Big Star's Third
| Big Star's Third | |
|---|---|
Jody Stephens performs with Big Star's Third in Los Angeles, 2014
|
|
| Background information | |
| Genres | Rock |
| Years active | 2010 to present |
| Associated acts | Alex Chilton, Big Star |
| Website | www |
| Members |
Jody Stephens Mike Mills Chris Stamey Mitch Easter |
Big Star's Third refers to a series of tribute concerts built on Big Star's 1975 album Third/Sister Lovers. Regarded as a "lost masterpiece," and described as "the soundtrack to a nervous breakdown," the material from Third/Sister Lovers was first played live and fully orchestrated in December 2010, when two dozen musicians performed it at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina. Since then, Big Star's Third concerts have taken place in the United States, the UK, and Australia. Although the performers rotate from show to show, a core group of musicians, including Jody Stephens, Big Star's original drummer, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Chris Stamey from The dB's, and Mitch Easter of Let's Active have been involved in the majority of the Big Star's Third shows.
Big Star's Third began with Stamey, who had collaborated with Big Star's Alex Chilton in the late 70s. In 2005, working with Cat's Cradle owner Frank Heath, Stamey recruited a group of musicians for a performance of Elliot Smith's Either/Or. Several weeks later, Heath and Stamey discussed a performance of Third/Sister Lovers using a similar model. Stamey subsequently tracked down Carl Marsh, who had orchestrated Third/Sister Lovers. Marsh volunteered to write out the scores to replace the originals, which had been lost, but needed the original multitracked recordings of the album to do so. Five years later, at Heath's urging, Stamey spoke to John Fry at Ardent Studios, where Third/Sister Lovers was recorded. Fry agreed to make some of the original multitracks available so that the written music could be accurately rewritten, and the unwritten parts deciphered, and, after speaking to Stephens -- who then managed Ardent Studios -- Stamey planned a trip to discuss the project with the reconfigured Big Star, who were rehearsing for a SXSW performance. The night before the meeting, on March 17, 2010, Chilton died of a heart attack.
...
Wikipedia