Big Star - Makeover

In Space is the fourth studio album by the American rock group Big Star, recorded in 2004, released in 2005. It was the first new studio recording by the band since Third/Sister Lovers, which was recorded in 1974.

"Makeover" was written by Jon Auer, Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens, and Ken Stringfellow.

The album featured original Big Star members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, with two more recent recruits, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. Auer and Stringfellow had been members of The Posies before joining Big Star for sporadic live performances and tours since 1993. Big Star did not tour in support of the album.

Son Volt covers Holocaust

"Holocaust" (written by Alex Chilton, 1974), performed by Son Volt, is available on the CD EP Straightface, and Retrospective: 1995-2000 (available as a compact disc and MP3 album), and also as an MP3 single.

Boogie Shoes

"Boogie Shoes" is a popular song released in 1975 on the self-titled album KC and the Sunshine Band by the disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. The song became a hit when it appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977. The song is still heard on radio stations today as a disco-era staple. It reached as high as number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 29 on the soul chart in 1978.

Structurally, it utilizes the twelve-bar blues chord progression. As with several of KC's disco songs, some of the lyrics are playfully suggestive: "I want to do it till the sun comes up / I want to do till I can't get enough."

The song is part of the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, and is featured in numerous other films, including No Escape (1994), Mallrats (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), Detroit Rock City (1999), The Wedding Date (2005) as well as television series, Sports Night, Desperate Housewives (both, coincidentally, with star Felicity Huffman dancing to it), and Flash Forward. The song has been sampled by The Bloodhound Gang in the song "One Way", and more recently by Trick Daddy in his song "Take It to Da House." Alex Chilton famously covered "Boogie Shoes" on his 1979 album Like Flies On Sherbert. In 2012, the song was sung by Alex Newell (playing a transgendered teen) in the Glee episode "Saturday Night Glee-ver".

Like Flies On Sherbert, the album that includes "Boogie Shoes" was issued on vinyl, a compact disc on Cooking Vinyl, a compact disc on Redeye, and as an MP3 album. "Boogie Shoes" is also available as an MP3 single.

Nice 'n' Easy

Alex Chilton: "Nice 'n' Easy". Among Lew Spence's best-known songs was "Nice 'n' Easy", recorded by Frank Sinatra; Spence (1920-2008) wrote the melody, while Alan Bergman (born 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (born 1929) wrote the lyrics. The song was nominated for three Grammy awards in 1960.

Alex Chilton performs "Nice 'n' Easy":

"Nice 'n' Easy" is available on a vinyl EP, a single compact disc and a double compact disc.

You Don't Have to Go

Alex Chilton performs "You Don't Have to Go" (Jimmy Reed) in 1995, with Ron Easley (guitar), Richard Dworkin (drums). Recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee. From the album A Man Called Destruction.

Stereo Total - Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais

Stereo Total's recording of "Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais" features Alex Chilton. The title translates as "I Came Here to Say I'm Going Away" or "I Just Came to Tell You That I'm Going" or "I Have Come to Tell You I'm Going". Written by Serge Gainsbourg. Recorded and released by Gainsbourg in 1973. It's on the Stereo Total album Oh Ah, available as a compact disc, an MP3 single track, or an MP3 album.

Big Star - Baby Strange

Big Star "Baby Strange" (1974). Written by Marc Bolan. Recorded by Bolan in 1971.
"From Nobody Can Dance. This track recorded live at the Levitt Shell, Overton Park, Memphis Tn. in May 1974. Alex Chilton, John Lightman, and the drummer, play T-Rex' Baby Strange."

Recorded in 1974.
Recorded in 1973.

Recorded in 1993.

I Will Always Love You

Alex Chilton - "I Will Always Love You", Live On WLYX Memphis 1975:
There is no officially released recording of this song performed by Alex Chilton.

"I Will Always Love You" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. The country track was released on 6 June 1974 as the second single from Parton's thirteenth solo studio album, Jolene (1974). Recorded on 13 June 1973, the singer wrote the song for her one-time partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, from whom she was professionally splitting at the time. "I Will Always Love You" received positive comments from critics and attained commercial success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart two times. With the accomplishment, Parton became the first artist ever to earn a number one record twice with the same song as a singer, and three times as a writer.

Free Again

Alex Chilton performs "Free Again" #1:

Alex Chilton's "Free Again: The '1970' Sessions" is available as a compact disc, as a vinyl LP, and as an MP3 download.

Alex Chilton performs "Free Again" #2:

A World Without Alex Chilton

"A World Without Alex Chilton" from Alabama Lo-Fi's: "The Stories We Could Tell", presented in a slideshow tribute to one of the great unsung heroes of rock n roll.
A World Without Alex Chilton
Words and music by Rod Warner
"I wrote this the day I heard that Alex Chilton had passed. I wrote it from the point of view of some of the people he influenced who influenced me. The names in the last verse are Paul Westerberg from the Replacements, Pete Buck from REM, and Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. The production is meant to feel like a Big Star song."

For Alex

In a world without Alex Chilton
Do the kids still dance to the beat
Does the sun set each evening
And rise each day in the east

A world without Alex Chilton
Is a scary place to be
A world without Alex Chilton
Is a scary place for me

In a world without Alex Chilton
Are the southern girls still sweet
Do the dishes get washed each evening
Are the kids out in the street

A world without Alex Chilton
Is a scary place to be
A world without Alex Chilton
Is a scary place for me

In a world without Alex Chilton
Would Paul be pleased to meet me
Would Pete play the jingle jangle
Would Jeff still sing Thirteen

A world without Alex Chilton
Is a crazy place you’ll see
A world without Alex Chilton
Is a scary place to be
And a scary place for me

Rod Warner – vocals, guitar, piano
Nick Raisz – drums
Andy Carbone – bass, backing vocals
Mike Cady - guitars

Big Star - In The Street (live 2010)

"In the Street" (Alex Chilton - Chris Bell). Written circa 1971. First recorded in 1971 and released in 1972.A version of "In the Street" by Ben Vaughn was used as the theme song of That '70s Show, which was changed to a version by Cheap Trick after the first season.Big Star with John Davis (Superdrag) perform "In The Street" during the Big Star tribute concert at Levitt Shell in Memphis, TN on May 15, 2010.

The Box Tops: The Letter

Bizarre. Low-budget. This is the sort of thing bands had to do in 1967 to publicize their music. Alex doesn't seem to care if he's there or not. He's just a kid, but has already discovered better living through chemistry, leading to his hoarse voice. The fact that this meant-to-be-disposable show was recorded, and survived, is amazing. "The Letter" is heard twice (without any attempt to mime/lip-sync) and The Box Tops are informally interviewed.
In 1964 Zacherley hosted a teenage dance show at WNJU-TV in Newark called Disc-O-Teen, hosting the show in full costume and using the teenage show participants in his skits. The show ran for three years until 1967.

Apparently the sheet music publisher didn't have a photo of The Box Tops:
Wayne Carson Thompson is credited as songwriter on the sheet music; all the 45 rpm releases credit Wayne Carson:
Alternate label design:
As released on Sphere Sound:
Reissued in 1975 on Collectables:

No Sex

Alex Chilton's "No Sex" can be found on these releases:


This MP3 compilation includes studio and live recordings of "No Sex":
The various artists MP3 compilation New Rose Live includes a live version of "No Sex":Immediately upon completing the recording of Panther Burns' Sugar Ditch Revisited in mid-1984, Chilton returned his focus to his own solo career. He stopped playing regular gigs with Panther Burns and took with him the group's bassist, René Coman. Chilton then formed a trio with Coman and Memphis jazz drummer Doug Garrison. The trio immediately began touring intensely and recording at Ardent Studios, releasing in 1985 an EP, Feudalist Tarts, that featured his versions of songs by Carla Thomas, Slim Harpo, and Willie Tee, and releasing in 1986 No Sex. The latter EP contained three originals, including the extended mood piece, "Wild Kingdom," a song highlighting Coman's jazz-oriented, improvisational bass interplay with Chilton.

No Sex (EP) - (New Rose/Big Time, 1986; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie)

I Wanna Pick You Up

Alex Chilton performs "I Wanna Pick You Up" (written by Dennis Wilson and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, 1977), from the various artists album Caroline Now! The Songs Of Brian Wilson And The Beach Boys. Released in 2000. Available as a vinyl LP, compact disc, MP3 album, and MP3 single. People who bought it had this to say:

"A threesome of tracks from `The Beach Boys Love You' - `I Wanna Pick You Up', `Honkin' Down the Highway' and `Let's Put Our Hearts Together' - are freed from that album's chunky, synth-oriented production, and take on a life of their own."

"Alex Chilton of the Box Tops (who used to support the Beach Boys on tour) sings a wonderful version of `I Wanna Pick You Up'."

"Musically it's surprise after surprise - Alex Chilton sounds better than he has since 1974..."

"...ex-Big Star and Box Top Alex Chilton's I Wanna Pick You Up (possibly his best performance in over 2 decades)..."

"There are 4 worthwhile cuts - most notably Alex Chilton's "I Wanna Pick You Up" which actually improves on this beautiful childlike tune's original take with a brighter and more up tempo arrangement."

Till the End of the Day

Alex Chilton "Till the End of the Day" (written by Ray Davies of The Kinks, 1965), from the 2011 Ray Davies album "See My Friends", available as a compact disc, MP3 single and MP3 album.

A 1974 version by Big Star (a different recording than the one on the Ray Davies album) appeared on a release of Third/Sister Lovers, issued as a compact disc, MP3 single and MP3 album.

Big Star - Hung Up With Summer

Big Star -"Hung Up With Summer" (authorship credited to Jon Auer, Alex Chilton, Bill Cunningham, Jody Stephens, Ken Stringfellow) from In Space (released 2005, recorded 2004). Produced by Big Star with Jeff Powell, recorded and mixed by Jeff Powell at Ardent Studios Memphis, assisted by Adam Hill.

"Hung Up With Summer" was issued as a compact disc, compact disc with extra tracks, vinyl album, MP3 single and MP3 album.

It's also part of a sampler album Uncut 2005, issued as a compact disc.

The Box Tops - I See Only Sunshine

The Box Tops "I See Only Sunshine" (written by Alex Chilton) Press Music Co, Inc., BMI, 1968, 2:10, An American Group Prod., issued as a 45 rpm single on Mala Records / Bell Records 12,035. The song is currently published by Screen Gems/EMI Music Inc.

In 1996 "I See Only Sunshine" was included in The Best Of The Box Tops: Soul Deep on cassette tape, compact disc, MP3 album, MP3 single, and vinyl.

It was later included in an expanded version of the album Dimensions on compact disc, MP3 album, and MP3 single.

No known cover versions.