Recent review

I'm very much looking forward to this film also, and it's opening near me in a couple weeks. I suspect that, unfortunately, there a very limited audience for a film like this, just as there was for the band. So it's probably wise to see it in the opening week, lest it becomes the closing week.

Too bad Alex Chilton and Chris Bell aren't alive to see more of the fruits of their labors. It's good to see Big Star getting a bit more recognition these days, but I think their following still feels "cultier" than it should be.

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Bell’s story is the saddest: I was more familiar with Chilton’s musical impact and legacy, but Bell’s contributions to Big Star are just as significant, if not more so, and his solo work, which is featured in the film, came as something as a revelation. I might go home tonight and order his 1992 solo album, “I Am the Cosmos.”

I hope she enjoys (enjoyed?) it. I finally bought it late last year, after having streamed it on Grooveshark a number of times over the preceding two years.

“Big Star” is so detailed that I wondered whether it would be a bit too insidery for someone like my friend Adam, who had never heard of the band before and was being exposed to their music for the first time. But he really liked the music, and purchased “#1 Record” and “Radio City” the very next day.

Sounds like the film did its job, then. Although it seems like it might be more preaching-to-the-choir than a definitive intro to the band, Big Star always struck me as the kind of band lots of people would really like if only they heard of them -- whether they like sensitive, mellow singer-songwriter stuff, hooky guitar pop, something more moody and brooding, or just anything with a strong sense of melody. Even hearing a little bit might be just enough to turn some people on to them.

***

Entertainment Weekly's website has a review now -- not a total rave, but very nice:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20713226,00.html


"I know I'm not normal -- but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding

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