Music Preview: Big Star’s ‘Third’ to live again at the Alex
There are certain albums that are more than just records. Between the grooves lies mystery, legend and raw emotion that transcends a mere recording, and it takes on a life of its own. Big Star’s “Third/Sister Lovers” is one of those albums.
That explains why more than 40 years after its creation, the album — which mixes the band’s classic power-pop sound with a series of dark, discordant, string-laden tunes — continues to be the focus of all-star tribute concerts, featuring a variety of alternative and indie rock luminaries.
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The latest show, billed as “Thank You, Friends: Big Star’s Third and More,” set for Wednesday, April 27, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, will feature such artists as Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, Robyn Hitchcock, the Kronos Quartet and many others.
This time around, it’s being documented by Concord Bicycle Music for a 2017 DVD/CD/digital release.
The original album was recorded during a series of late-night sessions in 1974 at Arden Studios in Memphis with producer Jim Dickinson, and Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, the band’s only other remaining original members — along with a number of other musicians — “Third” originally languished on the shelf before it was finally released in 1978.
Even then, no one was quite sure what the right running order was, the correct title — it’s known as “Big Star’s Third,” “Sister Lovers” (Chilton and Stephens were dating sisters Lesa and Holliday Aldridge at the time), and both titles merged together — or cover art (it’s been released with at least three different covers), only adding to the album’s mystique.
Then there’s the music, fresh from Chilton’s tortured soul. “It’s a pretty surrealistic record,” says Stephens. “It’s like somebody’s imagination got caught on tape.”
Veteran singer/songwriter/producer Chris Stamey is the man behind bringing Big Star’s “Third” to the stage. A disciple of Big Star, Stamey released “I Am the Cosmos,” a single by former Big Star member Chris Bell in 1978 on his own Car Records label, and he gigged around New York with Chilton in the late ‘70s before he went on to form North Carolina-based power pop band the dB’s.
He prefers not to call the show a tribute, but “rather kind of like taking a movie and making a play out of it, if the record was the movie. Originally, I was hoping that Alex would be the singer.” But as Stamey was traveling to South by Southwest in Austin to meet with Chilton, the leader of Big Star and voice of the Box Tops’ 1967 chart-topper, “The Letter,” died suddenly on March 17, 2010 of a heart attack.
“It was really conceived more as a dare,” Stamey explains of the “Big Star’s ‘Third’” shows. He was previously involved in a concert featuring orchestrated versions of songs by the late Elliott Smith. “After that, we were kind of sitting around thinking what would be a challenge and we came up with Big Star’s ‘Third,’” he says. “People weren’t sure if it could be performed live. It just seemed like something that wanted to happen.”
To make it a reality, Stamey contacted Carl Marsh, who arranged the strings featured on much of the album, and he agreed to go through the multitrack recordings of the album and write the charts out, while Stamey orchestrated some of the other songs on the record. “We came up with this concert version of the record,” he says.
“Big Star’s ‘Third’” was first performed in December 2010 with an all-star band at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, N.C. “We thought that might be the only time,” he says, “but we keep getting offers to do it in other places.” Since then, the concert has been performed about a dozen times, including Sydney, Australia; Barcelona, Spain; and several major U.S. cities.
During his lifetime, Chilton only occasionally played the album’s songs live.
A few years later, Stamey put together a band to back Chilton in New York in 1977-’78 during the heyday of CBGB.
“At that time, these songs were what was exciting to him,” Stamey says. “There’s the recorded version of ‘Kanga Roo’ and ‘Holocaust,’ but I also have the versions in my head that I did with him when the instrumental section might go on for 30 seconds or five minutes and all kind of improvisation would go on. He’d completely change the words and melody.”
When Chilton and Stephens reunited under the Big Star name in 1993 with the addition of Posies guitarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow, not a lot of material from “Third” made the set list.
“The only song we did from the beginning was ‘For You,’” said Stringfelllow, in a recent phone interview from England, where the Posies were touring. “At certain shows, from time to time, we did ‘Big Black Car’ and we did ‘Thank You Friends.’”
“There were just certain songs that Alex just never felt were worthy of including or singing, so he’d have us do it if we wanted to do it,” Auer adds, “but even beyond that, besides the songs that Ken mentioned, none of ‘Third’ was represented and it wasn’t for lack of trying.”
One high point of the “Big Star’s Third” shows for Stringfellow is singing the ethereal “Dream Lover” with such female vocalists as Sharon Van Etten or Skylar Gudasz. “It’s an incredible song. Jesus,” Stringfellow said. “The mood with the guitar solo and everything.”
“I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve been standing around watching Mitch Easter’s guitar solo on ‘Dream Lover,’ and everyone comments,” Auer added. “That’s goose-bump stuff. Incredible.”
A relative newcomer, 28-year-old Gudasz first discovered Big Star when she was 18 through Austin-spawned indie band Okkervill River’s cover of “O Dana,” another standout track on “Third.”
“It was my favorite song on their EP and I looked it up and realized it was a Big Star song and I sort of fell in love with them,” she said. “Of course now that I’ve done the shows for a while now, I’m even more of a fan than I originally was.”
Gudasz was recruited by Stamey, who was looking for a flute player and harmony singer. Eventually, she became a member of the core ensemble.
For Gudasz, it’s not only a thrill to pay tribute to the music of Big Star, but also to collaborate with the other musicians, many who are her musical heroes. “As I habit, I try not to look up who’s going to be a part of it, so I don’t get super star-struck,” she says. “But one of the things about it is it’s kind of like egoless. Everyone comes to the table, and as Chris Stamey says, we put on the school play. It’s like rock star camp or something.”
The “Third” shows are also helping to put the spotlight on Stephens, Big Star’s drummer and the only surviving member of the original band (singer guitarist Chris Bell was killed in a 1978 car crash while bassist Andy Hummel died of cancer in 2010). Stephens, now 63, sang and wrote the delicate, acoustic ballad “For You” on “Third,” and performs the song as part of the show.
“I brought in the string section for that,” Stephens says of the original recording sessions. “Carl [Marsh] was a friend and it was while we were doing the strings on ‘For You’ Alex sort of got the idea of, ‘Hey, let’s try that on some other songs.’”
Apart from the “Big Star’s Third” shows, Stephens also has a new combo with former Freewheelers member Luther Russell called Those Pretty Wrongs. “Jody is kind of like the ambassador for Big Star in a way,” says Auer, “and he does it so well with such grace, style and poise, and it’s great to get to see him like get out from behind the drum kit and become a frontman.”
Those Pretty Wrongs’ self-titled debut album, featuring the track “Lucky Guy,” which borrows the “keep your eye on the sky” lyric from Big Star’s “Stroke It Noel,” will be released on May 13. Undoubtedly, it sounds a bit like classic Big Star. “I would be surprised if it didn’t,” says Stephens. “It just kind of happens.”
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What: Thank You, Friends: Big Star’s Third
Where: Alex Theatre, 216 North Brand Blvd., Glendale
When: Wednesday, 8 p.m.
More info: (818) 243-2539, boxoffice@alextheatre.org
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CRAIG ROSEN is a regular contributor to Marquee.