Big Star's Radio City

Description

Released when ELP and Elton John were plodding from one packed stadium to the next, Radio City was a radical album influenced by records that were already deemed oldies and yet sounding like a lean electrical jolt from the future. Here, Bruce Eaton examines the key ingredients of Radio City's lasting appeal- and through extensive interviews with all of those involved, gets to the heart of the cult of Big Star.

Bruce Eaton is a writer and jazz concert producer who lives near Buffalo, NY. He is the author of two successful business books. He played bass and guitar with Alex Chilton on dates in Buffalo, Toronto and New York, and set up Chilton's notoriously distastrous 1981 tour.

The 33 1/3 series is always a fun read for record obsessives, and Bruce Eaton's coverage of the greatest album of all time here is no exception...Much has been made of the drama and tragedy surrounding Big Star- but the focus here is music...Any fan of the album will find this a quick, worthwhile read. * Under the Radar Magazine * What Eaton's book has going for it is a personal connection to Chilton that provides him with rare access to the somewhat reclusive icon and an insistence on focusing more on the music itself and the circumstances of its recording rather than the more familiar personality-based story of the band's brief initial life. * The Memphis Flyer * ...[Eaton's] been able to interview Chilton in depth, plus other principal players in the LP's conception including Big Star members Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel and Ardent Records founder John Fry. The emphasis is on music so we learn about their influences... * Mojo, November 2009 * Bruce Eaton's thorough investigation into the history of rock music's most influentially unrecognised acts of the '70s, Memphis, Tennessee's Big Star, and the recording of their second album Radio City, does much to clear up decades of misinformation and mythology, shedding light on session recordings, the artists present and how the album was pieced together. It's that kind of detailed musical reporting that the 33 1/3 series is known for. Eaton's own personal history of playing in a backing band with Alex Chilton (Big Star's vocalist/songwriter) adds a neat spin and the interviews contained with the band members and album producer, all casting their thoughts back a good 30 years to reflect on a busy time for the band, are flawless...recreating the scene after the fractious fall-out of the departure of original member Chris Bell and how they picked up the pieces to create Radio City is retold and relived, in studio and on-stage by the people who were there. It's about as an authoritative and informative an exposition as you could hope for...the 33 1/3 series are a fascinating and revealing collection of books. Written by music fans for music fans, this series will never grow old, never grow boring, and goes far into explaining the mysticism and appeal behind these priceless bodies of work, for your own personal pleasure or just in case you happen to know someone who just doesn't understand. * Webcuts Music, 2009 * Un must have pour tous les maniaques de la grande etoile, et pour tous les autres aussi. * Magic, September 2009 * Page-turning celebration of Big Star's power-pop masterpiece...[Eaton] elicits fresh interviews with those who were in the room at the album's conception. That includes the recalcitrant Chilton and John Fry, the George Martin figure whose engineering expertise was a crucial part of the album's sound. Eaton has a gift for locating the album's slippery, unknowable essence in a tale whose epic sweep spans 17th century Canterbury and New York's Mudd Club in the early 1980's. Compacted with enthusiasm, this is a concise, effective primer in Big Star history. * Classic Rock Magazine, January 2010 * Many writers manage to wrangle interviews with their subjects for these books, but few make as much of the opportunity as Bruce Eaton, who got unprecedented access to the 'individuals who were actually "in the room" and had a direct and tangible input into the sound and development' of Big Star's sophomore album. This direct insight from the band members and engineer John Fry steer the book away from the cult mythology that still clings to the Memphis group and creates something much more even-handed and humane. Eaton conducted the interviews in 2007 and 2008, and his book was published in 2009, just a year before frontman Alex Chilton and bassist Andy Hummel both died unexpectedly. Those immense losses, combined with Fry's passing in 2014, adds poignancy to a powerful story of thwarted dreams. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *