Album Reviews

Careening between sweet Beatlesque pop delivered via three part harmonies and dexterous rhythms and edgy blues-boogie that channels Alex Chilton’s inner Marc Bolan via Memphis country/soul, Big Star’s second album is even more thrilling and satisfying now, 35 after it’s 1974 release. The album hasn’t lost a step.

Sure the album’s got wistful pop confections like “Sitting in the Back of the Car” and “September Gurls” that justify the power pop pigeonhole, but the band was so much more and way ahead of its time, with a drum/guitar edge that presaged groups like The White Stripes. Chilton pushed hard-edged Lennon on tunes like “Daisy Glaze” and “She’s a Mover” as much as McCartney on the prettier tunes.

When it was first issued on the obscure Ardent label, rock critics and alternative rock D.J.s went nuts for its jangly guitars, sharp hooks and happy harmonies that cut through the insistent sharp edges. This was the record that would catapult rock ahead of California mellow, country and shit-kicking hippie fluff and pay the UK back for giving us the British Invasion.

Yes, the fantasy went that far in some minds but it wasn’t to be. Pop had moved on and though the faithful like yours truly who played the Zombie-esque minor key gem “You Get What You Deserve” without fail every weekend on my WBCN-FM all night show and the album got raves throughout the alternative press, the album was anything but a hit back in 1974.

Yet the album kept finding an audience, generation after generation and here it is again on 200g Clarity Plus vinyl from Classic Records sounding as bright, searing and edgy as ever, yet always tuneful. The tracking of the 12 song set was done with such skill and sensitivity, the entirety of Radio City feels like one long song ambitious song cycle, the likes of which hadn’t been heard since the second side of Abbey Road. Individual songs shift and turn song-cycle like as well, producing a kaleidoscope of rock gestures familiar and daringly innovative and fresh.

The first track, “Oh My Soul” was and is presented in bright edgy and satisfying monophonic sound. The stage widens after that multi-movement masterpiece for the Beatle influenced but hardly Beatlesque “Life is White.” “Way Out West” is a longful, tuneful ballad that gives way to the inwardly directed, fatalistic sunset vibe of “What’s Going On,” one of the albums dramatic highlights. The side ends with the taunting “You Get What You Deserve,” with its halting, chop time castanet bridge, serpentine guitar solo and “All Along the Watchtower” ending.

Side two doesn’t let up beginning with the catchy boogie-pop of “Mod Lang” (named for a music critic) that gives way to the nostalgic “Back of the Car,” with its cascading, infectious chorus. The Lennon-esque “Daisy Glaze” shatters the high energy mood, taking it down to an introspective near standstill only to slowly scale it back up with a mountain climb of a guitar driven bridge that gives way to a fireworks chorus and a Chinese scale like climax that made it’s way onto Nick Lowe’s debut album, whether accidentally or on purpose.

“She’s Mover” takes it back into boogie Beatle territory, “September Gurls” returns it to shimmering pop with a hook that, like the La’s “Here She Comes,” kills every time with its simplicity. The short “Morpha Two” is the album’s seeming denouement

Any attempt to water down the ice-house shimmer would ruin it and Chris Bellman hasn’t tried but he sure has engraved the top end with far greater clarity and dynamic swing than the original possessed.

I like that Classic has pressed this on their clear/opaque Clarity Plus vinyl so it doesn’t suffer the edgy effects that black vinyl somehow imparts on the sound of most records unless you demagnetize them, while at the same time running the distribution company that handles the Furutech demagnetizer.

If you don’t know this sweet and edgy masterpiece, take a chance, please if you like Beatles, Nick Lowe, Gram Parsons, The Byrds, power pop and whatever. 35 years later it’s as good as it was the day it was issued. Radio City is one oif those albums you’ll never tire of hearing. It’s one of those records that offers up surprises and new delights with every listen.