Big Star has long been like a secret handshake among hardcore music fans. As Paul Westerberg sang, "Never travel far, without a little Big Star." If you don't, your tastes are always a little suspect. The band's Anglophilic mix of Byrdsian chime and R'n'B swagger is oft-imitated but never equaled.

That makes the relative glut of Big Star news and product of late a godsend. First came Bruce Eaton's book about Radio City, the band's second album, as part of the 33 1/3 series. Actually, first came Eaton's great blog, Big Star's Radio City, which not only documents some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the book, but also serves as a sort of Big Star news feed. Next has been the requisite press related to the book that has led to another round of re-evaluation and the unearthing of nuggets. Those include this great piece by writer Bud Scoppa about the band. It was written for Revolver magazine just before it shifted to a metal focus, and has been shelved in the years since.

Next comes the biggest news at all: A Big Star boxed set. Blurt reports that a four-disc set is due from Rhino on Sept. 15. The set is reported to cover 1968-1975, which means material from the band members' pre-Big Star days (such as Chris Bell's Rock City) and beyond. Live material, outtakes and more are expected.

Add to this that Concord plans a July reissue of the long out-of-print two-fer that introduced most of us to the band in the late 80s and early 90s that joined the band's debut, #1 Record with that follow up, Radio City. I was lucky enough to get a later edition that had both albums intact; early issues omitted two tracks. This one has two more, which I'd guess are alternate tracks ("In the Street" from #1 Record and "Oh My Soul" from Radio City are each listed twice).

Labels: music, reissues