Alex Chilton is dead.

....so that means the show I've been carefully preparing all week is now being thrown out the window in favor of Chilton/Big Star cuts. This'll be the second time I've featured his songs on the show.

Shit sucks, man. A true rock legend. He was 59.

Playlist for 11-20-09, "The Lost Years of Alex Chilton and Religious Curiosities"

Third in a series of 'theme shows,' where I break down all the music I play on the program into nice, neat little boxes. This one was kinda different, since half the program focused on one musician. That said, Alex Chilton is basically a genre all his own. Since his first and only hit single at the age of 16 with the Box Tops (the excellent tune "The Letter,") he has influenced countless alternative rock and 60's throwback groups with Big Star and then destroyed all traces of that influence with his solo career.

More or less, these records feature a band of musicians that probably first heard the tunes a day before recording them (if at all,) Chilton's "I-don't-give-a-fuck" mentality regarding quality, and countless covers of obscure blues tunes. Aside from that, he developed a habit of pissing people off on purpose during this part of his career, as is evident in tunes like "Riding Through the Reich," and scummily deranged covers of his own beloved discography.

Basically, he's my hero, so I devoted an entire hour to these rarely-heard recordings. Of course, I played a few later Big Star tunes because those are basically the same type of thing.

The second half of the program dealt with obscure religious records from the 1960's and 70's. Mostly private-press home-recorded type deals with a psychedelic bent, but also some oddball kid tunes. Pretty self-explanatory, though not like much other religious music you're likely to hear.




Alex Chilton portion:

Nov 20 - 12:55 AM	Alex Chilton	Under Class	Stuff EP		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:52 AM	Alex Chilton	Volare	High Priest		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:49 AM	Alex Chilton	Lost My Job	Feudalist Tarts EP		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d
Nov 20 - 12:46 AM	Alex Chilton	Thank You John	Feudalist Tarts EP		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:41 AM	Alex Chilton	The Letter	Live in London		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:38 AM	Alex Chilton	September Gurls	Live in London		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:34 AM	Alex Chilton	Hey! Little Child	Like Flies on Sherbert		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:32 AM	Alex Chilton	Like Flies on Sherbert	Like Flies on Sherbert		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d
Nov 20 - 12:30 AM	Alex Chilton	Alligator Man	Like Flies on Sherbert		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:26 AM	Alex Chilton	My Rival	Like Flies on Sherbert		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:21 AM	Alex Chilton	The Lion Sleeps Tonight	Live on KUT 1978		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:20 AM	Alex Chilton	Riding Through the Reich	Live on KUT 1978		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:17 AM	Alex Chilton	Walking Dead	Bach's Bottom		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d
Nov 20 - 12:15 AM	Alex Chilton	Bangkok	Bach's Bottom		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:12 AM	Alex Chilton	I'm So Tired (Parts 1 and 2)	Bach's Bottom		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:09 AM	Alex Chilton	All of the Time	Bach's Bottom		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:02 AM	Big Star	Kanga Roo	Third/Sister Lovers		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 12:00 AM	Big Star	Kizza Me	Third/Sister Lovers		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d

Religious Curiosities portion:

Nov 20 - 1:55 AM	Concrete Rubber Band	Christian	Risen Savior		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:53 AM	His Kids	It's Contagious/What's God Look Like?	S/T		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:49 AM	Countryside Unitarian Fellowship	Goin' to Bethlehem	Hey Jesus Christ Welcome to This World		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:47 AM	Little Marcy	A Talk With the Animals	Little Marcy Talks to the Animals		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d
Nov 20 - 1:42 AM	For Heaven's Sake!	For Heaven's Sake!	For Heaven's Sake!		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:42 AM	For Heaven's Sake!	For Heaven's Sake!	For Heaven's Sake!		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:40 AM	Dandelions	It's a Long Way to Heaven	S/T		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:37 AM	Sons of Thunder	Carpenter Man	Day Follows Night		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:33 AM	Captain Hook and His Crew	Phone Call/Stowaway	S/T		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:29 AM	Concrete Rubber Band	Passover	Risen Savior		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d
Nov 20 - 1:25 AM	Dave Bixby	666	Ode to Quetzacoatl		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:20 AM	The New Creation	Status Quo Song	Troubled		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:17 AM	The New Creation	Sodom and Gomorrah	Troubled		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:15 AM	Countryside Unitarian Fellowship	No Room for You	Hey Jesus Christ Welcome to This World		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:11 AM	The New Beginning	Hey	People Who Walk in Light		No	Bizarro Jerry	e/d
Nov 20 - 1:08 AM	The New Beginning	Jesus Never Was a Sinner	People Who Walk in Light		No		e/d
Nov 20 - 1:01 AM	Liberal Religious Youth	Nuns of Carmelite	The L.R.Y. Record		No		e/d

Enjoy, and as always, get the podcast here.

A Chiltonian worldview...

Well, I decided to play the works of one of my favorite musicians for this week's Obscuro! That musician is Alex Chilton, the man behind the Box Tops, Big Star, and a whole string of bizarre solo albums. Obviously, I'll be focusing mostly on those, since I am "Bizarro" Jerry, plus they're fun to listen to.

...Haven't quite figured out what the second half of the show will feature, but in honor of this decision, and Alex's 59th birthday which is coming up in December, I'm posting a rare radio performance/interview from 1978. This was during the "Like Flies on Sherbert" portion of his career (known for drugged-out songs, obscure blues covers, haphazard musicianship, and mostly Alex acting like an offensive jerk because he thinks it's funny) meaning it features knocks against former Big Star bandmates, a pretty obviously drunken Alex, horribly outdated country covers, and a parody of "Jingle Bells" called "Riding Through the Reich." Also, his backup singers apparently can't sing too well.

Anyhow, enjoy that, and check out the Obscuro! back catalog if you're bored. For more Chilton-y goodness, be sure to tune into the program this week from midnight-2 am Thursday night.