Big Star – Radio City

Along with Alex Chilton's guitar playing, the highlight for me was Jody Stephens drumming, where the two brought forth a very quirky, yet entirely fun album driven and laced with brilliant guitar riffs, evoking a solid attitude, an album of love, brought forward by bittersweet and enticingly raw manifestations.

Being as tumultuous a time as it was for Big Star, it's a wonder that the band managed to develop something that sounds so entirely cohesive, yet at the same time loose and delightfully playful, all while managing to sound authentic and unpretentious. One could easily make some Beatles comparisons, though what band from the 70’s doesn’t owe their soul to the Fab 4, and while these parallels certainly exist, what Big Star brings to the table is completely unique, leaving me rather mystified that Radio City has managed to fly under the radar for so many devoted fans for so many years.

Review by Jenell Kesler

AAaargh! Do all of the original copies have saw cuts?

Looks like the United pressed, Concord/Ardent 2011 version is getting a red/white split pressing from Newbury Comics. 500 pieces, shipping/in store Feb. 16, 2017.

Can anyone recommend which pressings of Radio City and #1 Record to go with? It seems like there are quite a few to choose from and I can't find much info on all of the different versions.

Just wanted to drop in and post a review(s) of what is actually the lesser-known 1978 Stax UK two-fer pressing of "#1 Record" + "Radio City" s (i.e., this 2xLP: https://discogs.versitio.com/Big-Star-1-Record-Radio-City/release/2212390 ), with the hope that it may be helpful to anyone who may be fretting over the daunting prospect of hunting down original Ardent copies of these records--which, while prohibitively pricey since *at least* the early 2000s, will nowadays not only obliterate your wallet, but damn near take a few chunks of butt-cheek with 'em. Here goes….

Abbreviated review: The Stax two-fer UK pressing sounds very nice and, while not exactly a dollar bin record, is a vastly cheaper way of obtaining good-sounding, all-analog vinyl copies of the first two Big Star LPs.

Full review: ***CRUCIAL CAVEAT***: I *have not* compared the Stax two-fer with actual, physical copies of the original Ardent US pressings. I can’t afford those records, either. The best I could do was to compare the two-fer with FLAC vinyl rips executed by the highly respected ”pbthal,” whose contributions to What.CD (RIP) were once an essential element of what made that legendary (and legendarily exclusive) file-sharing site so great. In light of this fact, it is with *massive emphasis* that I assert that the following review is ***fraught with huge limitations*** and must be taken with a golf ball-sized grain of salt. With all these qualifications and potential pitfalls in mind, here’s the setup on which I conducted the A/B shootout:

McIntosh C29 preamp
McIntosh MC 2205 amp
JBL L100T3 speakers
Technics SL-1200mk2 + Shure M97xE cart + JICO SAS stylus (for playing the records)
Music Streamer II DAC (for playing the FLAC files)

I am unsure as to what pbthal’s setup was when he ripped the records--he constantly evolves and improves his setup--but one can safely assume that it was top-of-the-line. Also possibly noteworthy is that he used a white label promo copy of “Radio City.”

Regardless, I got the same impression from both shootouts: In each case, pbthal’s FLAC vinyl rips were a tad brighter than my phono setup, and *possibly* very slightly more detailed; if the latter were the case, it’d probably be due to pbthal’s superior phono setup, but it was very close, so I’m not even sure it’s the case at all. Comparatively, my phono setup was a bit (not a lot) warmer, but the soundstage was wider, and the music seemed somehow less mediated to my ears. All in all, I slightly preferred listening to the records to the FLAC files. But these nit-pickings aside, the main thing that struck me during the shootouts was how ***similar*** the physical records sounded compared to the FLAC files. If I hadn’t been so hyper-focused on it, I may not even have noticed a difference if, say, I were listening from another room and a mischievous leprechaun were switching back and forth between the FLAC files and the turntable each song. I might notice, but I’m not *sure* that I would. They simply sounded more similar than different.

Now, I should hasten to add, again, that there are glaring limitations to the very notion of comparing vinyl pressings by using FLAC files for one record and an actual record for the other--so glaring that I wasn’t even sure I was going to post this review at all. But when it comes down to it, I walked away from that shootout convinced that the UK Stax two-fer is a pretty damn good-sounding 2xLP, and is probably (although I’m obviously not 100% certain) quite comparable to the original US Ardent pressings. Might the Stax pressing have used, say, second-generation tapes? Maybe, maybe not. But even if so, they did a dang good job with them. Indeed, I also walked away from the shootout feeling like the Stax two-fer was a good-sounding record *in general*, and it actually sounded better than I expected beforehand, given the era during and circumstances under which it was created (I don’t know too much about the albums’ recording history, can’t help but assume that they didn’t exactly have Beatles- or Led Zep-level budgets when they originally recorded them).

My ultimate conclusion/recommendation: If you ever see the 1978 “#1 Record” + “Radio City” two-fer Stax UK pressing for a good price, grab it without hesitation. It’s a good-sounding pair of records, and it may be the last chance you ever get to hear Big Star in glorious ana your very own living room.

Hi guys,

I have an old copy of Radio City which matches all the information presented on this release. On both sides of the vinyl in the run-out groove there is only a hand written number "1501" followed by some sort of a small symbol, different small symbols for Side A and Side B. I wonder if anyone has any information on the matrix number/codes of early Radio City copies?

Thanks so much!

-Andy

The second album from proto-everything pioneers Big Star, led at this point by guitarist/singer/songwriter/lyricist (not to mention former teenage musical sensation) Alex Chilton, throws down some of the most invigorating, unexpected and forehead-slappingly brilliant guitar performances in the history of pop/rock music. The songs are impeccably arranged, full of twists and turns that document the incredible peak of Chilton's powers. Opening track "O My Soul" by itself is one of the greatest guitar-based workouts committed to wax, full of intertwining lines that are endlessly complimentary-- not to mention the crack rhythm section (and occasional co-writers) of Jody Stephens on drums and backup vocals and Andy Hummel on bass guitar. I guess this is classified as "power pop" (which is great and fairly accurate) but mostly it just feels like a classic, singular, timeless record in the grand tradition of rock'n'roll.