ALEX CHILTON

Alex Chilton has been on my mind. It is still hard to believe that he passed away a year ago today. If there was any justice in this sorry ass world, Alex and Big Star would have been superstars. As big as the Rolling Stones. Bigger. And for those of you who know my love for the Stones, that's a big confession.

I've been knocked back this week by a really bad cold, but today the sun was shining and it was one of the first really warm days that we've had on the Island that I live on. I grabbed my Ipod and sat on my front steps and listened to some live bootleg Big Star and the day got even brighter and I found myself feeling a hell of a lot better.

Pure pop for now people indeed!

If you don't own Big Star's albums, your record collection is incomplete.

Thanks for all the great music, Alex.

MUSIC AT 3:00 A.M.

Last night I rediscovered one of the best late night albums ever made by a group that, in a more perfect world, would have been huge. I'm talking about the second album by the Red House Painters. Released in 1993, it was the first of two self-titled albums and became known as Rollercoaster because of the album's cover photo.

I am not going to break the album down song by song. Sometimes that works, but with this album I think it would be better for you to draw your own conclusions. As Marc Hawthorne noted, "It's wistful and somber, but not depressing just to be depressing. Everybody hurts, and [lyricist and vocalist Mark] Kozelek is just telling it like it is."

The music is very ambient music: dreamy, dense, and melodic. It draws you in. It's hypnotic. You could slip this on between Brian Eno's Discreet Music and Music for Film and it wouldn't be out of place.

Many fans and critics have complained about the length of the album (it runs close to 80 minutes) and have argued that, if it had been edited down to 50 or 60 minutes, it would be a classic. I disagree. It's perfect as it is.

So, if you find yourself up at 3:00 a.m., pop this one into the cd player or fire it up on your ipod. Then watch the sun rise...

RECORD STORE DAZE

Remember the days when you could walk into a record store and ask the clerk(s) about what a particular album sounded like? Then, after a half hour or so, you would find yourself walking out with not only the album that you came in to buy, but maybe one or two new discoveries. The purpose of this blog is to recreate that experience. I want to spread the word about music and musicians that are important to me. This is not music that is Top 40 (most of the time), or found in the big box stores. It is music that deserves a wider audience. This is music that I am passionate about.

Once in awhile, you might even find that I've posted live shows or unreleased/studio demo material. You never know what you will find here. Hopefully, it will be like walking into that record store.