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Big Star’s “#1 Record” And “Radio City” To Be Reissued In June

big-star_record1250Ardent/Stax is reissuing Big Star‘s power-pop classics #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974), together on a single CD, on June 16. The new edition is remastered and features a previously unreleased single mix of “In The Street” and a single edit of “O My Soul.” The two albums are also being reissued separately on vinyl with original artwork. Which brings us to this point: Unless you’re really old or some kind of vinyl collector scum, you probably only know the 1992 twofer CD version of #1 Record/Radio City (issued on Fantasy). It makes sense; both fit on a single CD, and the two albums coexist back-to-back without any serious continuity issues. But the cover art is terrible: a mish-mash of #1 Record‘s neon-sign image, a black-and-white publicity photo of the band, a schizophrenic color scheme and the words “2 Complete Albums On 1 CD” across the top. Surely two-thirds of Big Star’s iconic catalog deserves better. It’s a shame this new CD reissue didn’t rethink the artwork somehow. Where’s Alex Chilton? The Big Star frontman has a couple gigs lined up this summer with his other outfit, the Box Tops.

Wilco’s cover of #1 Record‘s “Thirteen” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Thirteen.mp3