Not
surprisingly, the band’s record label, Ardent Records (a subsidiary
of the famous Memphis soul label Stax, home to such giants as Otis
Redding), was confused about how to promote this talented but hard-to-define
band. As a result, #1 Record stiffed commercially, fuelling creative
tensions between Chilton and Bell. Before Big Star could re-enter
the studio, Bell quit the band.
Then an interesting thing happened: instead of breaking up permanently,
Big Star, now a trio, consolidated its diverse sound. Chilton, now
the sole singer-songwriter, reverted to some of the grittier pluck
that had characterized his work with the Box Tops, without renouncing
any of his folkier tendencies.
The result, Big Star’s 1974 sophomore album Radio City, seamlessly
combined electrical drive with acoustic introspection.
Key
tracks like “September Gurls” (a ringer for Tom Petty,
whose debut album was still several years off) and “Back of
a Car” were intense slabs of power-pop that perfected Big
Star’s jangle-and-grind hybrid.
Rockier numbers like “O My Soul” benefited from Chilton’s
vocal delivery, subtler than Bell’s, while ballads like “Way
Out West” had more electric intensity than the gentle musings
of the earlier album. Moreover Big Star managed to sound like the
same band on every track.
Sadly,
Ardent remained confused about how to promote the band. Bad timing
was partly to blame. By 1974, the bands whom Big Star most obviously
resembled—the Kinks, the Byrds, the Hollies—were a vestige
of a more innocent past. “Southern Rock” meant Lynyrd
Skynrd and the Allman Brothers, with their sledgehammer reworkings
of blues and honky-tonk motifs. Big Star, comparatively, was an
oddity.
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