Big Star

condition (record/cover): NM / EX
Big Star's best album is spottier than the debut, but the high points are higher and the sound is intriguingly weirder in contrast the first album's ready-for-radio accessibility. Jagged edges have replaced smooth harmonies, which is attributable to the departure of Chris Bell for a solo career. This cuts down on the consistency of the songwriting, which accounts for the spottiness, but even the weaker songs ("She's A Mover", "Oh My Soul") are interesting. The band often sounds as if it's about to fall apart, which makes this excitingly unpredictable, and on a sonic level highly influential given the holes and corners in the sound. Jody Stephens holds it all together with his drumming, and often sounds like a man tenously trying to keep a house from collapsing. Bassist Andy Hummel chips in the delightful "Way Out West" which boasts a great chorus - as do, well, most Big Star songs.

Chilton's never played better guitar than here, which often sounds like Dave Davies' six-string trying to emulate Roger McGuinn's twelve string, especially on the ringing break that propels "September Gurls", a pinaccle of jangly pop perfection that anyone who has ever heard can never forget. And the chorus of "Back Of A Car", which gloriously strains Chilton's high range to its limit, is also unforgettable. Easily one of the top ten or twenty greatest albums in rock, it actually manages to reach the level Big Star's beloved forebears the Beatles - this is as sonically intriguing and possesses songs as great as Revolver.