of his vocal career. "Kanga Roo" I always liked; "Holocaust" I avoid. I am not sure why the bad covers of the Kinks and Jerry Lee Lewis, and "Nature Boy," for that matter, are included here, as they detract from the tone of the other tracks. "Downs," though, which wasn't included on the original '78 release, fits perfectly. Pop music, and the great era that we loosely call the "'60s," ended in 1974, and this music is its death knell. It's also a portrait of a haunted, failing city--Memphis, which during this era was in serious spiritual trouble. I mean, I'm no conservative or anything--conservative people will run in horror from this music--but if there's ever been a record that says "don't do drugs," it's Big Star's "Third."

This is the best rock -n- roll album of all time.

It really is much better in the english release with the correct song sequencing, but you can approximate that excellence by simply CORRECTING THE SONG ORDER. Program your cd player for the following sequence, or remake it as a cdr and you've got it:

1.) stroke it noel
2.) downs
3.) femme fatale
4.) thank you friends
5.) holocaust
6.) jesus christ
7.) blue moon
8.) dream lover
9.) you can't have me
10.) big black car
11.) kizza me
12.) for you
13.) o dana
14.) nightime
15.) kanga roo
16.) take care

Delete or scatch through the rest of the "songs".

Enjoy!

-robin

I met a girl once (at a Big Star concert, actually) who made a point of telling me that Big Star had come along for her at "just the right time". Rather than sounding like the typical Rock n' Roll Salvation myth, it invoked memories of the spooky house I'd been staying in when I first heard "Sister Lovers". I was watching the remote cabin for a family on vacation and had recently seen too many Alfred Hitchcock videos. A mood of inner decay, a cold stillness and the fear of malevolent ghosts creeping around inside the house was enhanced by the record. It offered a strange solace, like hearing the moans of another survivor under the rubble of a bombed building. I wondered if she was somewhere close to there when Big Star came through for her.