Big Star Announce ‘Complete Third’ Box Set

On Oct. 14, Big Star’s legendary album, Third, will receive a comprehensive box set treatment. Omnivore Recordings is putting out Complete Third, which compiles the entirety of its sessions into a three-CD collection.

Complete Third contains 69 tracks in all, 29 of which have never been found on a previous collection. Its sequence, according to a press release, “allows the listener to track the creation of the album from the original demos, through sessions and rough mixes, to the final masters of each song.”

One of those unreleased demos, “Like St. Joan,” can be found below. It is Alex Chilton’s 12-string-and-vocal recording of the song that became the album’s emotional standout, “Kanga Roo.” A trailer containing snippets of the songs —  including a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “After Hours” sung by Lesa Aldridge, Chilton’s girlfriend at the time — is embedded above.

Third has a famously checkered history. In 1974, after the commercial failure of Big Star’s first two brilliant power pop records, Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens, the only two remaining members of the group, brought in numerous musicians in their hometown of Memphis. But the sessions were chaotic as Chilton’s life came apart, and it remained unreleased until 1978. It fared no better than their previous efforts, but it proved highly influential in the development of the ‘80s alternative scene and has grown in stature ever since. An expanded version, spearheaded by original producer Jim Dickinson, came out in 1992.

“At the time of the recording,” Stephens said in a press release, “everyone’s emotions were forefront . . . is uncertainty an emotion? We were responding to Alex’s mood both in song and conversation. All my time spent in the studio for Third was in the company of John [Fry, engineer] and Jim as well as Alex. I heard stories of maudlin scenes that happened after hours but never really witnessed them. But I did witness Alex, Jim, and John, and the sometimes easy and sometimes uneasy interaction among us all. Through it all, Jim and John were brilliant and reassuring.”

The set includes notes and essays from Stephens, journalist Bud Scoppa and devotees like R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Pat Sanson and John Stiratt of Wilco, Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, and members of the Bangles, the dB’s and the Posies. You can pre-order Complete Third at Omnivore Recordings’ website.

Big Star, Complete Third Track Listing

Disc One: Demos to Sessions to Roughs

1. “Like St. Joan (Kanga Roo)” * (Demo)
2. “Lovely Day” (Demo)
3. “Downs” (Demo)
4. “Femme Fatale” (Demo)
5. “Thank You Friends” (Demo)
6. “Holocaust” (Demo)
7. “Jesus Christ” (Demo)
8. “Blue Moon” (Demo)
9. “Nightime” (Demo)
10. “Take Care” (Demo)
11. “Big Black Car” (Demo #2/Acoustic Take 1)
12. “Don’t Worry Baby”
13. “I’m in Love With a Girl” *
14. “Big Black Car” (Demo #3/Acoustic Take 2)
15. “I’m So Tired” * – Alex & Lesa
16. “That’s All It Took” * – Alex & Lesa
17. “Pre-Downs” *
18. “Baby Strange” *
19. “Big Black Car” (Demo #1/Band)
20. “Kizza Me” * (Dickinson Rough Mix/Alex Guide Vocal)
21. “Till the End of the Day” * (Dickinson Rough Mix/Alex Guide Vocal, Kept As Final Vocal)
22. “Thank You Friends” * (Dickinson Rough Mix/Alex Guide Vocal)
23. “O, Dana” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
24. “Dream Lover” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)

Disc 2: Roughs to Mixes

1. “Big Black Car” * (Dickinson Rough Mix/Alex Guide Vocal)
2. “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
3. “Take Care” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
4. “Holocaust” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
5. “Nightime” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
6. “Thank You Friends” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
7. “Nature Boy” * (Dickinson Rough Mix)
8. “After Hours” * – Lesa
9. “Stroke It Noel” (Backwards Intro)
10. “Lovely Day” * (Fry Rough Mix)
11. “Nightime” * (Fry Rough Mix)
12. “Blue Moon” * (Fry Rough Mix)
13. “Till the End of the Day” (Alternate Mix #1)
14. “Big Black Car” (Fry Rough Mix)
15. “Holocaust” (Fry Alternate/Rough Mix)
16. “Downs” * (Fry Rough Mix)
17. “Kanga Roo” (Fry Rough Mix)
18. “Femme Fatale” * (Fry Rough Mix)
19. “For You” * (Alternate Version/Alex Vocal)
20. “Thank You Friends” * (Fry Rough Mix)
21. “Take Care” * (Alternate Version/Alex Vocal)
22. “Kizza Me” * (Fry Rough Mix)
23. “Till the End of the Day” (Fry Rough Mix #2) – Lesa
24. “Nature Boy” (Fry Rough Mix)
25. “Mañana”

Disc 3: Final Masters

1. “Stroke It Noel”
2. “Downs”
3. “Femme Fatale”
4. “Thank You Friends”
5. “Holocaust”
6. “Jesus Christ”
7. “Blue Moon”
8. “Kizza Me”
9. “For You”
10. “O, Dana”
11. “Nightime”
12. “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”
13. “Kanga Roo”
14. “Take Care”
15. “Big Black Car”
16. “Dream Lover”
17. “You Can’t Have Me”
18. “Till the End of the Day”
19. “Lovely Day”
20. “Nature Boy”

*Previously unreleased

Listen to “Like St. Joan (Kanga Roo)”

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