Third/Sister Lovers

Third, also known as Sister Lovers and Beale Street Green, is a rock album by American power pop group Big Star recorded in 1974 and released in 1978. The album was produced by Jim Dickinson for Rykodisc Records.

After the first two Big Star albums, 1972's #1 Record and 1974's Radio City, failed to achieve commercial success, Alex Chilton went back into Ardent Studios in late 1974 to make a series of recordings. The resulting album, which included guitar work by Steve Cropper (on a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale), as well as drumming by Jody Stephens, was deemed too uncommercial for release at the time, and only saw the light of day in 1978. Since then, other tracks from the sessions, including covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis and the Kinks, have been reissued on various versions of the album, which seems to have been left uncompleted.

Third takes the original Big Star sound and abstracts it, with synthesizers, strings and saxophones emerging from the mix. The album deals with bitterness, loneliness and emotional devastation, but does so in a way that retains some elements of pop music, as on "Thank You Friends," which features female backing vocals reminiscent of those found on Elvis Presley recordings of the late '60s. "Kanga Roo" and "Holocaust" have often been compared to some of the raw recordings of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. "You Can't Have Me" is akin to a deconstructed song by the Who, and the halting ballad "Dream Lover" contains the famous line about "Beale Street green." Although many critics regard Radio City as the definitive Big Star album, Third is perhaps the most innovative album the group ever recorded, and influenced many subsequent bands, including Primal Scream and His Name Is Alive. In addition, the album contains what are arguably Alex Chilton's finest vocal performances.

It was listed in David Keenan's "The Best Albums Ever...Honest" by the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald. In 2003, the album was ranked number 456 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

It was ranked #1 at the Top 30 most heartbreak albums by NME.

1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Track listing

Note: this is the tracklist of the 1992 Rykodisc edition. This is the order of songs that Alex originally wanted on the original release.

"Kizza Me" – 2:44 (Alex Chilton)
"Thank You Friends" – 3:05 (Chilton)
"Big Black Car" – 3:35 (Chilton)
"Jesus Christ" – 2:27 (Chilton)
"Femme Fatale" – 3:28 (Lou Reed)
"O, Dana" – 2:34 (Chilton)
"Holocaust" – 3:47 (Chilton)
"Kangaroo" – 3:46 (Chilton)
"Stroke It Noel" – 2:04 (Chilton)
"For You" – 2:41 (Jody Stephens)
"You Can't Have Me" – 3:11 (Chilton)
"Nighttime" – 2:53 (Chilton)
"Blue Moon" – 2:06 (Chilton)
"Take Care" – 2:46 (Chilton)
"Nature Boy" [bonus track] – 2:30 (Eden Ahbez)
"Till the End of the Day" [bonus track] – 2:13 (Ray Davies)
"Dream Lover" [bonus track] – 3:31 (Chilton)
"Downs" [bonus track]" – 1:43 (Chilton)
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" [bonus track] – 3:20 (Dave Williams)

The original 1978 Vinyl on the Label PVC had the following track order:

Stroke It Noel
For You
Kizza Me
You Can't Have Me
Nighttime
Blue Moon
Take Care
Jesus Christ
Femme Fatale
O, Dana
Big Black Car
Holocaust
Kanga Roo
Thank You Friends

[edit] Personnel

Official Members:

Alex Chilton--Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Jody Stephens--Drums, Vocals

Guests:

Lesa Aldredge--Vocals
Lee Baker--Guitar
Jim Dickinson--Bass, Drums, Mellotron
Steve Cropper--Guitar
Richard Rosebrough--Drums
William Murphey--Bass
Tarp Tarrant--Drums
Jimmy Stephens--Bass
Tommy Cathey--Bass
Tommy McClure--Bass
Carl Marsh--Reeds, Woodwinds, Synthesizer, String Arrangements

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008)
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