ALEX CHILTON Vinilo y CD

Review: A five-track EP of rarities by Alex Chilton, the American singer and songwriter best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star, but whose later efforts led to an extended ambassadorship of the US avant-garde underground. The bulk of the tracks on ‘My Rival’ originate from Chilton’s earliest days, circa. 1975; at this critical juncture, Big Star was no more, and Chilton was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Saved by his former bandmate, but still confidant, Chris Bell, they soon found themselves re-roused by the power of music, holing up together in Chilton’s bedroom and recording this short but wild set of bluesy experiments. Easily mistaken as the early murmurations of a Big Star reunion, this project should be taken as an eccentricity unto its own, and wholly deserves its 12” debut after an initial RSD run.