Feel/ Mod Lang

With original Big Star singles virtually impossible to find nowadays... at least for anything less than $100 or more... it's great to see Rhino Records release this limited edition (only 3,500 copies!) 45 rpm single featuring one of the group's best songs that was never released on 7-inch vinyl before. The version of "Feel" here is an "alternate mix" of the one that appeared as the first track of the group's first LP, #1 Record, back in 1972. Listening to both versions again just now, it suddenly struck me how much Big Star songs like this foreshadowed 1990s grunge groups like Smashing Pumpkin.

The flip side of this release is a heretofore unreleased "Single Mix" of "Mod Lang," which also appeared on #1 Record. Apparently, this Rhino single, a taste of Rhino's forthcoming Big Star box set, was produced by the original members of Big Star themselves: Alex Chilton (former lead singer for the Box Tops), Chris Bell, Andy Hummel, and Jody Stephens.

It's difficult to exaggerate the significance of Big Star to students of rock history, as they were one of the groups that established the iconic sound called "Power Pop." Their influence, like that of Velvet Underground, is inversely proportional to their commercial success... which was zilch!

This limited edition (only 3,500 copies) single is pressed on a reproduction Ardent label, with a large spindle hole. (Ardent, incidentally, was a short-lived Memphis label set up by Stax Records in its waning years.)