UP IN THE COSMOS Chris Bell
Oct 01, 2009
The late Big Star founder's legacy is finally, and handsomely, reaffirmed.
BY ZACHARY HERRMANN
In the treasure trove of Big Star demos, alternative takes and other assorted artifacts on the recently released box set, Keep An Eye On The Sky, there are plenty of revelations to be found. But one sequencing choice in particular sticks out in Rhino's grand anthologizing of one of rock's most beloved cult acts.
The set, and therefore the entire Big Star story, begins with Chris Bell.
Icewater begot Rock City begot Big Star, and all three groups were Bell's bands, at least until he left that final incarnation, following the release (and commercial failure) of #1 Record. Far be it from me to debate the genius of Alex Chilton's work with Big Star - after all, isn't the raggedly beautiful Third/Sister Lovers practically a Chilton solo album anyway? But for many reasons (some obvious, others less so), Bell has never quite gotten the credit he deserves in shaping the so-called Big Star sound.
After leaving the band and contributing (work on) a (disputed) number of songs that would wind up on Big Star sophomore effort Radio City, Bell managed to record an album's worth of material before dying in a car crash in 1978 at age 27. With the assistance of Chris's brother, Dave, Rykodisc assembled 12 of these songs into the 1992 release, I Am The Cosmos, named for the 1978 single, Bell's only released solo cut before his death.
More than just a fitting coda to the towering Keep An Eye In The Sky set, Rhino Handmade's two-disc deluxe edition treatment of I Am The Cosmos reaffirms Bell as every bit Chilton's equal. The de-facto album is certainly deserving of its separate re-release, but with Chilton present on a few tracks and many mutual Big Star associates in on the sessions, I Am The Cosmos is inseparable from the Big Star mythos.
During the years represented across the two discs, Bell was a man in turmoil. "Better Save Yourself" references both Bell's attempted suicide(s) and his Born Again Christianity. "I Am The Cosmos", perhaps more subtly, captures where the singer's mind was at, vis-à-vis a recently broken relationship, in the juxtaposed lines, "I really want to see you again/ I never want to see you again."
These were clearly tough years, and for someone suffering considerably, it's remarkable how Bell conveys himself so clearly - "Every night I tell myself I am the cosmos/ I am the wind/ But that don't bring you back again." Or even simpler - "I never want to be alone."
At times, the lyrical simplicity (on "Make A Scene": "You didn't have to be so mean/ You didn't have to make a scene") proves a little less memorable. But as with The Beach Boys, or Big Star for that matter, Bell had a tendency to put aside (over-) eloquence in favor of what felt and sounded real. Nothing here is feigned, and therein lies the reason Chilton never sounded quite right singing "I Got Kinda Lost" or "There Was A Light".
However, Chilton's brief presence on I Am The Cosmos, is very much welcomed. In addition to the original album version of "You And Your Sister", on which Chilton plays and sings back-up vocals, we get an alternative, looser version of "Get Away" with Chilton on guitar.
Generally speaking, the original album tracks are tighter, but the bonus renditions reveal a more guitar-centric approach to "Speed of Sound" and "Make A Scene", no less interesting or enjoyable.
Focusing on only the original 1978 single/b-side combo of "I Am The Cosmos"/ "You And Your Sister" - the only cuts released before 1992, and two of the three Bell solo tracks featured on Keep An Eye On The Sky - paints a softer, limited picture of Bell. And limited he was not. After all, this was the guy who wrote the most menacing songs on #1 Record, "Feel" and "Don't Lie To Me."
This biting, angrier side to Bell has been restored in Rhino's remaster, which gives the guitars their due. "I Don't Know" - with Bell tearing some vocal chords a la Paul McCartney - and "Make A Scene" rock as hard as anything either Bell or Chilton ever recorded under the Big Star moniker. Not that Bell's balladry should be overlooked - few artists have written a song half as pretty as "Speed of Sound" - but the guy exhibits an astonishing amount of versatility across one album, plus bonus material.
While we're on the path of debunking Bell-Big Star related myths, this expanded I Am The Cosmos completely belies the notion of Bell the Anglophile and Chilton the Soul Man. Sure, there's a wealth of The Beatles' influence (a portion of I Am The Cosmos was recorded in George Martin's London studio and mixed by Beatles engineer, Geoff Emerick) across the album.
But what is "Though I Know She Lies" if not blue-eyed soul? And there's a lot more of what Gram Parsons termed Cosmic American Music than anything else in bonus cuts of Bell backing fellow Memphis musicians Keith Sykes and Nancy Bryan on "Stay With Me" and "In My Darkest Hour", respectively.
Viewed in rough chronology, from the pair of Icewater tracks opening Disc 2, through the 1976 instrumental ending that disc, I Am The Cosmos gives the fullest picture of Bell imaginable. Fleshed out in style, the set rises above the original album's former status as an epic (but masterful) downer.
Listening to the album now, there is still a lot pain coming through the songs - even Bell's strained vocals can be unnerving at times. After a while, though, it's hard to get depressed at something as stunningly beautiful as I Am The Cosmos.
The loss of a musician as talented and inventive as Bell is a terrible shame. Putting Keep An Eye On The Sky and I Am The Cosmos - Deluxe Edition side-by-side, it's hard not to play the what-could-have-been game. Had things gone differently, we might have had something better than 2005's Chilton/Jody Stephens/Posies-created In Space as the coda to Big Star's discography.
In reality, Bell died and Chilton's solo career has been, well, uneven to say the least. Big Star, for most loyal fans, only exists as an occasional live entity. But if you're looking to keep that Big Star buzz going, I Am The Cosmos is the Holy Grail, rediscovered and refurbished, better than ever.
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