re: My Merrily Mirthful Melodic Melange -- Myriad Musical Miscellania

There is a new feature film documentary on the great band Big Star, who rival Badfinger and Moby Grape in the hard luck sweepstakes.



NY Daily News

quote:

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The musical equivalent of a secret handshake, Big Star has been the ultimate cult band for decades, inspiring countless fans and fellow artists to worship at the Lennon and McCartney-esque altar of co-founders Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.

Most of those admirers — led by the likes of the Replacements, R.E.M. and Wilco — have inevitably wondered why these brilliant Memphis musicians never achieved the ironic ambitions of their name. Though their debut album, wryly titled “#1 Record,” is now acknowledged as a timeless masterpiece, it was so mishandled upon its 1972 release that hardly anyone even knew it existed. Things didn’t get much better from there.

They are, in other words, an ideal documentary subject. And it seems like a bittersweet inevitability that even a celebration as reverential as this one is suffused with such aching poignancy.

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Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens, Chris Bell and Andy Hummel in “Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me”



Rolling Stone (includes film clip)

NPR

NY Times