We can POLL right insane, cuz we can bide the time: Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers/Beale St. Green/etc.

(yeah I did this on Saturday morning bcz this is the only day I have off this week...)

voted Stroke It Noel

yah I'm debating between that and Blue Moon with Kizza Me as close, ahem, third

Another vote for Stroke It Noel

"Thank You Friends" or "O Dana"

Went with For You. It has such a beautiful chorus.

I don't know any more... also went for For You.

Speaking of which, I'm sure I heard it was played during the 1975 WLYX session - is this so? It's not on the bootleg floating around

You Can't Have Me!!

although the "yooooooou" in "for you" is one of my favorite big star moments and always chokes me up a little

this is pretty tough. I'll make it tougher-have you ever used Jesus Christ on an Xmas mix? the GREATEST. 'we're gonna get born'

"Till the end of the day" is my jam. Totally.

"You Can't Have Me" sounds like a Who song that never was.

i said "holocaust", but really don't know. could be any one of about eight songs.

Write in- I am the Cosmos

Oh man. Every song will get a vote. I'm undecided right now.

For me, it's between holocaust, kangaroo and night time. God knows which I will choose.

"Can't have me" and "who are you" both feature a vintage n farty bass synth. I'm guessing that's the one.

Nightime.

Wow there is not a song on here that I wouldn't vote for

Right?

Stroke It Noel.

such a perfect album, but "nighttime" is the most affecting

Inclined to go for holocaust but not sure whether its being a bite of yoko ono's mrs. Lennon should make me more or less predisposed to it.

Big black car also a major song for me. And stroke it noel. And for you. Shit.

I voted "Thank You Friends" because of the acidity in his delivery

I love that we are polling this almost simultaneously with Tonight's the Night because this might be the only album in my awareness that sounds even more thoroughly intoxicated than that Neil record.

Will probably vote "O Dana," in large part because it was my first Big Star song that wasn't someone else's cover of them, and because I know of no more brutal opening lyric in music.

I vote "Thank You Friends" too. What a nasty little song.

i have no idea what the title is referring to (anyone shed some light?) but my fave song on the record is "stroke it noel"

the title of the thread? it's a lyric from "stroke it noel"

also is there a particular lyric in thank you friends that makes it "nasty"? or is it just the delivery? looking at the lyrics, it seems pretty straightforward... maybe the "probable" line is ambiguous?

no the title of the song "stroke it noel"

ohhh, i believe Noel was one of the string players on the track and Chilton was giving him a shout out.

Love this whole album, but "Kanga Roo" by a mile - played it at my wedding

my copy is a used CD of the PVC 1987 track listing so it's the "right" one to me

1 Jesus Christ
2 Femme Fatale
3 O, Dana
4 Kizza Me
5 You Can't Have Me
6 Nightime
7 Dream Lover
8 Blue Moon
9 Take Care
10 Stroke It Noel
11 For You
12 Downs
13 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
14 Big Black Car
15 Holocaust
16 Kanga Roo
17 Thank You Friends

starting with "Jesus Christ" and "Femme Fatale" and climaxing with "Kanga Roo" into "Thank You Friends" is perfect, imo

I was just out walking the dog while listening to this album, and "Kanga Roo" made me feel so dizzy I nearly needed to sit down.

Voted O Dana, but really there are 8 or 9 here that could be my favorite.

We should poll best official sequencing for this album too! (I also prefer PVC to Ryko)

'stroke it noel' is probably my fave but voted 'big black car' cuz the one time i saw big star there was this thickly accented german beside us who kept shouting 'PLAY BIG BLACK CAR LATER' between songs, as if obviously they were going to play 'big black car', he just wanted to make sure they didn't blow their wad and play it too early in the set. jesus this album.

Whichever version opens with stroke it noel = winner

"I'd rather shoot a woman than a man" vs "the drummer said you were not very clean" vs "I hate it here, get me out of here" vs...

heh i made my vote and then IMMEDIATELY thought I should've picked something else...so difficult

(also missing "any downs at all... any downs at all")

It's the PVC album that starts with Stroke It Noel. I agree - it's by far the best order for the tracks. I wrote about it on our blog:

http://devonrecordclub.com/2012/02/09/big-star-thirdsister-lovers-round-21-toms-selection/

holocaust holocaust holocaust

It's the PVC album that starts with Stroke It Noel. I agree - it's by far the best order for the tracks. I wrote about it on our blog:

http://devonrecordclub.com/2012/02/09/big-star-thirdsister-lovers-round-21-toms-selection/

xpost

i didn't listen to Third until after i'd read that, so it's the only track order i've ever known! i can't compare it to the others, but i can't imagine going through holocaust and kangaroo in the middle, and then popping back out to stroke it noel.

Whoa I didn't know about these other track orders!! I only knew the Ryko
Ending with Holocaust -> Kangaroo -> Thank You makes wayyy more sense than having that bummer twofer in the middle

otm. ryko ordering was the first i heard and only version i knew for the next couple decades. it's been a top 10 favorite album since the day i bought it. and the pvc/four men w beards sequence is a thousand times better.

ryko's the only sequence i've really dealt with. it works for me!

don't know if i'd vote for it, but i love the chilton/eggleston take of "nature boy". wish there was a whole LP of those guys doing standards together.

Oh man, that would have been great!

What's the other non-Ryko sequence?

also is there a particular lyric in thank you friends that makes it "nasty"? or is it just the delivery? looking at the lyrics, it seems pretty straightforward... maybe the "probable" line is ambiguous?

― tylerw, Monday, July 29, 2013 5:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Always seen this song as non nasty but that could be me

I voted for Thank You Friends. I can see how it could be heard as nasty given Chilton's state of frustration with Big Star's commercial failure, but I still experience it as a very uplifting song.

I've only ever listened to the Ryko version and I've heard it so many times that it would be difficult for me to adjust to a different song order.

Yeah I foud the other song orders on Wiki, seems weird to me.

I def hear Thank You Friends as at least semi-sarcastic.

Goes without saying but Chilton does some amazing expressive things w his singing on this, esp w regards to his tone and his enunciation. Theres a subtly wavering, warbling quality to his voice in Blue Moon (my vote) that always sounds to me loke he just finished crying

*like

It's true, his singing seems to change from one project to the next. Compare Box Tops vs Big Star's first two vs Third vs his solo records. You could easily convince someone who is unfamiliar with Chilton that those are all featured different singers. To me, it sounds like he's singing with a bit of an English accent on Third. Where did that come from?

Those distorted background vocals on "Thank You Friends" -- scary shit.

I bought my Ryko copy at a Barnes & Noble in the late nineties: like the Richard Thompson catalog, the sort of album it carried

I think the background vocals on Thank You Friends sound great, possibly my favorite part of that song.

Yeah they don't seem scary at all

also don't really sound distorted to me

prefer the ryko order, i'm into the black pit of hell being in the center of this record as opposed to near the end (especially anywhere near "thank you friends")

It was a compliment! That part around 2:55 where they shake a bit; I can hear an electronic glaze.

It's true, his singing seems to change from one project to the next. Compare Box Tops vs Big Star's first two

weird thing is, the guy who sings for the Box Tops sounds about 25 years older...

Curious why was Beale St. Green included in the title of this poll?

served as another working title along with Sister Lovers iirc

voted Big Black Car

Xp rvw otm

Speaking of background vocals, they are my favorite part of the You Can't Have Me chorus (and thus, the song)

Another great thing about the Ryko sequence: the way ott death song is followed up right away w the homemade Christmas carol

"Blue Moon" is my choice; along with "The Beautiful Ones" it's a song I can only manage alone. puts a pit in my stomach just thinking about it.

i really can't choose. could vote for almost anything but especially

kangaroo for the harrowing intensity
big black car for personal resonance and major 7ths
stroke it noel for everything

god what an album.

Yeah I'm not voting

first snare on Stroke It Noel > first snare on Like a Rolling Stone

shout out to "lovely day," the original "stroke it noel."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8WQAx4-z6M
all of those chilton solo demos on the box set are amazing.

vhose You Cant Have Me for: "drummer said you were no very clean"

chose/"not"

the demo for Downs was a revelation xp to tylerw

I don't think I ever knew where the album proper ended and the bonus tracks began until this thread happened. The division strengthens the album even more for me, honestly; "Nature Boy" is generally where I'd start to get antsy, though that cover is the only thing on the disc that I actually dislike. One thing about the Ryko edition I definitely like, though: the "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" finale feels like a welcome sigh of relief after that much emotional wreckage.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Arg! O Dana, Thank You Friends...O Dana, Thank You Friends...can't decide...

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Jesus Christ was robbed.

today

Jesus Christ was robbed.

And we're gonna get robbed now.

good spread though

Hi 5 to my fellow You Can't Have Me voter.

absolutely not! you. can't. have. me
honestly, it was so tough choosing, I picketed the one (1) that blew me away the last....

Wow, I'm a little surprised by all the kangaroo/holocaust fans. I'm not so eager to embrace the darkness.

i just wanted to hi 5 you, not have you. geez.

"for you" was my second choice and then i think i would have voted for jesus christ
sorry jc

LL otm

Loving Stroke it Noel being so revered

Wow, I'm a little surprised by all the kangaroo/holocaust fans. I'm not so eager to embrace the darkness.

― Moodles, Monday, August 5, 2013 6:25 PM (2 days ago)

Am I the only one who heard the This Mortal Coil covers of these and then sought out the originals?

Just snagged a vinyl copy (reissue, obvs) of this, which I probably would have never thought to look for were it not for this thread!

Which reissue?

180 gram vinyl put out by a label called 4 Men With Beards. Cover only lists title as "3rd." Track listing looks like this (which is gonna take some getting used to, as I've only ever known the album via the Ryko "Kizza Me"-->"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" sequence):

Stroke It Noel
For You
Kizza Me
You Can't Have Me
Nighttime
Blue Moon
Take Care

Jesus Christ
Femme Fatale
O, Dana
Big Black Car
Holocaust
Kanga Roo
Thank You Friends

ah that is the PVC track listing