The Big Star-#1 Record Song by Song Thread

#1 Record
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Studio album by
Big Star
Released August 1972
Recorded 1972
Studio Ardent Studios, Memphis

Label Ardent
Producer John Fry

#1 Record is the debut album by the American rock band Big Star. It was released in August 1972 by Memphis-based Ardent Records.

Many critics praised the album's elegant vocal harmonies and refined songcraft but #1 Record suffered from poor distribution and sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release. However, #1 Record gained wider attention in the late '70s in the UK when EMI reissued it with Radio City as a double LP package due to increasing demand.[2] The same combination was used when the album was released on CD in 1992.[3] In 2003 it was ranked number 434 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[4] Rolling Stone magazine also ranked the song "Thirteen" as number 406 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[5]


Composition and recording[edit]
Six years earlier in 1966, when their home town of Memphis, Tennessee became a tour stop for The Beatles, primary songwriters Alex Chilton and Chris Bell were thirteen years old. Heavily influenced by the UK band, the pair—Bell in particular—wanted to model their songwriting on the Lennon–McCartney partnership, with the result that they credited as many songs as possible on Big Star's debut album to "Bell/Chilton".[6] In practice, they developed material incrementally in the studio, each making changes to the other's recordings. Drummer Jody Stephens recalled, "Alex would come in and put down something rough and edgy and Chris would come in and add some sweet-sounding background vocals to it."[7] Chilton once offered the following on Chris Bell's unique vocal contributions: "Chris and I did all the harmony vocals, and he had a brilliant mind that worked in a sort of contrapuntal way. It wasn't based so much on 'Oh you're singing the root. I should be singing the 3rd above,' he would just sing along with the line I was singing. He was a brilliant, instinctual maker of counterpoint." [8]

The pair also each contributed songs to the album that were individually composed before Big Star was formed. Chris Bell brought the songs "Feel", "My Life Is Right", and "Try Again" to the recording sessions, which he had previously recorded with a band called 'Rock City' (which featured Big Star drummer Jody Stephens and Steve Rhea), and Chilton brought "The Ballad of El Goodo", "In the Street", and the acoustic ballads "Thirteen" and "Watch the Sunrise".[9] "The India Song" was written and composed by Andy Hummel.[10]

#1 Record is the only Big Star album on which group founder Chris Bell is officially credited as a member. Bell had a major hand in the record through songwriting, vocals, guitar work and the album's production. The polished sound of #1 Record, in contrast to the more raw styles of the band's subsequent albums, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers, is attributed by producer John Fry to the presence of Bell: "When Chris Bell was still in the band, he took more interest than anybody in the production and technology end of things. He had a good production mind...the reason why the second album is rougher, with fewer harmonies, is due to the absence of Chris's influence in the studio."[11] Bassist Andy Hummel would also credit Bell with having a hand in the album's production: "Chris was in charge. I would pretty well credit him with recording and producing that LP [#1 Record]. Of course, he had a lot of artistic help from Alex [Chilton] but Chris was the technical brains behind it. He was the only one of us at that time who knew how to record." [12] Alex Chilton would also acknowledge Bell's heavy role in the studio production: "Chris was really into recording. He didn't want the rest of us fooling around in the studio, that was his business."[8] Chilton would also give producer John Fry credit for achieving the album's high level of production quality: "John Fry was a genius in his way of mixdowns. We didn't put things on tape much differently than was the standard method of doing things, but he just had such finesse and great ears, and he was just a great meticulous mixdown engineer and producer. [...] He's the one responsible for making those records sound so ****ing great." [8] In 2014 the album was re-released through Stax Records with liner notes by Mike Mills.[13]

Reception

On its release in August 1972,[17] #1 Record immediately received widespread acclaim, and continued to do so for six months, although the inability by Stax Records to make the album available in stores meant it sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release.[18][19] Record World called it "one of the best albums of the year", and Billboard commented, "Every cut could be a single". Cashbox described it as one where "everything falls together as a total sound" and one that "should go to the top".[20] The River City Review's reaction to the album was to state that "Big Star will be around for many moons".[20]

Track listing
All tracks written by Chris Bell and Alex Chilton, except where noted.

Side one
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Feel" Bell 3:34
2. "The Ballad of El Goodo" Chilton 4:21
3. "In the Street" Bell 2:55
4. "Thirteen" Chilton 2:34
5. "Don't Lie to Me" Bell 3:07
6. "The India Song" (Andy Hummel) Hummel 2:20

Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "When My Baby's Beside Me" Chilton 3:22
2. "My Life Is Right" (Bell, Tom Eubanks) Bell 3:07
3. "Give Me Another Chance" Chilton 3:26
4. "Try Again" Bell 3:31
5. "Watch the Sunrise" Chilton 3:45
6. "ST 100/6" Bell and Chilton 1:01

Personnel
Big Star

• Chris Bell – guitar, vocals
• Alex Chilton – guitar, vocals
• Andy Hummel – bass guitar, vocals
• Jody Stephens – drums

Guest

• Terry Manning – electric piano, harmony vocals

 

Feel (Bell/Chilton)

Opens with an ominous sounding G drone with a descending chromatic line……used a lot in rock but still sounds great here with some hesitations. Alex answers on his Strat with some chiming weepy fills. The verse comes in and the guys sound almost chorus like in the vocals. A fairly standard boogie type chord progression and a power pop transition line at :24. The chorus enters at :52 and Chris sounds amazing with his sorrowful sounding dips in his voice at “dying”. The chorus is more laid-back sounding than the verse…makes sense….no happy lyrics here. At 1:09 a break with the verse chords with Alex playing some fine fills. At 1:26 the break changes up and alternates between two chords and sounds kind of like Mott. Cool horns bring the song out of the doldrums…a little. The verse returns and the chorus follows at 2:29. Amazing harmonies. At 2:56 the chorus starts to change up with Chris getting his last gasps in. The song goes to cut time for a big rousing finish with dips and jumps in the bass.

An amazing opener that introduced the world to Big Star. Great use of dynamics, droney rock and power pop and Chicago type horns to boot.

 

'Feel' is a great opener, melding a bunch of different influences into an "essence of the 70s" whole. It's a pretty eccentric mix of musical elements, but I never doubt it for a second.

 

Yes it really does hit a lot of bases but the point comes across loud and clear. I think it was mostly Chris's song.

 

a different take of Feel

 

Feel:
A really strong opener, rather quirky structure for the time along with fantastic vocal harmonies. Great song.

 

Is that on the 4 disc set? I think it is IIRC. The vocals are a little less pop sounding from Chris.

 

I think it is in 4/4 but you are right....the verse has a choppy boogie rhythm.....not much shuffle in it.

 

Glad to see you and others post here. I thought I was going to be alone for most of it. I just had to do this thread though and dig into the songs more than I have before and get others takes on them.

 

Yeah, an early version by Icewater (without Alex's involvement) appears on the Rock City album, recorded in 1969. (Alex still gets a writing credit, but I expect that's just because that's the official writing credit for the song, not because he was collaborating with Bell that early).



Rock City (4) - Rock City

 

Talk about a fully-formed demo - wow
Just a little slower and with more forceful lead vocal

 

Based on the sound and style, I always thought those lead lines were played by Alex - turns out I was wrong - every note and nuance is already on the demo.

 

I'll be a contrarian and say that "Feel" is probably my least favorite track on #1 Record. Not that it's bad by any means — it's just that every other track outshines it.

If I were trying to turn someone into a Big Star fan, I would avoid this one in favor of so many others.

 

One of the songs I would pick is scheduled for tomorrow.

 

With you all the way there.

 

Back in the day, pre-internet when there were only a few scattered fanzines talking about Big Star, there was no real way of knowing who did what on #1 Record.

I already knew that Alex Chilton was a good guitarist, but the release of Chris Bell's full body of work made it apparent for the first time how much he had to do with both the guitars and the overall sound of that album.

A troubled soul, but a prodigious talent.

 

I'm very happy to see this album is getting the Rose River Bear treatment. Its a pure joy to read these threads.

 

"Feel" is one of my favorite tracks on the album. I admit it was a bit jarring the first time I heard it, as it comes crashing out of the gate as a heavier rock track than one would expect, and Chris sounds like he's singing right outside the edge of his comfortable range. But I adore the song. Great guitar work and love when the horns come in, in never fails to put a smile on my face.

We recently had that "Top 11 Big Star Songs" thread, and while coming up with a list, I was going to all the usual suspects in my mind...but then I pulled out #1 Record to see what popped out at me, and immediately had a revelation that I could not leave this one out.

 

Ive turned more newbie's on to Big Star then to any other band. It's amazing how under the radar they were,their music is so radio friendly,even AM radio at the time. HUGE influence on so many (REM,Cheap Trick,Wilco)
"thirteen" might be the greatest of all ballads

 

First time I have heard them..... yea, I know, but there's a lot of music out there guys.
Took a minute to attune to the singers voice, but it all sounds pretty good.
Going to google Chilton, because i know the name, but not sure if it's from here, guitar magazines back in the distant past or another band.

 

Alex Chilton also sang lead for the Box Tops while he was still a teen.

 

I've said it so many times, but awareness of Big Star back then was like being part of special club. Nobody knew who they were, but the fans they had were very vocal about their greatness.
"Feel" is a great opener with that perfect combination of guitar punch and heart on sleeve romanticism that they were masters of. The horns give it a slight soul touch which would only be natural given where the band comes from.
There's a lot to unpack with this band given their history.
Chris Bell is one of the great lost artists of that time and I think we're lucky to have this and the solo tracks he cut. If only he had been born a bit later on and in a different place.
A buddy of mine had t-shirts made way back then that were a copy the #1 Record sleeve. Wore that damned thing out.
I saw someone wearing one just the other day.
I guess the beat for them will always go on.

Love your avatar.