Big Star recorded their debut album #1 Record at Ardent Records in Memphis beginning in 1971, and it was released in ‘72.  The notes to Stax Records’ CD reissue Big Star: #1 Record / Radio City include recollections from John Fry, owner of Ardent Records and engineer / producer on the music Big Star recorded there. “We were all Anglophiles. If it came from England, it must be good,” said Fry. “We felt the only good records from outside of England were R&B records, and half of them were made in Memphis.”

“I think that’s what’s interesting about Big Star, is that you had people who grew up on, in, and around R&B, who then became Anglophiles, and that makes for an interesting combination of influences.”

Add the Byrds (both electric and acoustic) to the Beatles, splash in Memphis soul (especially in the horns and vocals) like hot sauce, and you’ll hit upon the sound of #1 Record. You can even hear Big Star’s influences in back-to-back waves when “When My Baby’s Beside Me,” which soars bright and sunny on Byrds’ guitar and vocal harmonies, segues into “My Life is Right,” a ballad that sounds if not like the Beatles than at least like Paul McCartney. A different type of Anglophile whimsy, “The India Song” drips with trippy echoes of a somewhat slightly more lucid Syd Barrett.

#1Record spawned a bunch of cover versions, especially for a record that no one supposedly heard: Evan Dando (The Lemonheads) covered “The Ballad of El Goodo” for the soundtrack to the comedy Empire Records. Fox TV re-recorded the chock-a-block rocker “Hanging Out” as the theme for That ’70s Show (several versions are also available on various Alex Chilton live albums). “Don’t Lie to Me” spoons out scalding hot punk protoplasm, angry lyrics (”Don’t lie to me…Don’t push me ’round!”) screamed more than sung, with a crunching pileup of heavy punk chords and squalling metallic feedback in the bridge.

I suspect that no song more intimately reflects the innocent yet confused thoughts and emotions of eighth-grade love than “Thirteen,” co-credited to leaders Chris Bell and Chilton, lovelorn pups telling with acoustic guitar a tale of love that’s simply, sweetly priceless: “Won’t you let me walk you home from school/ Won’t you let me meet you at the pool/ Maybe Friday I can/ Buy us tickets for the dance/ And I’ll take you…” It makes you miss those sweet and simple days so much it hurts. “Thirteen” has been covered by Garbage, and Wilco, and by Dando, too.

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