Big Star: Keep An Eye On The Sky
THE biggest problem Memphis’s Big Star faced is demonstrated on disc four of this collection.
A 1973 live performance in a city bar is met with silence.
For a band whose influence upon the post-REM scene is second to none, it’s staggering.
But when albums One and Radio City were released in 1972 and 1974, nobody wanted ringing guitar pop and puppy-love lyrics.
The band split up but not before making one of rock’s most harrowing records, Sister Lovers. Then, at the behest of Michael Stipe and co a decade later, Big Star’s time arrived. A great story, properly mapped at last.
(Rhino)
VERDICT: 5/5