Nowadays, Big Star is pretty well known, and is considered a highly influential early power pop band. But at the time, they were mired in obscurity and didn't sell many records. As a result, they didn't tour much, and when they did they didn't get bootlegged or officially recorded that often. We're lucky that this one not only exists, but sounds as good as it does.
On this night, Big Star was the opening act for Badfinger. Both of them played an early show and a late show. The taper recorded both Badfinger sets, but only taped the early Big Star set, so that's what this is. Captain Acid later added his magic dust, fixing a phasing issue and making level correction and a new EQ. That improved the sound quality a lot.
But a big problem still remained: the vocals were too low in the mix. I used the audio editing program UVR5 to boost the vocals in relation to the instrumentation. I also cleaned up the sound between songs. I edited out some guitar tuning and dead air. I also was able to reduce the ambient noise and boost the talking voices, so it's a lot easier to hear what was spoken.
This is a short concert, since Big Star was only the opening act. As such, it's interesting that they played several covers: "Baby Strange" by T. Rex, "Candy Says" by the Velvet Underground, "Till the End of the Day" by the Kinks, "Motel Blues" by Loudon Wainwright III, and "Come On Now," again by the Kinks. Live versions of all of those have been officially released, but this is the only known recording of the band performing "Candy Says."
This album is 39 minutes long.
01 talk (Big Star)
02 In the Street (Big Star)
03 Baby Strange (Big Star)
04 talk (Big Star)
05 Mod Lang (Big Star)
06 talk (Big Star)
07 Candy Says (Big Star)
08 talk (Big Star)
09 Till the End of the Day (Big Star)
10 talk (Big Star)
11 O My Soul (Big Star)
12 talk (Big Star)
13 Motel Blues (Big Star)
14 talk (Big Star)
15 Thirteen (Big Star)
16 Way Out West (Big Star)
17 talk (Big Star)
18 September Gurls (Big Star)
19 Come On Now (Big Star)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15215622/BigStr_1974_PerformnceCentrCmbridgeMA__3-31-1974_atse.zip.html
Good photos of Big Star in concert are nearly nonexistent, although I've seen some bad ones. Since this may well end up being my only Big Star post, I decided to do something a bit creative. I'd heard the band name was at least partially inspired by a supermarket chain called "Big Star." So I found a photo of one of their store fronts, luckily in the Memphis, Tennessee area, where the band was based. I then found a photo of the band, and used Photoshop to place them in the foreground, underneath the store name.
The original Big Star and Badfinger on the same bill is pretty much my idea of heaven.
ReplyDeleteThen today is your lucky day, because I just posted the Badfinger portion too. :)
DeleteThanks so much for these awesome posts. Two of the greatest power pop bands on the same bill in 1974. Wow.
ReplyDeleteA brilliant find. Thank you, Paul. 2 small points(of no great importance) ; the biography of the band by Rob Janovic cites the gig as being on April 7th, not March 31st. I have no idea which date is correct; and John Lightman was the bass player by this time. Andy Hummel (in the photo) had left.
ReplyDeleteI can't do anything about the pic, I guess. But if you can confirm the date one way or another, please let me know.
DeletePaul, there does seem to be a contradiction in the evidence that I've found.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8bkWFWIcck was posted by someone who says he and a friend made a tape, now lost, at the gig, which they date as 31.3. This is also the date given in 'A Man Called Destruction', a Bio of Alex. But the Janovic book, in the text as well as the gig list in the appendix, says 7.4. So you pays your money......