Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos (1992)

Recorded three years before Chris Bell RIP'd and then released in 1992, I Am the Cosmos alerts the listener to how much of Big Star was him even though he only hung around for their first and least impressive record like maybe Chilton felt eyes on him during the cutting edge Radio City and future ghosts on the avant-garde Third. The title track I Am the Cosmos might be the best thing by either of them and it actually sounds like it's both of them- perfect pop in a heartrending shambles either "a harrowingly schizophrenic tale of romantic despair" or "adolescent self-absorption at its most sex-starved" or an attempt at sex-starved spiritual self-absorption in light of romantic despair. The appeal's in that dichotomy the whole way through- addiction, depression, and then faith. Better Save Yourself sounds like Lennon REALLY losing his shit and sometimes Bell and Chilton just sound the same (Make A Scene)- anachronistic pop as it sits so safely in the hazy faux nostalgia of the listener's head getting torn apart and collapsing while the song staggers on. Postmodern mockery or the sound of the artist doing just that (getting torn apart and then staggering on)? With Bell, as with Chilton, we like to believe it's probably both.

A-

here

Big Star - Columbia: Live at Missouri University 4/25/93 (1993)

By all means a failure that the listener can't deny the multifaceted success of- i) Big Star's  perfect 60s English pop through the lens of 70s American youth through the lens of ii) Chilton's decline and so fascination with imperfection and avant-garde fuck ups through the lens of iii) alt rock's embrace of Chilton's pop mastery and avant-garde fuckuppery (The Posies make up half the members). Facet (iii) makes it all dirtier, garagier, heavier than he allowed himself to go even during his (ii) period, with songs from his (i) period, and some nice covers too. Chilton fans rejoice, Big Star fans beware. Nothing's sacred, etc

A

here

Big Star - Radio City (1974)

#1 Record might be 60s english pop/folk/ideologies as heard/relayed by young men from Memphis full with false nostalgia for a colonial India with pools, sun, and gin and tonics, and rebellious rock and roll is here to stay rebuttals to parental worry. The follow up, Radio City, somehow manages to look forward to both new wave and 90s alternative rock. The guitar sound kills. The harmonica/piano jams make sense because the pop is so straightforwardly pop, but also don't at all, then drawing attention to how perfect the pop is and also suggesting that it could all collapse at any moment. The sound of pop falling apart where #1 Record promised the listener that it never would.

A+

stream
here