#1 Record/Radio City
A two-for-one combo of the first two Big Star albums (they only recorded three). Heard side by side,#1 RecordandRadio Cityonly add further testament to Big Star's seminal greatness. On the first album, Chris Bell and Alex Chilton share songwriting credit, though each brings a remarkably different sensibility to the band: Bell creates pure pop nuggets ("Feel") while Chilton swaggers with reckless melancholy ("Ballad of El Goodo," "Thirteen."). After Bell's departure, Chilton took control of the helm forRadio City, and what a ride it is. While not abandoning Bell's penchant for pop,Radio Citycareens wildly through some of the most exhilarating music ever created, from the rave-up opener, "O My Soul," to the pure pop masterpiece "September Girls" to the whimsical ditty "I'm in Love with a Girl." It's too bad that Big Star didn't create more albums, but thank God they made the ones they did.--Tod Nelson