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Chris Bell was, along with Alex Chilton, one of singer/songwriter/guitarists of the seminal cult band Big Star. He left after the band's first album, the audaciously-named "#1 Record", flopped. In the six years he had left to live, he released one single, "I Am The Cosmos" with the "You And Your Sister" B-side, but continued recording. He died in a motorcycle crash in 1978. Over the next 14 years, his stray recordings were gathered and put out on this 1992 release. There are 12 original songs on the release, with the addition of a slow version of "I Am The Cosmos", and country and acoustic versions of "You And Your Sister." All of them are good. The two songs from the single also appear on the "Keep An Eye On The Sky" Big Star box set; that set also includes a live and a demo version of "There Was A Light" from 1973, Chris Bell's version of which appears on this release.
The songs are mostly good, and sound very Paul McCartney-esque (Chris apparently once met Sir Paul in France, a truly big star, after Bell's Big Star days were done). The CD opens with its powerful, hoary, spooky title track, then gets into the gloomy, sludgy "Better Save Yourself." "Speed of Sound" is an acoustic, drumless strummer that sounds like it was lifted right off a Big Star album. Later on there's some light percussion and a really weird keyboard sound. "Get Away" is a jaunty rocker with some truly bizarre drumming. "You And Your Sister" is a beautiful song, although maybe a bit overproduced with bleating "woah woah", and a grinding cello. Happily, the country and acoustic versions delete these, the arrangements getting sparer and sparer as they go along - the acoustic version is the best. "Make a Scene" is a groovy, catchy pop-rocker, but a little dull. "Look Up" is another cosmic song, full of sweet melodies and light acoustic guitar. "I Got Kinda Lost" is a sweet rocker with a good pace and simple lyrics. "Fight at the Table" is a groovy rocker with a cool bass sound, juke joint piano, and scorching vocals that roar like Paul McCartney's on "Oh! Darling." Ditto for "I Don't Know", which sounds like it would have been at home on either of the first two Big Star albums. Closing song "Though I Know She Lies" is a sappy tune that, unfortunately, sounds more like the mellowest of Chris DeBurgh ballads (ew[...] Nice solo, at least, and later in the song Bell wrings some powerful emotion out of his sad lyrics. But having this song at the end of the list doesn't sour the album, since tacked onto the end are still the alternate versions of "I Am The Cosmos" (which comes in a "slow" version - as if it could be any slower than the original) and "You And Your Sister," still the real winners of the release.
Other bands have recorded Chris Bell songs, in particular the two from his single; This Mortal Coil recorded both of them, and Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson did "I Am The Cosmos", but of course none of them sound very good at all, a testament to the strength of the original.
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Top reviews from other countries
Shelley Z
Great album, shipped in perfect condition
Reviewed in Canada on May 22, 2018Jorge Abellan Sastre
Reedición imprescindible
Reviewed in Spain on January 20, 2020
