Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Psychedelic Stuff [Original Mix] - (with Chris Bell)
2. All I See is You - (with Icewater)
3. Every Day As We Grow Closer [Original Mix] - (with Alex Chilton)
4. Try Again [Early Version] - (with Rock City)
5. Feel
6. Ballad of El Goodo, The
7. In the Street [Alternate Mix]
8. Thirteen [Alternate Mix]
9. Don't Lie To Me
10. India Song [Alternate Mix], The
11. When My Baby's Beside Me [Alternate Mix]
12. My Life is Right [Alternate Mix]
13. Give Me Another Chance [Alternate Mix]
14. Try Again
15. Gone With the Light
16. Watch the Sunrise [Single Version]
17. St 100/6 [Alternate Mix]
18. Preacher [Excerpt], The
19. In the Street [Alternate Single Mix]
20. Feel [Alternative Mix]
21. Ballad of El Goodo [Alternate Lyrics], The
22. India Song [Alternate Version], The
23. Country Morn
24. I Got Kinda Lost [Demo]
25. Back of a Car [Demo]
26. Motel Blues [Demo]
DISC 2:
1. There Was a Light [Demo]
2. Life is White [Demo]
3. What's Going Ahn [Demo]
4. O My Soul
5. Life is White
6. Way Out West
7. What's Going Ahn
8. You Get What You Deserve
9. Mod Lang [Alternate Mix]
10. Back of a Car [Alternate Mix]
11. Daisy Glaze
12. She's a Mover
13. September Gurls
14. Morpha Too [Alternate Mix]
15. I'm In Love With a Girl
16. O My Soul [Alternate Version]
17. She's a Mover [Alternate Version]
18. Daisy Glaze [Rehearsal Version]
19. I Am the Cosmos - (with Chris Bell)
20. You and Your Sister - (with Chris Bell)
21. Blue Moon [Demo]
22. Femme Fatale [Demo]
23. Thank You Friends [Demo]
24. Nightime [Demo]
25. Take Care [Demo]
26. You Get What You Deserve [Demo]
DISC 3:
1. Lovely Day [Demo]
2. Downs [Demo]
3. Jesus Christ [Demo]
4. Holocaust [Demo]
5. Big Black Car [Alternate Demo]
6. Manana
7. Jesus Christ
8. Femme Fatale
9. O, Dana
10. Kizza Me
11. You Can't Have Me
12. Nightime
13. Dream Lover
14. Big Black Car
15. Blue Moon
16. Holocaust
17. Stroke It Noel
18. For You
19. Downs
20. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On
21. Kanga Roo
22. Thank You Friends
23. Take Care
24. Lovely Day
25. Till the End of the Day [Alternate Mix]
26. Nature Boy [Alternate Mix]
DISC 4:
1. When My Baby's Beside Me - (live)
2. My Life is Right - (live)
3. She's a Mover - (live)
4. Way Out West - (live)
5. Ballad of El Goodo, The - (live)
6. In the Street - (live)
7. Back of a Car - (live)
8. Thirteen - (live)
9. India Song, The - (live)
10. Try Again - (live)
11. Watch the Sunrise - (live)
12. Don't Lie To Me - (live)
13. Hot Burrito - (live)
14. I Got Kinda Lost - (live)
15. Baby Strange - (live)
16. S*** - (live)
17. There Was a Light - (live)
18. St 100/6 - (live)
19. Come On Now - (live)
20. O My Soul - (live)
21. Thirteen [Alternate Mix Video] - (live)
| Details | | Playing Time: | 300 min. | | Producer: | Alec Palao, Andrew Sandoval, Big Star, Cheryl Pawelski, Jim Dickinson, John Fry | | Distributor: | n/a | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Andrew Sandoval.
Liner Note Authors: Bob Mehr; John Fry; Alec Palao; Robert Gordon.
Recording information: Shoe Studios, Memphis, TN; Ardent Studios, Memphis, TN; Air Studios, London, UK.
Photographers: Roni Hoffman; Maude Schuyler Clay; Maldwin Hamlin; Lisa Margolis; David Bell; Carole Manning; Michael O'Brien; Andy Hummel; William Eggleston.
As the object of intense devotion for so many fans, it's fitting that Big Star receive a box set designed for the intensely devoted: four discs containing every song the band cut in the '70s, often present in slightly alternate mixes or versions in addition to the originals, a clutch of solo songs from both Chris Bell and Alex Chilton, as well as a handful of pre-Big Star cuts by Icewater and Rock City, all topped off with a live disc culled from a three-set stint at Memphis' Lafayette's Music Room in January of 1973, not long after Bell left the band. Excepting subsequent reunions in the '90s and 2000s, no corner of the band's career remains untouched on KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY and rarities are abundant, with 55 of its 98 tracks previously unreleased. This is a staggering statistic but it's also misleading, for 20 of those cuts are from the live disc and the rest are either alternate mixes, alternate versions, or demos -- there are no unheard songs, aside from an excerpt of Rock City's "The Preacher." Of these, only a handful are markedly different either in their lyrics or attack, with all finding the songs and even arrangements essentially intact, even in their demo form. Consequently, KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY contains fewer revelations than it initially appears, which isn't to say it lacks any: the earliest demos for BIG STAR 3rd are by and large lighter in tone than the album (although there's no way "Holocaust" ever could seem cheery), a testament to how much a song can change during the recording process.
In a way, all of Big Star's career is a testament to the recording process. They were a creature of the studio, not stage, having free rein at Ardent Studios, where they stayed up into the next morning tinkering at the same set of songs. This resulted in the crisp, sterling sound of #1 RECORD and the deliberately looser RADIO CITY, as well as the sliding, sprawling mess of 3rd, but it didn't result in outtakes -- it resulted in alternate mixes and instrumental scraps, the stuff that enthralls fetishists, sometimes justifiably so. Those are the listeners who will find KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY most rewarding, but anybody who has loved the band will find something to cherish here, whether it's the crackerjack live show -- which provides roaring covers of the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Hot Burrito #2," T. Rex's "Baby Strange," and Todd Rundgren's "S***" (revived 20 years later on their reunion concert), as well as a startlingly effective take on "The India Song" -- or merely the context of the set, which tells the story of America's greatest cult band this side of the Velvet Underground in a complete and affecting fashion.
Editorial Reviews
4 stars out of 5 -- Exhibiting strong Anglophile leanings, and pick'n'mixing the usual '60s suspects, their brisk, guitar-encrusted power-pop was an unlikely product of a city better known as the home of Southern soul.
Q
[A] treasure trove of rare gems, including material by pre-Big Star groups Rock City and Icewater...
Billboard
The spare demos, crystal-clear concert recordings, and handsomely produced liner notes are a fan's delight...
Entertainment Weekly
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