In 1977, Alex Chilton was in a time of
transition. The band he'd fronted as a teen idol The Box Tops broken
up in 1970 and the Power Pop legends Big Star – the band that Chris
Bell had formed with Alex, Andy Hummell and Jody Stevens - had broken
up in early 1975. Chilton had just released the Singer Not The
Song EP and to properly promote it he moved in New York. There he
formed a band with Chris Stamey (later of the dB's) on bass and Lloyd
Fonroff on drums. Later that year the band was known as Alex Chilton
and the Cossacks and had Fran Kowolski on keyboards.
Ocean Club '77 is what might be
dubbed an official bootleg. It was approved by the Chilton estate. It
claims to be a soundboard show. Which it may well be, albeit a
poorly-mic'd one. The cover art font doesn't do it any favors either.
However, the packaging is nice enough, with nice liner notes as well.
The first thing you hear is Chilton
ordering a “Canadian Whiskey & Coca Cola on the rocks” from
the stage to the bar. So, immediately you know it's going to be a
fairly loose affair. Which it is. Although, it's not too loose as the
rhythm section of Stamey & Fonoroff are tight-enough.
The song selection is pretty wonderful.
“September Gurls”, “In The Street”, “O My Soul”, “Way
Out West” and “Back Of A Car” all get confident airings. The
Third nugget “Nightime” does as well – a good year before it's
release. “The Letter” gets a different, slower arrangement.
“Can't Seem To Make You Mine” (a cover of the Seeds' classic),
“Window's Hotel”, “All Of The Time”, “My Rival” and “She
Might Look My Way” all of which appeared on the rejected Elektra
Demos, are in fine form here. As well as covers of the rock classics
“Memphis”, “Wouldn't It Be Nice”, Walk Don't Run” and
Nelson Slater's Lou Reed-produced “Dominating Force”.
Definitely recommended for the
Chiltonphile of Big Star devotee.
Here's the very special video review version:
Special Thanks to: Ebet Roberts, Norton Records and Dave Rerecich for making me vanish at the end. Into thin air.
