237: RADIO CITY | BIG STAR
Wiki: Radio City is the second album by the American rock group Big Star. Released in 1974, Radio City was recorded during 1973 at Memphis' Ardent Studios. Though not a commercial success at the time, it is now recognized as a milestone album in the history of power pop music. Critically acclaimed upon its release, the record sold poorly, partly due to a lack of promotion and the distribution problems of the band's struggling record label, Ardent Records. The album included "September Gurls" and "Back of a Car", which remain among the most famous Big Star songs; both the Searchers and the Bangles have covered "September Gurls".
The original Ardent Records LP featured record-jacket photographs by noted photographer William Eggleston, including The Red Ceiling on the cover. Eggleston was a close friend of band member Alex Chilton.
Some of the outtakes from the album include "I Got Kinda Lost", "Gone with the Light", "Motel Blues", and "There Was a Life" (an early version of "There Was a Light" from Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos CD). The singles released from the album were "O My Soul" and "September Gurls".
Radio City's reputation has grown since its release, with many critics and listeners of the opinion that it is not only the definitive power pop album but one of the finest rock-music albums. As writer Richard Meltzer told an interviewer, "Big Star...is the means through which most bands today who are influenced by the Beatles get their dose of the British Invasion."
It was voted number 319 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2003, the album was ranked number 405 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and again in 2012. Rolling Stone magazine also ranked the song "September Gurls" as number 178 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[5] Sound & Vision ranked it number 43 on its Top 50 Albums of All Time list.
In late 1972, following the release of the debut album, #1 Record, founding member Chris Bell left the group and the band became inactive for four months. Bell had already contributed to the music and lyrics of "O My Soul" and "Back of a Car"—songs which Alex Chilton recalls were written "by committee"— but receives no official credit. Chilton, aided by drummer Richard Rosebrough and at times by bassist Danny Jones, completed the recording of "Mod Lang", "She's a Mover", and "What's Going Ahn" without Jody Stephens or Andy Hummel. After performing at the Rock Writers Convention in 1973, the band returned to the studio to start work on Radio City.