Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Alex Chilton
"She's Alright"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Alex Chilton
A Man Called Destruction
CD
(Ruf Records, 1995)

Alex Chilton is one of my (many) gods. I first heard his early '70s combo Big Star at a local record store back in 1985 or '86, when #1 Record and Radio City, their first two albums, had just been freshly pirated by some label. I had no idea who they were but I liked what I was hearing. A lot. I asked my friend at the counter if she might tape them for me. Lord knows how many times I listened to that tape. Eventually, they and the third album, 3rd, were legally reissued and I jumped on them.

LX's solo stuff has been poo-pooed by a lot of folks because it sounds nothing like Big Star. I don't give a rat's butt; I like it. The last couple of decades of his life, LX played and recorded mostly covers of older r'n'b songs. This album, A Man Called Destruction, was his last to include original material (six of the twelve tunes were self-penned). It was released in the USA on the revived Ardent Records label, original home of the first two Big Star records. In Germany, however, it was licensed by Ruf Records and featured a bonus track, which is also an original and is today's selection. It's maybe a bit fluff, but I think it's a fun lil' number. I hope you do, too.

1 biased opinion:

Biki Honko said...

kinda like bar music.....for a dark dive kinda place. but tis cool!