Big Star, Keep An Eye On The Sky

Disc Two

Original singer Chris Bell left Big Star when the band failed to deliver the commercial success they deserved. Previously unreleased versions of well-loved songs open the second disc and signify the subsequent shift in Big Star’s sound, but the original intent is still intact. These are interspersed with songs from their Third album. Also included is Bell’s 1978 single “I Am The Cosmos” and its B-side “You And Your Sister.” Sadly, Bell died in a car accident a few months after its release. We’ll never know what might have been.

“There Was A Light” is a bit melodramatic, but Big Star, as is par for the course, pulls it off perfectly. The lyrics are delivered in an achingly haunted voice, punctuated by perfect drum fills that crash like musical orgasms.

If you aren’t singing “Back Of A Car” for days after hearing it, then you’re heartless, soulless, and possibly dead. Both the demo and an alternative mix are included.

“I Am the Cosmos” is delightful. Every night I tell myself that I am the cosmos, Bell sings, and with that guitar riff, we believe him. I really wanna see you again, he pines, and we want him too, as well.

“You and Your Sister” is a simplistic, charming ode to a girl loved by a boy, but unfortunately, someone close to the girl doesn’t like said boy. We’ve all probably been there (maybe with the sexes reversed). It is dreamy, positively dreamy. What girl wouldn’t swoon over such a simple and straightforward declaration? I certainly would. Especially if accompanied by guitar chords.

The Velvet Underground classic “Femme Fatale” is covered, more successfully than it was by Duran Duran in the ’90s. Yet, the versions included here still fail to capture the blasé nature of the original or the jaded tone the vocalist should apply to these words. Big Star don’t excel at jaded; they excel at earnest expressions of love and wonder. Or sadness, expressed without sounding whiny.

The demo of Alex Chilton’s “Thank You Friends” is included here, wherein he honestly and openly thanks his friends, what else?

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Disc One
Disc Two
Disc Three
Disc Four

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