TWO Alex Chilton live shows for your listening pleasure
Alex doing his unique musical thing at CBGB, NYC, 1977 (most likely May or Sept.) –- and, yes, that’s Chris Stamey on bass, standing next to LX.(photo by Godlis)
Alex Chilton, his band Big Star, and the members of The dB's crossed paths many times, especially in the 1970s and '80s (see this page that spells out these connections). Here, I'm posting two live shows from 1977, the year Chris Stamey played bass in Alex's backing band (sometimes billed as The Cossacks).
Alex Chilton Ocean Club, NYC April 19, 1977 audience recording (sound quality: VG) BIG THANKS to the original tapers & uploaders — whoever you are. This one's fairly common in trading circles -- perhaps because it has the best sound quality of the surviving 1977 shows, plus an energetic performance. Highlight: Alex sings "The Summer Sun" — the early single written by Chris & produced by Alex
Stephanie Chernikowski took the photo above, on the front cover.
Uploader's
notes:
While it would be a stretch to call this show "tight" it certainly is
a rare nugget. Recorded by The Big A at Philly's venerable punk club, this is
one wild ride: one moment horrendous, the next transcendent, sometimes in the
same song. Both sets are in the 55 minute range and the SQ is very good,
especially for the era. It sounds like Alex is doing some off-mic singing so
occasionally his vocals could be louder, but you can hear this pretty well.
Wild covers galore. If I remember right this was Chris Stamey's last gig w/
Alex.
ROB SEZ:I was reminded of Chris Stamey's 1977 musical involvements with Alex Chilton while reading Chris' recent book, A Spy In the House of Loud. Don’t expect to hear
either a dB’s gig or a Chris Stamey solo show. This is early Alex Chilton, raw
and at times intentionally lackadaisical. If you’re into it, you’ll probably
love it. If you’re not … umm, you might want to go clean
out your junk email file instead. Mega thanks to the Big A for the recording and to realomind for sharing.
SETLIST:
[1st Set]
01. The Letter
02. Criminal Type
03. Take Me Home and Make Me Like
It
04. Every Trick In the Book
05. Whole Lotta Shaking Goin’ On
06. Like Flies On Sherbert (early
version)
07. Night Time
08. My Rival
09. No More the Moon Shines on Lorena
10. All the Time
[2nd Set]
11. Bangkok
12. Can't Seem to Make You Mine
LX & Chris at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club in 1977
01 Game Day* 02 Commonplace 03 Continental Drifters 04 In Too Deep 05 Invisible Boyfriend 06 Don't Mention the War 07 Inventory 08 pH Factor 09 Big Black Truck 10 The Better Man 11 I Got High with You 12 Tuff Day 13 The Smartest Thing
I've Ever Done encore: 14 Them Changes/ Sing Lady Sing
*first 30 seconds of track 01 includes only soundboard feed
ROB SEZ: Long-time blog friend Larry Tucker made this beautiful recording and was kind enough to share it with me so I could pass it along to the fans. Muchas gracias to Larry, who's been making excellent recordings of dB's-related live shows for a long time. Great job, Batchain.
IRS Demos / Session Outtakes Sun Studios Memphis, TN June 1977 soundboard recording (quality: VG+; sourced from IRS Records in-house cassette) 1-6: What's Behind the Mask? (various takes, false starts, alt. mixes) 7-9: Rock On the Moon (takes 1-3) 10: false start 11: Rock on the Moon (take 4) 12-14: Daddy Drives a UFO (takes 1 & 2 + false start)
Ardent Studios Memphis, TN October 1977 soundboard recordings (quality: VG-; sounds like a multi-generation tape source) 01 TV Set 02 Domino 03 Can't Hardly Stand It 04 Lonesome Town 05 I Was a Teenage Werewolf 06 Sunglasses after Dark 07 Human Fly 08 Love Me 09 Uranium Rock 10 The Way I Walk 11 Strychnine 12 Surfin' Bird 13 I'm Cramped ROB SEZ: I've covered quite a bit of the Alex Chilton / Big Star story over the years via many ROIOs. Now we bring you an odd little chapter that's not yet been featured: Alex producing The Cramps in 1977. Thanks to fanatical Cramps collectors, here are the (nearly) complete demos & studio outtakes from The Cramps' Chilton sessions in Memphis in 1977. (I left off a few duplicative takes of "What's Behind the Mask" — how many of those do we need to hear in one sitting, anyway??) The Chilton sessions led to the 1979 Gravest Hits EP & full-length Songs the Lord Taught Us, released in 1980. The Cramps aren't really my thing, but I can't deny there's a good bit of ghoulish, primal "rawk" fun to be found here. Enjoy. FLAC MP3@320 POST-DEADLINE BONUS: Here are 5 superior-sounding tracks (VG+) from the second set via an alternate source, plus artwork & photos. FLAC or MP3@320(poke around a bit to find even more...)
A seasonal song for the coming of autumn, and a sequel, after 41 years to my "Summer Sun" (Ork Records, 1977). With John Teer from Chatham County Line (fiddle & mandolin), Peter Holsapple (harmonies), Dan Davis (drums), Jason Foureman (acoustic bass). Thanks to Jeff Crawford for production assistance on this one!
ROB SEZ: In my recent Q & A with Chris, he said this song will appear onThe Great Escape, his forthcoming studio album, due later this year. Whether or not this version of "Greensboro Days" turns out to be the master take on the album, we'll just have to see. (In case you missed it, you can stream another new song by Chris at THIS earlier post.)
ROB SEZ: A huge thank-you goes to dB's Fan for the original share. The oldest of these are the final two Alex
Chilton tracks, accompanied by Chris and the rest of The Cossacks, probably 1977. “Tennis
Bum” is a better-known track from Peter’s Memphis sessions, recorded some time in 1978 at Sam Phillips’ studio with Richard Rosebrough. Most of the other
Peter tracks are thought to be from these sessions except for the 3 marked “ * ”.
Those are said to be from a later session in 1979 at Mitch Easter’s Drive-In
Studio in Winston-Salem, NC. Chris’ demos are dated 1982, but there’s no other
info. I can't imagine the Repercussion songs would have been demo’d in 1982 since the album was recorded in 1981. But I’m just passing on the info
I was given...
Peter visits London, 1981
Chris phones it in, just this once
A MAN CALLED LX Alex Chilton strumming away in someone's bedsit photo by S. Chernikowski
You DO own the most excellent Ride the Wild TomTom comp, don't you?
Whaddya mean, "No, I just haven't got around to buying that one yet"?!?
Congratulations to Peter on the release of his second proper solo album in 21 years! Game Day is receiving excellent reviews: 4 stars from AllMusic and No Depression calls it "a real gift". Read more reviews here & here. Interviews with Peter are here, here & here. Live gigs in N.C. and Los Angeles are scheduled, and other live shows may follow elsewhere (at last report, a certain Mr. Will Rigby is playing drums in the band). Peter is blogging again, so keep up with Game Day developments here.
PH - clearly psyched for Game Day
Sample Track from the new album: "Continental Drifters" —
a beautiful tribute to a great band
PH RELEASE NUMBER TWO COMING IN OCTOBER:
The Death of Rock
credited to Peter and ... Alex Chilton!
It's probably the last thing Peter & Omnivore Recordings want you to be thinking about right now. But this is a fan blog, so we're spilling the beans.
40 year-old recordings from Memphis, TN become an album. In 1978, Peter had relocated from N.C. to Memphis, hoping to collaborate with Big Star leaders Chris Bell and Alex Chilton. When Bell said he wasn't interested, Peter found a willing partner in Richard Rosebrough, local engineer, musician & friend of Big Star. Peter & Richard began recording sessions in the summer of 1978 at Sam Phillips' studio. Alex Chilton got involved a bit later (see below). I was tipped off to this release by eagle-eye Fantom, so all credit to him.
Here's pre-release info recently posted at Amazon, iTunes & similar sites:
Peter Holsapple vs. Alex Chilton - The Death Of Rock
• Newly discovered recordings of early solo Peter Holsapple and Like Flies On Sherbert–era Alex Chilton
• Liner notes by Peter Holsapple and author/filmmaker, Robert Gordon
• Previously unseen photos from the collections of Peter Holsapple and Pat Rainer
It’s 1978 at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, TN. Peter Holsapple had rolled into town chasing the essence of Big Star. He hooked up with musician/ engineer/ friend-of-Big-Star, Richard Rosebrough after approaching, and being turned down by, Chris Bell who Holsapple had hoped might be interested in producing him. Together Richard and Peter started laying down tracks during the off hours at the studio. Chilton meanwhile, was knee deep in the making of Like Flies On Sherbert, also being tracked at Phillips. He told Peter, “I heard some of that stuff you’re working on with Richard . . . and it really sucks.” Alex promised to come by and show Peter “how it’s done.” The results? Alex’s tracks definitely line up with the chaos found on Flies, while several of Peter’s songs found homes on The dB’s albums (“Bad Reputation” and “We Were Happy There”) and on an album by The Troggs (“The Death Of Rock” retooled as “I’m In Control”), so not a loss at all. What we have in these newly discovered tapes, is a fascinating pivot point with both artists moving past each other headed in distinctly different directions. Chilton moved toward punk/psychobilly as he began playing with Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and produced The Cramps debut, Songs The Lord Taught Us within a few months of these recordings. Holsapple was off to New York to audition for The dB’s and enter the world of “sweet pop.” Liner notes by Peter Holsapple tell the story of these recordings firsthand and author/ filmmaker/ Memphian, Robert Gordon, helps pull the time and place into focus. Previously unseen photos included in the package are drawn from the collections of Peter Holsapple and Pat Rainer. Produced by Cheryl Pawelski with mastering by Mike Graves at Osiris Studio and Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl/Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, who brings it all right back to where it started.
Track Listing:
1. Bad Reputation
2. Tennis Bum
3. House Is Not a Home
4. Marshall Law
5. We Were Happy There
6. Heart and Soul
7. The Death of Rock
8. Train Kept a Rollin'
9. Take Me Back
10. Hey Mona
11. Mind Your Manners (backing track)
12. Bad Reputation (backing track)
13. Tennis Bum (rehearsal)
14. O My Soul (instrumental rehearsal)
15. In the Street (instrumental rehearsal)
16. Baby I Love You (rehearsal)
17. The Death of Rock (rehearsal)
18. Someone's Gotta Shine Your Shoes (rehearsal)
19. Mind Your Manners (4-track version with vocals)
Notes: tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 & 13 are credited to Alex Chilton; all others to Peter Holsapple (Apple Music & Apple iTunes list the same tracks in a different order)
DUE OUT Oct. 12, 2018 on Omnivore Recordings
Pre-order The Death of RockHERE (CD) and HERE (vinyl).
Go to Amazon & iTunes for digital download pre-orders; they come with an immediate download of the song "The Death of Rock" — which can also be downloaded separately.
