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Album progress

The album’s mixed and done! Now we’re sending it off to the mastering-guru to give it that magic finishing touch. A May release is what we’re aiming for. Prior to the album release we’re going to put out a single. More news on that soon.

You can listen to one of the tracks off the album on the Metro On Stage site. Please rate the song! Who knows, maybe your vote will get us a deal with Universal?

We would also like to extend our thoughts out to Alex Chilton of Big Star fame who has just passed away in an apparent heart attack at age 59. He made such a huge impact on music history. We wouldn’t be here fakin’ it had he not inspired bands like The Posies to make such great music. Joey previously blogged about Big Star’s #1 Record as a part of his “Essential Powerpop Albums” list. You can read that post here.

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Categories Studio, recordings etc

Essential Powerpop Albums #3

24 Mar

By many considered to be the very first album of the genre, this next essential powerpop album is a true gem that everyone should be aware of. The importance of Big Star‘s debut album “#1 Record” from 1972 can hardly be ignored, influenced, as it has, bands like The Posies (whom I focused the last issue on), Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet to mention a few. Big Star is a band that didn’t get its deserved recognition back when they started out in the early 70′s, but has gained some interest in later years – much like Nick Drake.

This is yet another of those albums that, in my opinion, doesn’t have a single weakness. Not a bad track. It’s got the real rocker tracks like “Don’t Lie To Me”, “In the Street” and “Feel”, as well as beautiful ballads such as “Thirteen” and “The Ballad of El Goodo”, which might be one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Big Star disbanded in the mid-70′s but reformed in 1993, adding Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from The Posies to the lineup. They also contributed to the 2005 album “In Space” which is a fine piece of work, although it doesn’t even come close to the debut.

Here’s a YouTube clip from The Tonight Show with the new lineup performing “In the Street” (which you might recognize from That 70′s Show, for which Cheap Trick recorded their own version)