Big Star

Digitally re-mastered and expanded edition of their 1974 sophomore album including one bonus track: 'O My Soul' (Single Mix). Big Star, led by the legendary Alex Chilton (The Box Tops), remains one of the most mythic and influential cult bands in all of Rock 'n' Roll. Bands such as R.E.M., Wilco and the Replacements all cite Big Star as an influence. #1 Record was included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of all-time.

Remastered and restored performance originally recorded and broadcast in 1974
Big Star recorded their second album, Radio City, as a trio, after the departure of founding member Chris Bell. When it came time to tour, original bassist Andy Hummel decided to return to school to pursue his engineering education. With this departure, Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens recruited fellow Memphis native John Lightman to take over on bass duties, and the band readied their live set.

The quintessential American power pop band, Big Star remains one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll. Originally led by the singing and songwriting duo of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, the Memphis-based group fused the strongest elements of the British Invasion era – the melodic invention of the Beatles, the whiplash guitars of the Who, and the radiant harmonies of the Byrds – into a ramshackle but poignantly beautiful sound that recaptured the spirit of pop's past even as it pointed the way toward the music's future. Although creative tensions, haphazard distribution, and marketplace indifference conspired to ensure Big Star's brief existence and commercial failure, the group's three studio albums nevertheless remain unqualified classics – the polished but muscular studio sound of 1972's #1 Record, the leaner and tougher guitar-based attack of 1974's Radio City, and the hallucinatory swing between beauty and desperation of what would become known as Third.

“Rock’n’roll,” sang Alex Chilton on 1972’s “Thirteen”, “is here to stay…” We couldn’t agree more, so it’s a real honour to present Out Past Midnight: A Big Star Sampler, a compilation of hand-picked tracks from one of the greatest bands of all time. With this CD, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of Big Star’s Radio City, along with the live tribute shows later this year, and marking a half-century since Chris Bell set out on his solo career with I Am The Cosmos – but really, there’s no need for an excuse to immerse yourself in Big Star. You can read more about Chris Bell and that incredible, harrowing solo record in the same issue, dated October 2024 (it’s out in UK shops now, or available to buy online), but in the meantime spin these 10 tracks and chart the group’s journey from power-pop perfection on 1972’s #1 Record to the more unhinged, rawer grooves of 1974’s Radio City, and finally the expansive, avant-garde obliteration of Third, recorded in late ’74 and first released four years later. We hope you dig this sampler as much as we do, whether you’re revisiting these cuts, discovering the rarities or making your first ventures into the world of Chilton, Bell and co. As the former sang on “Thank You Friends”, it’s “never too late to start…”

The quintessential American power pop band, Big Star remains one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll. Originally led by the singing and songwriting duo of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, the Memphis-based group fused the strongest elements of the British Invasion era – the melodic invention of the Beatles, the whiplash guitars of the Who, and the radiant harmonies of the Byrds – into a ramshackle but poignantly beautiful sound which recaptured the spirit of pop's past even as it pointed the way toward the music's future. Although creative tensions, haphazard distribution, and marketplace indifference conspired to ensure Big Star's brief existence and commercial failure, the group's three studio albums nevertheless remain unqualified classics, and their impact on subsequent generations of indie bands on both sides of the Atlantic is surpassed only by that of the Velvet Underground.

Radio City is the second studio album by the American rock group Big Star. Released February 20, 1974, Radio City was recorded during 1973 at Memphis' Ardent Studios. Though not a commercial success at the time, it is now recognized as a milestone album in the history of power pop music. Critically acclaimed upon its release, the record sold poorly, partly due to a lack of promotion and the distribution problems of the band's struggling record label, Ardent Records. The album included "September Gurls" and "Back of a Car", which remain among the most famous Big Star songs; both the Searchers and the Bangles have covered "September Gurls".

#1 Record is the debut album by the American rock band Big Star. It was released on April 24, 1972, by Memphis-based Ardent Records.Many critics praised the album's vocal harmonies and songcraft but #1 Record suffered from poor distribution and sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release. However, #1 Record gained wider attention in the late 1970s in the UK when EMI reissued it with Radio City as a double LP package due to increasing demand. The same combination was used when the album was released on CD in 1992. It is now widely-regarded as a seminal work in pop rock and power pop. In 2020 it was ranked number 474 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone also ranked the song "Thirteen" as number 406 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was voted number 188 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000)

Originally released in 1972, "Number One Record" is the debut album from Big Star, a critically acclaimed, Memphis-based band which is often credited with creating the power pop sound. Remastered from the analog stereo masters, this reissue will allow fans to appreciate #1 Record as a standalone CD - this is the first time in many years that the CD version of the album will be sold independently of Big Star’s second album, "Radio City". Packaging also includes liner notes penned by R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, who cites Big Star as one of his biggest influences, and calls the album “a record of rich sonic textures, of declaration and vulnerability”.

Big Star, considered to be among the founders of power pop, has been cited as an influence by many of the major alternative bands of the ’80s and ’90s, and continues to be a powerful presence in today’s musical landscape. Artists such as R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements (who famously penned the song “Alex Chilton”) and Wilco all enthusiastically tout the artistic impact of the group. Mike Mills recalls Big Star as “a band who had gotten it right, who made records that sounded like rock and roll bands should sound. A band who wrote all the songs, from flat-out rockers to achingly beautiful ballads that were still somehow rock songs.”

Big Star, considered to be among the founders of power pop, has been cited as an influence by many of the major alternative bands of the ’80s and ’90s, and continues to be a powerful presence in today’s musical landscape. Artists such as R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements (who famously penned the song “Alex Chilton”) and Wilco all enthusiastically tout the artistic impact of the group. Mike Mills recalls Big Star as “a band who had gotten it right, who made records that sounded like rock and roll bands should sound. A band who wrote all the songs, from flat-out rockers to achingly beautiful ballads that were still somehow rock songs.”