Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews
1,000 essential albums. One random generator. Zero escape. Jeremy Boyd and Jon VanDyk take a deep dive into the records that shaped music history one randomly selected choice at a time. Whether it’s a 60s psychedelic masterpiece or a 90s alternative powerhouse, we break down the lore, drop 5 fast facts, and give you the tracks that actually matter so you can sound like the smartest person at the record store. New episodes every Tuesday.
Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews
#1 Record by Big Star: The Blueprint for Power Pop
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This week, we spin a record that was a commercial failure upon release but became a "bible" for alternative rock: #1 Record by Big Star (1972). Combining Beatlesque melodies with a distinctly American rock-and-roll grit, it’s the ultimate power pop blueprint.
Inside This Episode:
- Side A Reaction: Jeremy and Jon discuss the incredible harmonies and the vulnerability in the songwriting of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. Why didn't this album top the charts in '72?
- 5 Fast Facts: We look at the tragic history of the band and share five facts about how this album eventually became a cult legend for bands like R.E.M. and The Replacements.
- Side B & Final Thoughts: We listen to the rest of the record and discuss the shift in mood on the second half.
- The Verdict & Standout Tracks: We pick our 3 standout tracks and answer: Is this an album we’d listen to again?
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This is Polyphonic Press. The podcast where two music fans pick a classic album completely at random.
SPEAKER_01Alright, hey, welcome to Polyphonic Press. I'm Jeremy Boyd. And I'm John Van Teek. And uh let's not waste any time. We've got the patented random album generator right in front of us here. Uh so let's hit the button and see what album we're gonna be listening to this week. And the album we're gonna be listening to is Big Star, Number One Record. Oh, okay. That's good. Alright, so here's a description of the album. It says uh released in 1972, number one record is the debut album by Big Star, a band uh from Memphis, Tennessee, that blended British invasion melodies with Southern Soul and Jangly guitar pop. Though it wasn't a commercial success upon release, the album became one of the most influential records in rock history, layering the groundwork for what would later be called Power Pop. Led by Alex Chilton, formerly of The Box Tops, and Chris Bell, the album is full of shimmering harmonies, chiming guitars, and bittersweet lyrics about youth, love, and longing. Songs like The Ballad of El Gudo or El Gudo, 13, and When My Babies Beside Me showcase the band's knack for melody and emotional depth. While tracks such as Feel and Don't Lie to Me add a raw edge. Despite glowing reviews, poor distribution from their label, Ardent Records, through Stacks, meant number one record didn't reach a wide audience at the time. However, its influence can be heard in countless bands that followed, including REM, The Replacements, Teenage Fan Club, and Wilco. Today it's celebrated as a cornerstone of American pop rock, a perfect mix of heartache and harmony that captures both the innocence and melancholy of early 1970s youth. Okay, so this album was released on April 24th, 1972. The genres are Power Pop, Hard Rock, Folk Rock, and Southern Rock. And it was released on Ardent Records and produced by John Fry. And if you're listening along, which we do encourage you to do, the album starts with the song Feel. And what we do is we pause halfway through, and the first uh side ends with the India song. So if you're listening along, if you want to stop after the India song and listen to the halfway discussion, and uh there are 12 songs in total, and uh we've linked the album to both Spotify and Apple Music so you can get it on your preferred uh streaming service. Um, but without further ado, um okay, here we go. Here is the first song on the album, Feel. Here we go. All right, I'm gonna go. Yeah, this is really good. I'd always heard that Big Star was good and that they influenced like everybody that came after them, or at least a good handful of of artists that came after them, but I never really sat down and listened to them, and uh wow, like uh I'm I'm this is amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's pretty good. I did listen to this not that long ago, maybe about a year or so ago. But yeah, it's pretty uh it's solid stuff for sure.
SPEAKER_01I'm hearing everything uh that that that this influence. I mean like like it was saying REM and and Cheap Trick and and lots of stuff, but I'm also hearing some some uh less obvious ones. Like I'm uh well that last song could have been like a Sloan song, like a Jay Ferguson uh Sloan song. Yeah, a lot of like 90s stuff that wasn't the grunge stuff, like a lot of pop rock bands like uh bands like Gin Blossoms and uh uh those kinds of bands. The like the college rock radio bands. Yeah, but but this is kind of where it all started, and it's it has a uh a timeless quality to it that like yeah, it does make sense that it's 1972, but it could have it could have been released at any point over the last you know, fifty years and it still would have sounded fresh. It still sounds fresh today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it does. It's uh um it it's it's really interesting how that uh that sort of style that they sort of invented was invented as early as it was and it just laid dormant until you know those who heard it sort of came out and and did it in their own way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like definitely I I know Cheap Trick, uh the guys in Cheap Trick definitely said this was a big influence on them. You know, obviously they became they were a huge band, and for whatever reason Big Star just just flew under the radar. Um they just never I don't I don't know what happened. Well it said kind of that the the record company just couldn't afford to make records. Uh like they couldn't afford they could only afford to press so many records that they literally couldn't sell that many.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's sort of a shame uh that happened at the time, but But yeah, this uh record has sort of like gone on to become like a legendary record amongst like, you know it's one of those musicians musicians situations where people in the industry knew who it was because the record probably got distributed amongst the labels and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would I would think so. I mean if especially like if the record company can't there were there were only so many printed that's uh I mean it's it's a huge problem if your record company can only afford to to press so many uh like physical copies of something. And yeah, I mean i it's just uh the you can hear the the um like the musicianship is uh there like this in 72 this was like you know the the rise of like the what they call guitar gods and you would had like Jimmy Page and like and um and Richie Blackmore and and and people like that those kinds of guitar that was really what was big big and popular at the time in 72 and and that I love all that stuff. I'm not don't get me wrong, I love all that stuff. Uh I'm a you know huge Led Zeppelin and D Purple fan and and all that but this that was more that was a d a definite style and I think this is more p like some of the guitar work on this is really a little more subtle and it's sort of it's sort of like the song is is the main focus and it it's sort of like it has a f it's almost like a folk rock quality to it, but not quite it's it's kind of birdsy, but not totally like the birds.
SPEAKER_02It's just it's uh it's definitely not as boisterous as as many uh would come along, although it has its moments where it's almost like glam rock.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, like d don't lie to me. That was a fun sort of chanting glam rock kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02That was sort of I I don't want to say it was like it advanced or anything like that, but it is definitely was put on the back burner for a lot of the 70s stuff. Where the where the craft of making a song was sort of again not lost, but not at the forefront.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well it it it not for r bands, anyway. If like the like people like Joni Mitchell and and like Jackson Brown and D Drum Croce and they're the 70s singer-songwriter types, it was they were they were all solo artists, and there wasn't really like you're right, it wasn't the the craft of songwriting was sort of reserved for more of a personal thing. It's like I'm relating to this person because they're singing a song, and it was sort of like like the birds and and the band had sort of done that bands in the sixties, and it's sort of like their Big Star is kind of sort of carrying that on. And yeah, and Alex Chilton, he's the guy that he's the lead singer, and um and he did actu he he did have some some success earlier earlier in the sixties. He had we he was in the band called The Box Tops, and they had a song called The Letter, and that was uh I think that was a number one hit in '67 or something like that. If it wasn't number one, it was a pretty big song. Yeah. But that was uh it's funny it's it's funny how the music business uh or how history sees uh music. Like that song that that's a great song, and people reference it as like, yeah, that's a great song by this, you know, one hit wonder band. But when people think of Alex Chilton, they don't think about that. They go, Oh yeah, he's a brilliant songwriter and in Big Star. And he's even though he that was a bigger hit and that song probably made him more money, his hi his legacy is is this, even though nobody heard it at the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's sort of funny. I mean, I was definitely more well, I think I've got a copy of the Box Tops album, actually. So but I was more familiar with them than I was with Big Star for the longest time. But uh Yeah, I I mean I don't have this on a copy of this anywhere. I I really wish I did. It'd be pretty good at like all their albums. Um I think there's only three.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they did they weren't around for very long. Um yeah, number one record, Radio City and third. Um yeah, those are the only ones. And I think they're all good. Yeah. Yeah, he's I mean, he's an interesting guy, that's for sure. And he you know, he was only uh yeah, he was born in uh 1950. So like the box tops, he's he was only 17 uh released the letter with the box tops.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And he was only 22 when this came out. It's kind of amazing some people are can put out stuff like this when they're fresh adults. But then you think about like the 27 club and and how many people you know died, their careers were finished, and Yeah, that's true. And they're not old at all.
SPEAKER_01No. It's funny you think about like uh or I always thought oh 27, yeah. I mean, it sucks that they weren't around that long, but yeah, 27, you're almost 30, so it's like yeah, you're kinda old at that point. And now that I'm you know a couple years away from being 40, it's like 27 was so young. But yeah, getting back to this, I mean, um yeah, I'm hearing like the song In the Street, some of the the guitar work in that I'm I'm I'm definitely hearing uh um some Mike Campbell uh influenced stuff. Or I don't know if Mike Campbell was influenced by by that, but it's I'm hearing similar guitar lines that he would come up with in that at the end of that. You know, and that song obviously was was used as the theme song to that 70s show, not recorded by Big Star, but uh I think uh Cheap Trick um re-recorded it for them. Yeah. So yeah, this is yeah, this is a really, really interesting album um so far. Uh but I did manage to find a few uh interesting facts about the album. So Chris Bell, who is the uh the other songwriter, he his perfectionism shaped the album's sound. His co-founder Chris Bell was deeply involved in the album's meticulous production uh production, obsessing over guitar tones, vocal harmonies, and mixing details. His drive for sonic perfection gave number one record its crisp, luminous sound, a rarity for early 1970s American rock albums. And I will say, yeah, for 1972, that it has a very um it's not overproduced, but it has a very big production. Like it has a a f a very full sound.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's very crisp in places. Um and it's uh it's not like they filled every gap, but they uh they broadened what was there and and and made a like a uh a spectrum across that filled it out really well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And it's you don't really notice the production. No, you know. Some some music you uh you can tell that the producer got their their hands on it and uh sort of just just went nuts. And and it's very obvious. It's like, okay, there's like there's like 27 different percussion instruments on this. Like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02Make drum go boom.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Um but it's it's uh it it's big the the production is big when it needs to be, and it's sparse when it needs to be. Like it each choice kind of makes sense. And it's it's there to serve the song, uh basically. It's it's not uh they're not uh layering vocals. They are layering vocals, but they're not doing it just just to do it. They're doing it when it makes sense to do it. Um which is uh that's when you're producing that is that is hard to sort of um keep your focus on. Because it is it is easy to get carried away. Um and uh but yeah, a lot of the time less is more. And uh yeah, and number two is uh Alex Chilton's reinvention after the box tops. So uh after fronting the box tops as a teen and scoring a hit with the letter, uh Alex Chilton used number one record to reinvent himself. He shifted from blue-eyed soul singer uh to introspective pop craftsman, creating music that was far more personal and artistically ambitious. Yeah, I yeah, definitely. And the song 13 captures the essence of Teen Innocence, one of the most beloved tracks, 13, uh was written by Chilton and Bell about the innocence and awkwardness of adolescence, sneaking out, falling in love, and listening to the Rolling Stones. It's often cited as one of the most tender songs in rock history. Yeah, that that was a really good song as well. And yeah, like was saying earlier, a label collapse killed its commercial chances. Uh although critics raved about the album, Stax Records distribution deal with Columbia Records fell apart, meaning copies of the number one record near uh were uh were nearly impossible to find in stores. Despite the title, it sold fewer than 10,000 on initial release. Wow. So yeah, I guess the label just wasn't being funded and and just the the depth the business was just they were just caught in bad business deals, basically. And uh no promotion, no uh people just going to the record store and looking at the cover and saying, Yeah, I guess I'll take a chance on this. But um that that that really sucks. There's that really sucks when you know you have a good album or great album and you know it could be a hit, but the the record like just for whatever business that was going on, the record company is basically bankrupt. It's just not gonna nobody's gonna hear it. Yeah. That's that's gotta be a gut punch. And uh and yeah, and and again, uh the like I was saying, the it's a blueprint for PowerPop's future. Uh while it didn't chart, uh number one record inspired a generation of musicians from REM to the replacements, who famous who famously wrote the song Alex Chilton as a tribute. The album's mix of jangly guitars, melodic hooks, and wistful lyrics became the blueprint for PowerPop. Um yeah, I can I can I can name like twenty different bands that or bar bands and artists that I can hear in this album. Uh yeah. They didn't make any money on it, but the influence is is undeniable. Um yeah, so those were some uh interesting facts about the album. But uh, I guess we'll get back into the second side, and uh it starts with When My Baby's Beside Me. So uh, all right, and uh ending the album with Saint One Hundred and Six, I think that's how you say it. Yeah, I mean this was a a great record. Uh yeah, so there's a lot more there was a lot more acoustic uh stuff on the second side, but uh yeah, it was still great songs. Yeah, great band, um really really uh tasteful production. Yeah, just an overall really great album, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it was recorded at Muscle Shoals. I'm not a hundred sure on that, but I think it was.
SPEAKER_01Uh, let's see. Uh recorded in Ardent Studios in Memphis. Oh, okay. Maybe one of their other albums was then. Yeah, it could have been. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I I don't re I don't really have anything bad to say about it. There was the only thing that I would change is there was one guitar part that I can't even remember, so I I don't think it really matters. Um yeah, I it's just it's it's uh it's it's just a great album. Yeah, I I it's it's the the the other guys the the um Chris Bell, I mean his his perfectionism that you know that may have been a a point of um of contention within the band, uh but you know it gets results, that's for sure, and and his um meticulous production of of uh you know getting like guitar tones and vocal harmonies and just everything balanced and right, it's just um that kind of uh attention to detail definitely pays off.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I don't know what else to say about this album. It's just uh pretty good album. I I don't know what what to say. It's very uh it's it's it is sort of uh different for its time for sure. Um even amongst like uh singer songwriters and and and solo artists, it still comes off a little different. It still seems more like a band effort.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely, yeah. You can definitely hear that there's um it's just a feeling. I it's it's hard to put your finger on it, but yeah, it definitely feels like a band. Um and uh yeah, it it is definitely a unique record for for 1972. It doesn't sound like 1972, that's for sure. Uh but it doesn't really sound like any any time. Like it doesn't really you can't if you were to hear it if if you were to play for someone who who didn't know this album and you were to say oh you asked them, okay, what when do you think that would come out? I I I would have a hard time you you know, there's a little a couple of distinct 70s sounds, but yeah, I would just be like maybe somewhere in the 70s, but it's hard to p pin down the exact era, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, probably. I would guess later 70s because of just the type it is, but yeah, it's it's definitely uh before its time.
SPEAKER_01Um so yeah, so I guess that uh brings us to the time is what would be your uh three highlights on the album?
SPEAKER_02Well, there's a lot of really good songs on here. But I think I'm gonna go with Feel, because the opener was really good. I've always liked the ballad of El Gudo. And When My Babies Display Beside Me, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, those are good choices. Yeah. Yeah, I would go I like Feel as well. I that's a really good song. And then uh I'd probably go with Yeah, When Me When My Baby's Beside Me, that's a really good song too. And um Yeah, and then Maybe My Life is Right. I really like that one. Okay. But it's hard to choose three. Um but there is yeah, there's really like all the songs are are pretty great. But yeah, so I I think I know the answer, but uh would you listen to this album again? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'd listen to this again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, me too. It's um I I I heard a few songs from it, but never listened to the whole thing, and uh I'm glad I did. I I don't know why. I just never really got the chance to or anything, but uh but yeah, I would absolutely listen to this again. It's it's uh it's pretty great. Um so yeah, so I guess we'll uh end the episode there. Uh thank you so much for listening. If you made it this far, uh we'd love to hear from you. Uh if you want to uh drop us along, you can do that by going to the contact page, uh the website, polyphonicpress.com uh slash contact. And uh while you're there, you can get all our previous episodes that we've done so far. And uh maybe we've reviewed your favorite album. Uh who knows? Check it out. And um you can uh help us out on the Patreon, you can go to patreon.com slash polyphonic press. Uh you can get these episodes the day before they go live, and uh you can get a shout out during these episodes and even pick an album for us to review. So lots of cool stuff over there. And um, yeah, and if you if this is your first time listening to us, be sure to give us a follow and uh and leave a rating and review and let us know uh how you like the show. And uh yeah, I think that just about does it. Uh I'm Jeremy Boyd. And I'm John Van Dyke. Take it easy.