ALEX CHILTON - 1970 

Review from Q Magazine, MAY 1996

The two years between Alex Chilton's tenures with The Box Tops
and Big Star were filled by a solo album, shelved when Chilton
hesitated over the right deal and Big Star became a more vital
proposition. It has a gritty, barroom freshness, mining The 
Box Tops' white-soul swing , a similar guitar-rock sophistication
to Big Star, plus The Rolling Stones' swagger, unified by 
Chilton's Memphis-born R&B and moodiness, a calmer version of 
his mid-'70s alcoholic-enhanced fear'n'loathing. A crunching 
cover of The Archies' Sugar Sugar and the faux-country rock of 
I Wish I Could Meet Elvis suggest a freed-up studio atmosphere
where Chilton could revel in his ecclectic tastes; there's some
Merseybeat grooviness (Something Deep Inside, The Happy Song), 
and rough and ready, lust-drenched rhythms (I Can Dig It, Just
To See You). Best news of all is that the achingly melodic 
Everyday As We Grow Closer and EMI Song could have come off Big
Star's first album, thus making 1970 essential for Chiltonites.
*** - denotes rating (3/5)

Issued by Ardent Records(Creation)/RevOlA (in UK/elsewhere=???)
Cat No. CREV044CD 

Martin Aston (reviewer)

Sparky (transcriber) aka Sparky@broon.demon.co.uk