While its first two LPs were released under the impression that superstardom was waiting in the wings, by the time 1978 rolled around, Memphis, Tenn., power-pop outfit Big Star suffered no such ambitions. The album resulting from this slow disillusion – the band’s last in its original incarnation – was sarcastic, incendiary, and a frequently frustrated work released that same year as Third/Sister Lovers.
It’s also Big Star’s best.
Alex Chilton, the lead singer, guitarist, and driving force behind the band, died in New Orleans on March 17, 2010, just prior to his appearance at South by Southwest. Musicians came together at Antone’s on the final night of the Festival days later to pay tribute to a musician ignored in his time but revered in another.
This year, Big Star’s legend gets added perspective with a SXSW documentary about the band called Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (see “The Ballad of Big Star,” Screens, March 9) combined with a performance of Third/Sister Lovers by a band featuring “musical director” Chris Stamey, as well as members of REM, the Posies, and more. The performance gets a local infusion through the Tosca String Quartet, who’ve been practicing along with the album since Stamey first got in contact with them in the fall to prepare.
“My husband and I are both pretty big fans,” deadpans Ames Asbell, violist in Tosca. “To the extent that I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of ‘Thirteen.'”
Not exactly wedding music, but Asbell still finds Third/Sister Lovers more nuanced than its reputation implies.
“You may think of it having a melancholy feel overall, but I think within each tune there are moments of light and dark, and just trying to search out the mood of the moment is really important.”
This article appears in March 16 • 2012.