Big Star - Radio City (Full Album)

Country: United States
Year: 1974

00:00 O My Soul
05:36 Life Is White
08:55 Way Out West
11:43 What's Going Ahn
14:23 You Get What You Deserve
17:30 Mod Lang
20:15 Back of a Car
23:01 Daisy Glaze
26:50 She's a Mover
30:03 September Gurls
32:51 Morpha Too
34:18 I'm in Love with a Girl

Radio City is the second album by the American rock group Big Star. Released in 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. The album included "September Gurls" and "Back of a Car", which remain among the most famous Big Star songs. The original Ardent Records LP featured record-jacket photographs by noted photographer William Eggleston, including The Red Ceiling on the cover. Eggleston was a close friend of band member Alex Chilton. Radio City is notable for its unique, chewy guitar sound and live-sounding yet meticulous textures, and for its somewhat tortuous recording history. The album shows a southern US band under the influence of British Invasion bands such as The Beatles and The Kinks. Radio City's reputation has grown since its release, with many critics and listeners of the opinion that it is not only the definitive power-pop album but one of the finest rock-music albums - wikipedia

Like The Beatles, Big Star had at its core two great forces: Chilton, and the enigmatic, cult icon Chris Bell. The band started with Chris at the throne, and he was a died-in-the-wool Beatles disciple. There was a tacit power struggle as to the direction of the band during their first album, #1 Record, and Alex wanted control. No one before Chris or after ever really challenged Alex musically, and I think Alex might even admit that to himself. Radio City was Chilton's way of showing only to himself that he could write better Beatles-like songs than Bell ever could. My theory is that Chilton's motivation for Radio City was to show up Bell. That is the source of the passion, angst and intensity on Radio City. That type of rivalry made The Beatles great, except they stayed together despite their dissonance, creating a larger body of work. That Chilton showed up Bell with Radio City may have literally killed the late Bell, a tortured, complex man who never had the chance to find a support system that would have allowed him to accept his homosexuality. Indeed, his early death some label as a suicide was a tragedy of the highest order - popmatters