If you're lucky like me, you've had copies of Big Star's first two LPs, "Radio City" & "#1 Record", on wax for many years- I got mine in the early 80s from the used record bins around St Paul or Minneapolis (probably from Oar Folkjokeopus). I probably paid more than the normal two bucks, cuz these were hard to find by then- original release dates were from the early 1970s. There were German pressings on Line Records that were available & gone again in the mid-1980s, but since then, all I ever saw around town were bootlegs- and I saw a lot of them floating around. Reason is- these are both FANTASTIC LPs, and since neither had been in print vinyl-wise since their release, demand far outstripped supply. Word has it that both LPs were only officially available for months before they were dumped into the bargain bins as cutouts, all this happening way before listeners realized they were something desirable. A typical case of being "before their time", most power pop of the late 1970s owes a great debt to Big Star. A bootleggers dream, really.
UNTIL NOW. Miraculously, both LPs are now legitimately reissued, more than thirty-five years since they went out of print.You gotta wonder what took 'em so long?
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