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For anyone who is a fan of Alex Chilton and Big Star as well as Power Pop rock, I recommend that you treat yourself to both Big Star by Rob Jovanovic, the incredible dirty laundry and all biography of Big Star, most of which I don’t think anyone was aware of and the new 4 CD Big Star Box Set, Keep an Eye on the Sky, which features everything Big Star ever recorded with plenty of unreleased tracks, a complete unreleased live set, rare solo material by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell and unreleased demos in spectacularly hot remastered sound. The Big Star Book and the CD Box Set each completes the other. Without reading the book its hard to get a full understanding of how Big Star and its music came about and why Big Star didn’t become bigger and without the CD set its hard to get a full picture of how Big Star’s music affected the lives of the group.
Unlike most fans of Big Star, I don’t think they were the greatest thing since sliced bread but I thought they were an excellent group with great songs, great vocals, great production and great music. In other words I wouldn’t put them on the level of the Beatles and the early Rolling Stones or even The (Young) Rascals but on the next level of say Badfinger. I actually like Big Star better then Badfinger! I never saw Big Star live (even the current version) but I did see Alex Chilton with Chris Stamey live in New York in the late 70′s and it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. I can listen to Keep an Eye In the Sky non-stop 365 days a year, as it is to use a favorite reality TV term, awesome. My personal favorites are: Every Day as We Grow Closer, When My Baby’s Beside Me, Watch the Sunrise, September Girls, I Got Kinda Lost, Daisy Glaze and You and Your Sister. Almost everything Big Star did was great. I have to admit, I’m not totally enamored with Big Star 3 (third CD) though there are several songs I like. Keep an Eye in the Sky is nicely packaged with a huge booklet with great pictures and great information and I’d recommend it to anyone even if you have the first 3 albums on CD because of the sizzling sound and the unreleased material.
As for Big Star the Book by Rob Jovanovic, its one of the best Biography’s of a Rock band I’ve ever read especially because there really hasn’t been much written about Big Star that hasn’t been the same generic stuff till this book. Did you know for instance that the original Big Star with Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stevens actually only played 7 live gigs? Alex Chilton was married by the time he was 18 with a child and was paid twice as much as the other members of The Box Tops? Somehow author Rob Jovaovic covers an incredible amount of ground: The Box Tops, the lives of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stevens before, during and after Big Star, Ardent Studio, all the music and then some. This is the first music biography I’ve read non-stop and its impossible to put down. There’s plenty of dirty laundry too especially in regards to Alex Chilton who doesn’t exactly come across like Tim Tebow!
Altogether, I would get both the book and the Keep an Eye on the Sky Box Set at the same time and after you’ve listened to the entire Box Set then read the Book while playing Keep an Eye on the Sky at the same time! Please check out our large Online Discount Gift Store Click Here and our other Online Discount Stores below which helps support this politically incorrect blog. Thank you.
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