Alex Chilton's Jukebox #3

In 1977, Alex moved from Memphis to NYC, where his backing band The Cossacks included Chris Stamey.  Alex brought The Cramps to Memphis and produced their first singles and LP.  

Jim Dickinson had worked with Alex on Sister Lovers, and Dickinson helped Alex make Like Flies On Sherbert in a raw and unrehearsed style that was a big change from Big Star.  A batch of songs that Alex recorded with Peter Holsapple (while making Sherbert) were recently released as The Death Of Rock.

Sherbert was released on Sid Selvidge's label, Peabody Records.  Alex and Tav Falco were inspired to form The Panther Burns by The Cramps and Mud Boy And The Neutrons (a Memphis group led by Selvidge and Dickinson).

In 1982, Alex left Memphis again and moved to New Orleans, where he met bassist René Coman. Alex began another phase in his musical career, less anarchic and more "cool" in his playing and singing (like Chet Baker). He performed and recorded New Orleans and Memphis soul and blues, backed by Coman and drummer Doug Garrison (who had played in a jazz band with Alex's father). Garrison backed Alex from 1985 (Feudalist Tarts) through 1995 (A Man Called Destruction).

Alex enjoyed bawdy songs like Take It Off, Thank You John, Tip On In and What's Your Sign, Girl? His laconic delivery of the lyrics made these songs popular with a college radio audience. He stimulated interest in artists like Slim Harpo and Cordell Jackson among young people who had just discovered Big Star.

The Replacements (another band that reveled in musical anarchy and unexpected cover songs) recorded 1987's Pleased To Meet Me in Memphis with Alex and Jim Dickinson, and the Mats album included their song Alex Chilton. Alex received a financial boost when The Bangles recorded September Gurls (1986), and got another in 1998 when Ben Vaughn arranged for In The Street to become a TV theme song.  

In 1993, Alex and Jody Stephens reformed Big Star as a touring band with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies. Alex also performed with The Box Tops on package tours. Alex, Ben Vaughn, and Alan Vega released the improvisational Cubist Blues album in 1996. Alex recorded Tear Off! with the Box Tops (1998), and Big Star's studio album In Space was released in 2005.

Alex Chilton's last solo album was 1999's Loose Shoes (aka Set). Alex "produced and directed" the LP, which was recorded in NYC and completed at Ardent Studio in Memphis.  His song choices spanned many of his influences (jazz, blues, soul, gospel, country and more), and his performances reflected both his serious side and his sense of humor.  You can also hear Alex's many interests in this final volume of Alex Chilton's Jukebox.

BREAKING NEWS: Tav Falco and the Panther Burns will embark upon a US tour next month! Dates and deets here!

Alex Chilton's Jukebox #2

This second set of Alex Chilton's Jukebox begins in 1964, the year of the Beatles' US tour and A Hard Day's Night. It's the first year of high school for Alex. He will join a band that will become the Box Tops, and they will have a hit with "The Letter" when Alex is 16. 

The Box Tops break up in 1970.  So do the Beatles.  Alex attempts a solo career, and turns down an offer to join Blood Sweat & Tears. Instead, he joins Big Star. These are the same years (1964-72) of the original songs in today's set.

Alex Chilton's Jukebox doesn't include every song he covered. Do we need to hear "Jumpin Jack Flash", "Sugar, Sugar" and "Boogie Shoes" again? They probably popped into your head as soon as you saw the titles.

Also excluded are the jazz standards that Alex recorded, and his classical guitar instrumentals.  Alex grew up hearing the "cool jazz" of Nina Simone and Chet Baker, as well as Count Basie's April In Paris LP.  Alex also recorded songs from the early 60's musicals Bye Bye Birdie and Silk Stockings. Some of his interpretations of standards were collected on the 2019 album Songs From Robin Hood Lane.

A number of the songs that are included appeared on live albums: Dusted In Memphis, Electricity By Candlelight, Live In Anvers, Live In London, Live On Beale Street, Ocean Club '77, and his 1996 show in Glasgow (which appears in part on Shoeshine Chartbusters.)

Alex participated in tribute albums for The Beach Boys, Tom Waits, and The Who. He also sang with Ray Davies on Ray's 2010 duets album See My Friends.  The reunited Big Star performed "Patty Girl" on Live In Memphis, and they recorded "Mine Exclusively" on the 2005 reunion album In Space.  The reunited Box Tops did some great covers on their 1998 album Tear Off!

Alex Chilton's Jukebox #1

Among the earliest posts on this blog was Tav Falco's Jukebox (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4), a collection of the songs covered by the Panther Burns.  Don't know why it never occurred back then to do a similar set of songs covered by Alex Chilton.  Alex and Tav met around the time that Alex was making Like Flies On Sherbert, and together they formed the Panther Burns. 

Many of Alex Chilton's records are time capsules: by the time we heard them, he had moved on to something else. The 1970 sessions weren't released until 1995. Big Star's Third was recorded in 1974 and released in 1978. Songs from the 1975 recording sessions with Jon Tiven came out on Ork Records in 1977, then as Bach's Bottom in 1980 -- the year of the first Panther Burns record.

I mention this because Alex Chilton's Jukebox isn't arranged in the order that the cover versions were released (unlike Songs Barrence Taught Us), and it isn't separated by genre, like the Tav Falco compilations. Instead, it follows the original songs' year of release (like Songs Redd Kross Taught Us). This makes for some interesting contrasts.

There are songs from Alex's solo career, as well as songs covered by Big Star and the Box Tops.  Today's set (the first of three) begins in the 1930's and ends at the dawn of the British Invasion.