Third / Sister Lovers

by

Big Star

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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.

If Paul and Ringo decided to record an album together and called themselves "The Beatles," would everyone think that was cool? Of course not. Big Star was a quartet, ultimately reduced to two by the time this uneven and often gloomy collection of songs was recorded. Chris Bell defined the sound of, and essentially produced, the excellent debut album "#1 Record." If you want to know how much the Big Star sound had already been crystallized before "LX" Chilton got involved, listen to the three eventual Big Star tracks on the album by Bell's previous band "Rock City," now commercially available on CD. Fast forwarding back to Big Star, Bell was involved in the first demo session for "Radio City" and wrote a good chunk of "Back Of A Car" before departing the band. Yes, Chilton deserves credit for carrying on and writing great songs like "September Gurls," for the second album, but by the time his sometimes-cowriter Andy Hummel had also departed, the band had essentially ended. Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens admitted as much when they called themselves "Sister Lovers" on the session sheets for the album later mislabled as "Big Star's Third." Stephens, as noted by other reviewers, actually writes and sings one of the better songs on the album, "For You." Alex has his moments here and there, but seems to have lost his spark for writing and recording what we would now refer to as "power pop." And despite his eventual cult status, has never really regained it in any sustained way. Personally, I prefer Bell's "I Am The Cosmos," but if you're going to pick up "Third," get the Bell CD as well, and decide for yourself who still had the chops.