AR: #1 Record

Big Star - #1 Record (1972)

It's stunningly appropriate that the producers of That '70s Show picked a Big Star song ("In the Street") for its theme song: there is indeed something quintessentially '70s about Big Star and their archetypal power pop style. The genealogy is obvious - The Byrds, The Kinks, The Beach Boys and Beatles, and a little bit of The Who/Rolling Stones all give the band a throwback, classic Summer of Love vibe, but the sweet harmonies, somewhat cynical stance and jangly, oh-so-jangly guitars point down the family tree at R.E.M and The Replacements, too. It's all but impossible to see a movie set in '70s suburban Americana that doesn't sneak that Big Star sound into key scenes, and their style (and this album in particular) is so varied that listening puts you right back in a Camaro in '73 with radio dial set to "Rock." It's all crystalline guitar pop with a rock-standard lineup, but the tempos are well varied and the songs range from saccharine to edgy. The great songwriting is courtesy of the partnership of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, often cited as Chilton/Bell in obvious homage to a certain other pop songwriting duo. I received this, their aptly named debut album, as a gift from med school friend Kate, and I immediately fell in love with the tight, simple yet beautiful harmonies and songcraft that pepper the disc.

#1 Record opens with the ominous descending notes of "Feel" and quickly kicks into the strained vocals that betray well ahead of the chorus that the narrator "feels like [he's] dying" due to the first of the album's many love struggles. The "Got to Get You Into My Life" horn breakdown is as perfectly placed as possible, and only two verses pass before this gem is done. The slower, affirming "The Ballad of El Goodo" follows with a slew of beautiful harmonies. Just try not to smile at the sorrow during the booming "And they're ain't no one going to turn me 'round" chorus or the pleading "Hooooold on" bridge.

"In the Street" is a song about "Hanging Out!" and driving aimlessly with your teenage friends on a typical girlfriend-less Saturday night, and as such may be the perfect teen-aged topic for a '70s rock song. In case you haven't experienced syndicated television in the Aughts, it's a big riff rocker with shouted lines and a minor key chorus - great tune that blows by in three minutes. Things slow back down with the divine "Thirteen" - if "ItS" is the perfect late teens rocker, "Thirteen" is easily the perfect middle school note-passing crush song. It's heart-wrenching and sounds like the sincere emotings of a well-meaning, unspectacular boy - he just wants to act on puppy love with a girl who he is unconfident returns the sentiment. Yearning, aching, deftly melancholy; it's an all-time song.

"Don't Lie to Me" is an uncharacteristic but thoroughly solid straightforward blues rocker in what would become the Kiss style. "The India Song" is another beautiful ballad that sounds as though it were written for a Renaissance Faire stately dance - a prominent circular flute riff anchors the tune. Another straight-ahead rocker comes with "When My Baby's Beside Me," a thoroughly uncomplicated love song that shows off wah-wah solos. It sounds like the most overt attempt at a radio hit on the album, though the unbridled enthusiasm with which the chorus is shouted gives it every ounce of sincerity you'd want. "My Life Is Right" is an uber-thankful love song in the classic vein of "I was lost before I found you." Its chorus absolutely soars and is about the 25th unforgettable hook on the album to this point.

The remainder is still solid but unsurprisingly does not quite keep up the blast-ahead greatness of the first eight tracks. "Give Me Another Chance" is yet another aching breakup ballad with some overt Brian Wilson-ish vocal tendencies; "Try Again" is another sad slow tune that, thanks to arching vocal (that mentions "Lord"), acoustics and slide guitar solo sounds for all the world like an All Things Must Pass-era George Harrison tune. "Watch the Sunrise" picks things back up with a ringing acoustic (twelve-string maybe?) in a Joni-Mitchell / Led Zep III style but with BS's signature backing vocals and aching lead. A dark, reverberating and quick "St 100/6" closes the album somewhat anticlimactically.

It's almost silly to review this album; it's so influential, and the take is so standard - "perfect pop rock gem" - that a quick listen to Murmur and that four word review probably suffice. I think the disc falters just a hair on side 2, but otherwise I am on board with the majority opinion. The timeless quality of this album is striking; reminding one of the late '60s and the early '80s while sitting in the middle of dinosaur rock years and yet still evoking those '70s years is quite a feat, and it's a shame that this band wasn't as appreciated commercially in their own time. Plainly put, if you are into either the ancestors or descendants, I highly recommend that you add #1 Record to your collection.

Status: Recommended
Nyet's Fave: "Thirteen"