Big Star (1978) Femme Fatale - LOST70sGEMS

The third and final Big Star album of the 70s was called Third/Sister Lovers (1978) and has become something of a cult album with resounding reviews from the elitist critics but let's examine further. So here we go; we kick off with the depraved lyrics of Kizza Me with it's haywire guitars and tonking boogie woogie piano keys, swiftly followed by Thank You Friends where Alex Chilton's new Dylan styled detract from an elegant power pop number. Big Black Car carries a reverb washed bleakness in it's Marc Bolan style of lascivious phrasing and down in the doldrums beat, lyrics involving stars, droning acoustics and typically wilting melody; whilst it's use of a car as a tool of escape and safety reminds me lyrically of Gary Numan's Cars that would be released the following year. Jesus Christ is easily a latter day Byrds song with that Tom Petty/ Bruce Springsteen style of saxophone and 'call to the people' aura.

 O Dana carries a groovy chorus and a Rolling Stones' type of songwriting with blues guitar and pounding piano keys boogieing along, while Holocaust scarcely sounds like its from the same record as O Dana. Holocaust starts with a cello brooding away alongside ambient guitar cries, gospel piano playing and plucked double bass. Kanga Roo follows on in unique style with a 12 string guitar clucking away to a volcanic electric guitar surging in and out all over the mix like Robert Fripp's work on David Bowie's Heroes. The guitar is so distorted it feedbacks and clicks and even takes on an otherworldly twang like Jimmy Page's violin bowed guitar work in Led Zeppelin epic, How Many More Times. A mellotron adds another smooth layer of ghostly white noise while a cowbell plumbs away and that decaying lead guitar screeches like a controlled bolt of static; oh and Alex Chilton is fantastic again slowly chipping away at your soul and effortlessly melding with each and every tune.


Stroke it Noel is a blessing in it's simple catchy verse underscored by strings upclose and a simple question; Do You Want to Dance. For You is a personal favourite for Jody Stephens' polished English tinged Baritone that sounds transcendent, You Can't Have Me carries a funky synth bass and a Keith Richards swagger, while Nightime is ethereal mix of flurrying strings, big timpani drums, hyper-spatial guitar reverb, simmering beauty, an Van Gogh lyricism. Blue Moon is not a cover of the famous 50s doo wop standard but a finger-picked ballad in the mood of Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, Take Care is a violin and accordion led folk dance but is quite forgettable at this stage of the album as it follows mostly the same pace and mood as probably about half of the tracks but with less memorable a chord progression. Nature Boy is a very slow piano piece with a Colin Blunstone and the Zombies sound but is too agonising and boring not to mention overwrought and too live as Chilton even sniggers at one point as "Bill's crutch fell against the drum" as we learn from the chatter at the end; hell it's a brilliant insight into the studio! 

Till the End of the Day is a bland retread of the Kinks All Night and All of the Day, Dream Lover feels like a stronger song that it sounds here as a delivered as a slow moody piece, but the backing vocal harmonies in the background are the most honeyed since thier most popular song, Thirteen. It All ends on the bizarre steel drum Nillsson inspired romp as we get that very Harry Nillsson style of bawdy offbeat vaudeville rhythms and megaphone filtered distant vocals. They make many styles on this double album, sadly none of them their own and so it would've never changed their standing in the busy record buying marketplace of 78 as nothing more than a cult band with the singer from the Box Tops; sad but you know its also true!

Femme Fatale is possibly the best written with an astounding vocal melody and hollow female echoes giving this a lot of commercial possibility and stood out immediately on a packed double bill offering.

Big Star (1974) She's a Mover -LOST70sGEMS

 Radio City was Big Star's most complete collection full of pop rock zing and roots rock picking as well as hard rock blues licks to cover mainstream bases; which is odd how they never really made it. O My Soul starts the album off in a quirky rockabilly guitar noodling meets Bingo organ, its an odd one even after Alex Chilton's familiar pop rock zing enters as the off sounding cheap organ a stink up the track while the rockabilly steadily meshes with the more 70s hard rock rhythm section as the song progresses and the band seems to reflect Rush, who wouldn't debut til this same year. Life is White is a more straightforward rock n roll strut with crashing power chords arpeggios and walking bassline and stop start crescendos; the only distinct element is the far off harmonica chamber echo which sounds like a alien sound with some pretty effective filtering. The band were always top notch studio professionals with every inch of the master taken up, here we have a honky tonk piano enter in towards the end to fill out some of the humdrum hard rockin going on as well as being populated with little blues fills and a walking rhtymm section.

Way Out West carries some brighter fluid guitar lines that twinkle, but are in fact a bright guitar and an reverb guitar playing arpeggios and glissando-es. What's Going Ahn does what they do best with a dark subtle folk strum, You get What You Deserve has a British Beat group sound, while Mod Lang references Parliament's I Wanna Testify and seems to have inspired Ace's How Long. Back of the Car and Daisy Glaze are full of atmosphere and dynamics, while the melodic She's a Mover is easily a tribute to the Byrds with Alex channelling Roger McGuinn's Lennon meets Dylan type of vocals. September Gurls was another very talented song with it's drawling laidback beat making me of late 70s New Wave bands from England particularly in the downbeat yet jangling guiatr chords and semi-sighing vocals. Th Last two songs Morpha Too and I'm in Love with a Girl sound like the more intimate almost solo McCartneys songs such as Yesterday, Blackbird and Here, There and Everywhere.

Gerry Rafferty (1978) Right Down The Line - LOST70sGEMS

When it came to examining the void, Gerry Rafferty was possibly the most overlooked of the self destructive singer songwriters, but this true gem was always a shining beacon of his talent. It starts with a intoxicating mingling of an ethereal floaty guitar wailing away in the distance while guitar strikes and Carribean percussion and cowbell tick away in the foreground and a impassive organ fills out the inbetween; it's a stunning 'ocean bed 'mix that provides the backdrop for Rafferty's voice. As the quiet storm rages on , Gerry's lyrics read like a diary entry or a love letter before pausing for another a few bars of that distant guitar whines and meows away like a bluesy hound or a lonesome wolf or rather a howling wolf! The upbeat chorus vocals don't fit so well but who the hell cares when you examine his upfront word which bluntly state the transparency of their relationship. The song ends on some truly fantastic falsetto oohs that should've lasted a full minute rather than appearing right at the brink of the fadeout, but it works with it's slight mockingly ghost spookiness and yet serious delivery. The title along with the vocal is a brutal statement of part resignation and part warning which I find touching that you can interpret this in a number of ways from black humour or romantic, to deathly intense.

Big Star (1972) My Life is Right - LOST70sGEMS

From Big Star's No 1 Record, no that's actually what they called it (#1 Record (1972)),  were a collection of brisk two minute evergreen power pop songs marked by their greatest number, a delicate number called Thirteen. The track is a autumnal nostalgia laden folk tune that references Rolling Stones' Paint It Black; it is simultaneously an ode to the early days of Rock N Roll and a hopeful bid for the future. The finger picked hammer ons pop off against a serene vocal, but the harmonies sweeping in like a rolling tide are the track's key selling point; the group vocals seem to oscillate like a tremolo filter  and match numbers like the Beatles' Here There and Everywhere and the Dave Clark Five's Because for most heavenly harmonies by beat group. The song will just rock your world in it's open hearted romanticism and desperate plea for love and peace; this isn't lush or mellow but raw sensitivity and sincerity delivered with great poise by lead singer Alex Chilton. 

It's truly a fantastic album, the opening number sounds like Rush two years before that group would come along with it's outer space gigantic arena rock sound, though the Beatles' esque-isms (???) are never far away. The Ballad of El Goodo rivals the Eagles with it's bright effervescent electro-acoustic ringin out in a small echo chamber at the start before breaking it to full on rock band awesomeness; all vocals and guitars are in clear cut quality. Their balance of studio polish and solid pop rock perfectionism would've steered them well in the late 70s 'Corporate Rock' era, sadly they lost some of that steam and were outshone by bands like Boston and Foreigner. In the Street was the theme tune to That 70s Show but it was performed by Cheap Trick for the show, here it appears in it's cleaner melodious Beatlesque sound to lesser effect. The soaring lead guitar tones that animate Don't Lie to Me were nothing new, while the India Song is a strange one; a mix of pastoral flute, tambourine and a whole lotta of emptyheaded Hippy rhetoric about going there simply to fix the problems at home. 

When My Baby's Beside Me is pure candy sugar shot power pop but with some Hard Day's Night chords and vibes and some truly spectacular lead guitar lines. My Life is Right is one of the best with a country folk rocker style with angelic lead vocals sung crisp and high and explosive drum rolls; its a proper addictive harmonious central melody. Give Me Another Chance pretty much rips off the tune before it, it has the same melody of My Life is Right and a pretty similar message like their two halves of the same song, where did the first song end and the second one begin. Try Again reminds me of Stealers Wheel with the Gerry Rafferty styled vibrato and the country bottleneck steel guitar playing, Watch the Sunrise is a dancing around the Maypole pop rocker with Rustic country music performed in a cold studio vacuum of perfection; interesting dichotomy. St 110/6, a 50 second tune ends this Beatles influenced album with another Beatles influenced number though a bit pointless considering writing this sentence took longer than listening to the track. Bonus In the Street now appears in a more rockier single version but still lacks the bite and punch of Cheap Thrills which spelled the 70s out more

Sweet (1979) Stay With Me - LOST70sGEMS

In tribute to the dearly departed bassist Steve Priest who famously sang all those animated asides in The Sweet's ealry 70s Glam Rock hits; famously wearing a Hitler moustache and Native American head dress that would be heavily admonished nowadays. But his histrionic and strained vocals were along with their cleopatra fringes and supersonic shrill harmony stacks
a trademark of their brand of Glam Rock which owed a lot to novelty 50s rock n roll nostalgia and late 60s bubble-gum as well as cheap New York Dolls S and M decour. Steve Preist was also a talented singer and people often sleep on this band in light of bigger artists from their era like T Rex and Slade as well as an act like Queen who seemingly used them as jumping off point, ironically Sweet would soon enter a more Prog and Arena Rock era just like Queen ditching the high heel boots and teen anthems. Priest took on Lead Vocal duties on their Cut Above the Rest album with guitarist Andy Scott as they transformed into a trio when Brian Connolly left the band in 78, both had sung lead spots plenty times before and here they really prove their mettle and how strong this band was that they could lose a member and appear to get stronger.


Stay With Me along with Hold Me and Call Me was a series of big pop arena Corporate Rock ballads this album was built around but Stay With Me is ultimately Priests' best song that will live on now in his memory. It starts with eerie synth patchs echoing off like a deep sea sonar signal pinging away as well as distorted guitar sting pads before entering a rote stomp beat. The main chorus clears away for us into a softer 12 string strummed verse sung with a delicate delivery by Priest. It's the excellent lyrics and melody combo of these acoustic verses that I love as its expertly written, check out these lyrics from defiant second verse below;


I ain't satisfied
Cause you never tried
When making love was a matter of pride


But the introspective harmonised third verse/bridge is the real pinnacle as the soft vocals airy sing gently "If I knew then all
The things I know now, These'd be more then enough to go round" it's fabulous bit of insight and raw sincerity and I love it, a great songwriter it seems with this Beatlesque tune.

Man Made (1971) Man Made - LOST70sGEMS

Ignoring the very risque album cover art, Man Made is very atmospheric organ led Prog rock with some fantastic ingredients added. The droning organ work, the feather light piano flourishes and modal harmony stings of the 20 minute title track keep proceedings engaging; particularly the spooky backing vocals panning in and out as well as the chamber reverb that soggies every element from acoustic guitars to the howling lead vocals. This Canadian band had some chops, check out those trickling organ runs but tight melodic material to work with too. That title track features everything from screaming guitar to screaming vocals to screaming horns but also more placid passages where flute horns and organs vamp. Carnival starts with as you'd expect carnival organ music before descending into a laidback late 60s/early 70s funky blues number ala Joe Cocker, while Reflections is a calmer tide of Wurlitzer timbres and a deeper blues gruff vocal in full contemplative mode for a relaxing mood. Pedal Steel stands out on Evolution while a heavily wah-wahed guitar/synth playing and ghostly echoed horn make Keep On Moving stand out for sheer audacity.