features in: Album Chart of 1978 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s ● 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die  |
Their “#1 Record” long-player of ’72 may have been highly-rated but was a bit of a soft-rock snooze-fest for me. “Third”, six years later, was a big improvement, although it’s generally dissed as the sound of a band falling apart, which just goes to show – you can’t trust my reviews. The set has a bit of a hodge-podge history, a stop-start, on-off background with a great deal of uncertainty as to whether it would actually see the light of day at all. A good 3 or 4 years had passed since the first seeds were sown, before it was finally issued. The spine-tingling majesty of “Kanga Roo” is the top-dog on this one, followed by the exquisite “Stroke It Noel”. Jim Dickinson’s liner notes for the Rykodisc reissue of the album in 1992 praise Carl Marsh’s string arrangements, and these are central to my enjoyment. The “Noel” of the aforementioned song is Noel Gilbert, violinist for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, who was playing on the session. As Dickinson relates, it was the off-the-cuff remark at the end of the second chorus – “Stroke it Noel” – that inspired Alex Chilton to change the song’s title and, according to Dickinson, scrap the original lyrics. This happy accident typifies the messy background to this thoroughly worthwhile release.
The Jukebox Rebel
08–Mar–2016
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [02:04]  Big Star - Stroke It Noel (William Chilton) Songwriter |
| A2 | [02:45]  Big Star - For You (Jody Stephens) Cerebral Pop |
| A3 | [02:45]  Big Star - Kizza Me (William Chilton) Rock |
| A4 | [03:11]  Big Star - You Can’t Have Me (William Chilton) Rock |
| A5 | [02:53]  Big Star - Nighttime (William Chilton) Songwriter |
| A6 | [02:07]  Big Star - Blue Moon (William Chilton) Songwriter |
| A7 | [02:48]  Big Star - Take Care (William Chilton) Moodcore |
| B1 | [02:38] Big Star - Jesus Christ (William Chilton) Soft Rock / A.O.R. |
| B2 | [03:32]  Big Star - Femme Fatale (Lou Reed) Moodcore |
| B3 | [02:35]  Big Star - O, Dana (William Chilton) Soft Rock / A.O.R. |
| B4 | [03:37]  Big Star - Big Black Car (William Chilton) Moodcore |
| B5 | [03:55]  Big Star - Holocaust (William Chilton) Songwriter |
| B6 | [03:47]  Big Star - Kanga Roo (William Chilton) Moodcore |
| B7 | [03:05]  Big Star - Thank You Friends (William Chilton) Soft Rock / A.O.R. |
