Alex Chilton fans - which group do you prefer? Box Tops or Big Star?

'Nuff said:

 

This.
Big Star second,Box Tops third.Chilton just got better with the passage of time.

Seeing Chilton twice in a one man show were two of the high points of my life.

 

Chilton was "rescued" ( when no one wanted to touch him with a barge pole ) by a french label called New Rose in the eighties , they financed and released all his recordings, put him even on a monthly wage , organised his european tours so he can make some money etc
So yes , Alex Chilton is well known in France within rock n roll circles of course
We always had a soft spot for the 'magnificent american losers"

 

so, I'm curious..... why do the Box Tops not get much love? Their later material is unbelievably good.... the last two lps in particular.

 

Big Star by a country mile - thank you very much.

 

Why, yes, he does, and it kicks the butt of "The Letter":

 

For me personally the Box Tops were contrived - cookie cutter of the time. Alex wasn't into this sort of arrangement where his songs didn't get pushed to the front - instead he had to record other people's songs.

Saying that doesn't make the group bad - I like a lot of Box Tops songs well enough but for me Big Star is where it's at in terms of Alex writing. I'm not into Alex solo (post B.S.).

 

Good one - me too!

 

I agree -- his post-Big Star stuff seems to be unfairly dissed. Even his devoted biographers call it slapdash or uneven or "why did our power pop god start singing square standards? boo hoo" but I think Chilton's anti-pigeonhole eclecticism and idiosyncratic aesthetic are fantastic.

 

I tried getting into solo Chilton post B.S. and I just didn't care for it. It was like going from listening to Rod Stewart with The Faces to Rod Stewart in 1984-5. Not good. Chilton spoiled me with the high standard he set for himself in the early 70's to the crazy stuff he did in the 80's and beyond.

And I never did buy the Big Star 'In Space'. It wasn't a Big Star album to me. I don't have it digitally either. No interest in it.

 

I don't get the feeling that Chilton wasn't doing what he wanted to do musically at any given moment, post BS. The results could vary, but for me, that counts for something.

 

I think Alex and co. had some more say in the music they were recording in the latter years of the Box Tops. Bassist Bill Cunningham told me once that there was at least one single (I think "I See Only Sunshine") that just he and Alex recorded all the instruments themselves. The last two albums had more songs recorded by the Box Tops themselves and, I would have to imagine, were selected by them to be recorded....stuff like "I'm Movin' On," "Together," "I Must Be The Devil," "Rock Me Baby," etc.

I think the personnel changes and lack of success is what did the Box Tops in, but that's just my speculation.

I have tried to get into Big Star, but I just seem to find the music too....I dunno....'70s sounding? I do like the alt. version of "Feel" that came out on 45 a few years ago...and "In The Street."

 

Big Star obviously. I got a Box Tops complication recently though and it's not bad, it's nice to hear Chilton's vocals at that stage in his career. The only solo stuff I've ever really got into by him was High Priest which is fabulous - well played but nice and sloppy, great singing, nice mix of originals and unexpectedly effective cover versions. I've listened to Like Flies On Sherbert once or twice and was actually pretty shocked at how badly everything was played. I agree with the earlier poster's comments about In Space. Any Big Star that wasn't the original Big Star isn't really Big Star!

 

Did you watch That '70s Show? The theme song, "In the Street," was co -written by Chilton and appears on the first Big Star album. #1 Record. (I believe the version on the show was performed by Cheap Trick, though.)

Oh, and I voted Big Star.

 

No never saw it

 

No contest.

The Box Tops were entertaining and had a number of excellent songs, but Big Star were transcendent.

 

Big Star by far...