Last week Bootleg City featured a 1978 concert by AC/DC to celebrate the release of their new album, Black Ice, which came out on Tuesday. This week I’m moving down the alphabet to Big Star, to celebrate the release of … oh, right, they don’t have a new album coming out. (They shouldn’t have released a new one in 2005, but that’s another matter entirely.) I actually didn’t know Black Ice was coming out this week, or if I did, I’d forgotten, so “celebrate” is the wrong word, unless it persuades AC/DC to throw some of their Wal-Mart money in Popdose’s direction.

This week’s featured tracks come from the 2000 bootleg “What’s Goin’ Ahn.” (Check back next week for the second batch of songs, plus some extras.) These “alternate” and “rough” mixes from Big Star’s first album, #1 Record (1972), don’t sound that much different from the final mixes fans know and love, but since the band doesn’t have a huge catalog, it’s our duty to obsess over whatever we can find. For instance, that seven-inch single of “Mine Exclusively” b/w “Patti Girl” that singer Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens recorded with Teenage Fanclub in 1993 to benefit Bosnia-Herzegovina war victims — those two energetic covers are better than the majority of 2005’s In Space. If you have them, feel free to share in the comments section below.

Feel [Rough Mix w/ Alternate Guitar Track]
The Ballad of El Goodo [Alternate Mix]
The Ballad of El Goodo [Rough Mix w/ Alternate Vocal]
In the Street [Rough Mix w/ Alternate Guitar Track]
Thirteen [Alternate Mix]
Don’t Lie to Me [Rough Mix]
When My Baby’s Beside Me [Alternate Mix]
My Life Is Right [Alternate Mix]
Give Me Another Chance [Rough Mix w/ Alternate Lead Guitar]

About the Author

Robert Cass

Robert Cass lives in Chicago. For Popdose he's written under the Sugar Water, Bootleg City, and Box Office Flashback banners and collaborated on the series 'Face Time with Jeff Giles and Mike Heyliger.

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