Big Star's Radio City (33 1/3)

If you're a Big Star fan, let alone a fan of Radio City, this book has some great info on the recording of this album and some interesting interviews of band members, founder of Ardent studio and mentor of Big Star - John Fry, execs and studio musicians of Stax Records, Chris Bell's brother, and various other people that can help paint a picture of the time and place of one of my favorite albums of all time. Bruce Eaton spends some time reminiscing of his introduction to this album and Big Star, and towards the end of the book, he talks about his music career a little, and about when he and one of his band members got to perform with the late and missed Alex Chilton. Those are unfortunately my least favorite parts, but it does give some nice context from a fellow Big Star fan and what it was like to live a partial dream of meeting one of your biggest influences. The interviews are great, and info on songs of this album broken down nicely, but much like the mythos of Big Star, it's often ambiguous and lost in time. I enjoyed learning that some of the songs were recorded with Alex and some studio musicians under different band name before they brought back Andy and Jody to form a post #1 Record incarnation of Big Star, and the guitar sound of the song Daisy Glaze always alluded me, but info from this book pointed out that a Mando Guitar was used on it; an instrument I never knew even existed.All in all, if you love this band and this album in particular, it's worth a read.

the 33 and 1/3 series could also be called "the good, the bad, and the ugly" - the bad includes the book on Nick Drake's Pink Moon (really lame), the ugly is the book on Richard & Linda's Shoot Out The Lights (good stuff on the actual album, but also includes some really bad "fiction" about the author's own career that never actually happened) and then the good such as the book on Bowie's Low album and The Who Sell Out. This book on Big Star's Radio City might just be the very best book I've read in this series. One advantage is the author is pals with Alex Chilton and got Alex to actually talk ! Another is - he got the rest of the band and studio legend John Fry on record as well - which means we alot of inside insight, rather than just the author's opinion on what "might" have happened. However, being an insider and a really insightful fan and writer - author Bruce Eaton hits the mark time after time - not just on this LP, but on record collecting and playing music in general. it helps that he's played music and not just "thought about it". Some of the most memorable quotes in this book come from the author himself ! A really writing good job. there's a few grammer/spelling problems - but what the heck - this is rock n roll !

You love the album? Then read a great account on the making of it. Until the last quarter of the book the author lets the artists and producers tell the tale and stays out of their way. Later he gets injected into the story via some live dates that he played with Alex, and it becomes more personal. This is one of the best books in this series, but you need to be a fan, or open to the idea of becoming one. I heard this album before #1 Record, but I remembered seeing the first one, so when it came out I gave it a spin in the record store I worked at. I can only think of a handful of records that made such an immediate impression on me. We didn't have the first one in stock, and it took a couple of insufferably long weeks for it to come in. It has never been out of my possession, and I still play both albums more than nearly any others, so I guess I was a built-in audience for this. I really liked reading this book, and I'm sure I'll read it again.

I came to Eaton's book after having just read Rob Jovanovic's book about Big Star, and feared I'd be skipping long passages of repeated anecdotes and such. Instead I found a rich look at a great album that includes a lot of previously unearthed information and analysis. With no slight to the earlier book, Eaton simply gets more detail about this album, and the result is a great read. Perhaps most interesting is the information drawn from conversations with Big Star leader Alex Chilton. Eaton has a personal connection there, but he uses it to illuminate and amplify. A late section about Eaton performing with Chilton could have come off self-serving and indulgent. Instead, he takes care to keep the focus where it belongs: On Chilton.One criticism: The text is a bit sloppy in places. There are enough missing or duplicated words to be noticeable and occasionally took me out of the zone. I was surprised, as I expect better from this series.Overall, this is among the best 33 1/3 books I've read. The proof: It made me appreciate a favorite album all the more, discovering things I hadn't on my own over hundreds of listens.

I am a huge Big Star fan, and was very excited about getting this book (which I bought together with the incredible box set).Overall, it's a great book and tells the story of the making of the record from the people who were actually there, especially Alex Chilton. I feel like I learned a lot about recording in general, and not just "Radio City".However, in reading the book, I would estimate I found at least 20 mistakes. Misspelled words, sentences with missing words, strange punctuation... (I have seen 2 other reviews mention this as well so I'm not alone.) It was really annoying, and if the subject matter had not been so interesting, I would have put it down. 33 1/3 series, you can do better. (I found no such problems in the "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" book.) If there is another edition of this book ever published, please fix it!

This is just a fantastic book. Particularly for those like me who still believe the first two Big Star LPs to be of godlike stature and would genuinely like to understand more about the circumstances in which they were made (it's mostly about Radio City but there are references to No1 Record as well) and how important the producer John Fry was. But also to anyone who likes honestly-created guitar rock. Read with confidence - and if you have not heard Big Star's music, start NOW.

One of the best in a sometimes patchy series, Bruce Eaton gives loads of background pretty much telling the whole story of Big Star while still finding time to delve into an analysis of the music on Radio City. He covers the songs, their lyrical content and all the recording information that a music obsessive could want. This is exactly what you should expect from a book like this and the author delivers in spades. Highly recommended and entertainingly written.

I got a lot out of the book and, given the limited written material on Big Star, I would go so far as to say that it is a little nugget of gold for the starved Big Star fan.

Great book