{"id":983,"date":"2016-10-14T05:30:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T09:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=983"},"modified":"2016-11-08T23:33:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T04:33:42","slug":"new-release-roundup-big-stars-third-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2016\/10\/14\/new-release-roundup-big-stars-third-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"New Release Roundup: Big Star&#8217;s Third Complete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Big_Star\" target=\"_blank\">Big Star<\/a> \u2013 <em>Complete Third<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nReviewing <em>Third\/Sister Lovers<\/em> is like reviewing <em>The Basement Tapes<\/em>. There have been so many interpolations of this material already, and it has been discovered and rediscovered, that the mythology is almost too massive to make a dent. This collection of songs has lived many lifetimes, and if you\u2019re reading this, your relationship to the original album is already well-established. By the same token, if you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019re probably also a bit of a completist (seems to come with the territory of being a Big Star fan). So this may be all you need read \u2013 this is a three-disc collection of 69 tracks, 29 of them never before released, comprising every currently-known recording from the legendarily strange sessions that produced <em>Third<\/em>. You can skip down to the track listing below and go from there. <\/p>\n<p>In the accompanying booklet, music journalist Bod Scoppa notes that Big Star was just Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens going into <em>Third<\/em>, after Chris Bell and Andy Hummel left. In a later interview quoted in the booklet, Chilton said he was just throwing ideas at the wall and called the album \u201ca great hash of demonic sound.\u201d At some point, he claims he was pushed out of the decision making for the final mix and sequencing, and he and Stephens hadn\u2019t even intended to call it a Big Star record. Who knows what this album would have sounded like had Chilton been able to finish it the way he wanted. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DID1xdLt2l0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The closest we may get is the collection of demos on disc one. They are the purest and most coherent views of the songs, just Chilton singing with a guitar or a piano. This is what <em>Third<\/em> might have sounded like as a Chilton solo album, with no other players. As many instrumental changes these songs might endure as the sessions go on, the vocal melodies for most of them are remarkably stable. \u201cBig Black Car\u201d is represented five times, and while some versions have more aggressive guitars compared to the final version, the dirge-like feel never changes. The main difference in Chilton\u2019s vocals is that he sounds even more resigned on the final product. <\/p>\n<p>Take this collection in its original running order, and it feels like a three-act play where the characters change and grow, starting in a simple state and arriving at a place of fractured beauty. They never get to where they thought they were going, but where we leave them is maybe a more compelling place.    <\/p>\n<p>Truly obsessive fans can rearrange the tracks and create their own insightful playlists. Put all the instances of \u201cDowns\u201d or \u201cFemme Fatale\u201d together, or mix the demos and the final versions together in the same running order to see what they sound like side-by-side. Take all of the oddities like Chilton and then-girlfriend Lesa Aldredge covering the Beatles \u201cI\u2019m So Tired,\u201d one of the previously unreleased tracks, and George Jones\u2019 \u201cThat\u2019s All It Took.\u201d Put all of John Fry or Jim Dickinson\u2019s mixes next to the final album. No matter how you put it together, there will always be new sparks.   <\/p>\n<p><strong>VOL. 1: Demos To Sessions To Roughs<\/strong><br \/>\n1. Like St. Joan (Kanga Roo) * (Demo) 2. Lovely Day (Demo) 3. Downs (Demo)<br \/>\n4. Femme Fatale (Demo) 5. Thank You Friends (Demo) 6. Holocaust (Demo)<br \/>\n7. Jesus Christ (Demo) 8. Blue Moon (Demo) 9. Nightime (Demo)<br \/>\n10. Take Care (Demo) 11. Big Black Car (Demo #2\/Acoustic Take 1)<br \/>\n12. Don\u2019t Worry Baby 13. I\u2019m In Love With A Girl *<br \/>\n14. Big Black Car (Demo #3\/Acoustic Take 2) 15. I\u2019m So Tired * \u2013 Alex &#038; Lesa<br \/>\n16. That\u2019s All It Took * \u2013 Alex &#038; Lesa 17. Pre-Downs * 18. Baby Strange *<br \/>\n19. Big Black Car (Demo #1\/Band) 20. Kizza Me * (Dickinson Rough Mix\/Alex Guide Vocal)<br \/>\n21. Till The End Of The Day * (Dickinson Rough Mix\/Alex Guide Vocal, kept as final vocal)<br \/>\n22. Thank You Friends * (Dickinson Rough Mix\/Alex Guide Vocal)<br \/>\n23. O, Dana * (Dickinson Rough Mix) 24. Dream Lover * (Dickinson Rough Mix)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vol. 2: Roughs To Mixes<\/strong><br \/>\n1. Big Black Car * (Dickinson Rough Mix\/Alex Guide Vocal)<br \/>\n2. Whole Lotta Shakin\u2019 GOin\u2019 On * (Dickinson Rough Mix)<br \/>\n3. Take Care * (Dickinson Rough Mix) 4. Holocaust * (Dickinson Rough Mix)<br \/>\n5. Nightime * (Dickinson Rough Mix) 6. Thank You Friends * (Dickinson Rough Mix)<br \/>\n7. Nature Boy * (Dickinson Rough Mix) 8. After Hours * \u2013 Lesa<br \/>\n9. Stroke It Noel (Backwards intro) 10. Lovely Day * (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n11. Nightime * (FRY Rough Mix) 12. Blue Moon * (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n13. Till The End Of The Day (Alternate Mix #1) 14. Big Black Car (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n15. Holocaust (FRY Alternate\/ROugh Mix) 16. Downs * (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n17. Kanga Roo (FRY Rough Mix) 18. Femme Fatale * (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n19. For You * (Alternate Version\/Alex Vocal) 20. Thank You Friends * (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n21. Take Care * (Alternate Version\/Alex Vocal) 22. Kizza Me * (FRY Rough Mix)<br \/>\n23. Till The End Of The Day (FRY Rough Mix #2) \u2013 Lesa<br \/>\n24. Nature Boy (FRY Rough Mix) 25. Ma\u00f1ana<\/p>\n<p><strong>VOL. 3: Final Masters<\/strong><br \/>\n1. Stroke It Noel 2. Downs 3. Femme Fatale 4. Thank You Friends<br \/>\n5. Holocaust 6. Jesus Christ 7. Blue Moon 8. Kizza Me 9. For You<br \/>\n10. O, Dana 11. Nightime 12. Whole Lotta Shakin\u2019 Goin\u2019 On 13. Kanga Roo<br \/>\n14. Take Care 15. Big Black Car 16. Dream Lover 17. You Can\u2019t Have Me<br \/>\n18. Till The End Of The Day 19. Lovely Day 20. Nature Boy<br \/>\n*Previously Unissued<\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Big Star \u2013 Complete Third Reviewing Third\/Sister Lovers is like reviewing The Basement Tapes. There have been so many interpolations of this material&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[692,695,165,693,694,698,415,696,697,88,690,691],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-alex-chilton","tag-andy-hummel","tag-big-star","tag-bud-scoppa","tag-chris-bell","tag-jim-dickinson","tag-joe-list","tag-john-fry","tag-lesa-aldredge","tag-new-release-roundup","tag-third","tag-thirdsister-lovers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Big-Star-Complete-Third-OV-192.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lGwW-fR","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1139,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions\/1139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}