Set

Set Artist: Alex Chilton
Label: Bar/None Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 032862011023
EAN: 0032862011023
ASIN: B00004786J


Release Date: 2000-02-22

Set


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Tracks:

  1. Never Found A Girl
  2. Lipstick Traces
  3. Hook Me Up
  4. Oogum Boogum
  5. You's A Viper
  6. I Remember Mama
  7. April In Paris
  8. There Will Never Be Another You
  9. Single Again
  10. You've Got A Booger Bear Under There
  11. Shiny Stockings
  12. Goodnight My Love

Similar Items:

  1. In Space
  2. A Man Called Destruction
  3. Top 30
  4. High Priest/Black List
  5. The Crane Wife

Amazon.com

This set of 12 R&B covers has the alternate title of <I>Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy</I> in Europe, which says something about the contrary nature of Alex Chilton. Fans of his seminal work in Big Star wait impatiently for a return to his beautiful pop masterpieces, while Chilton keeps doing whatever he wants, whenever. But no one can argue with his genuine love of the Southern R&B of his youth. <I>Set</I> is a live-in-the-studio, one-night, one-take affair and is all the better for it. Rough around the edges, it comes off not as sloppy, but as playfully inspired. Backed only by bass and drums, Chilton plays a reluctant guitar hero, finding brilliant ways to emulate the fuller arrangements found in the original versions of these songs. His singing on "Oogum Boogum," "Single Again," and "You's a Viper" show him having a great time with this stuff, loose and relaxed. This is the most consistent and fun record he's done in years. Fans waiting for another record like Big Star's Third might be disappointed by the lack of originals, but there's plenty of hints as to what inspired him then and continues to today. Chilton claims this to be his best record yet, and in the spirit of the man, who should he be trying to please, himself or you? <I>--Steve Turner</I>

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Best CD of His Outside of Big Star.......2007-03-05

If you have seen Alex Chilton perform live as a solo artist in the last decade or so and appreciate the "sophisticated lounge act" thing he does so well, this CD should be right up your alley. It represents the best of that style of playing that he has made available on record. Of course we all love the old Big Star albums and oft lament that such a huge talent was largely ignored while in his "prime", but this album proves that indeed, the man has endured. Chilton, if anything, demands as much now than ever, that you accept him on his own terms. I can imagine that he would expect anyone who endeavors that understanding to consider this an essential work.

4 out of 5 stars A Great One By Any Name.......2003-07-31

The European title of this album, "Loose Shoes and Tight (censored)" is actually better than "Set". The music seems well rehearsed, yet spontaneous and enjoyably ragged and unpredictable. If you enjoyed the albums "A Man Called Destruction", "High Priest", "Blacklist", and "Feudalist Tarts", you'll probably enjoy this as well. It's another collection of well-chosen R&B and Jazz rarities with the same clean, clear production as those albums.

Mr. Chilton clearly enjoys bringing these songs to life with his excellent band. His singing is not quite like anyone else you've ever heard. By turns ironic, proud, and funny, this voice is very different from the voice he used with the Box Tops or Big Star. His guitar playing could best be described as educated punk jazz, which description might sound dull or academic but is in practice fascinating. He's got his own unique thing that he does and he's been doing it for twenty plus years and I love it. Get the album and catch him live next time he comes to your town.

4 out of 5 stars Jumpstart The Day.......2002-10-09

Chilton has not only deftly chosen a collection of ebullient bluesy-jazzy-r&b tunes, but he has not sounded as rejuvenated in years (or decades for that matter). Straying from the mainstream, Chilton covers songs that nonetheless have the charm, beat, and ingenuity to disarm almost any listener. There's hardly a song here that doesn't have the power to engage and take you away. It's a wonder that they are not normally seen as classics in their own right.

The arrangements, sensibly sparse as they are (only drums, bass, gtr), push the songwriting to the fore while highlighting the wiry energy and attitude of Chilton's performance. The man's passionate, funny, and cool -- quite a return to form. Vocally, Chilton is not too far from his glory days either. The voice may be a tad ragged at times, but he still finds no trouble hitting the high notes nor expressing that old wry nonchalance and vulnerability so characteristic of him.

All in all, I can't think of a better soundtrack to the start of a good day.

2 out of 5 stars One More Once Too Many.......2001-11-21

Not so hot, this one. His voice is shot. Covers well-chosen, you'd hafta be a hipster or a fanatic about R. & B. to know a lot of these folks--Ollie Nightingale, Stuff Smith (who did the original version of the reefer song Alex covers here, "If You's a Viper"). "Lipstick Traces," originally performed by Benny Spellman, 1962, (he also did "Fortune Teller," later covered by the Stones; Chilton did a version of Jagger-Richards' "The Singer Not the Song" back during his CBGB period) has been covered by lots of people including the O'Jays and Ringo Starr. Brenton Wood's 1967 "The Oogum Boogum Song" was one of two hits Wood scored--I've got the Double-Shot LP ("Oogum Boogum," great cover shot of Wood peering over shades that reflect the same go-go dancer, version of "Psychotic Reaction," brief bio of Wood telling of his birth in Shreveport and later removal to Compton High School in California, where he ran track and aspired to the success of Jesse Belvin, whose "Goodnight My Love" Alex also covers on "Set") which contains both of them. He actually improves on the original of "The Oogum Boogum Song," probably the only time he does so on this set. I also like the 1956 Count Basie album, "April in Paris," from which I bet Chilton learned the two Basie tunes covered here, "April in Paris" and Frank Foster's signature tune "Shiny Stockings." Chilton's hip enough to do the "one more once" thing and all, but his guitar playing, although excellent in its way, is simply not rich enough to carry these tunes in the way a jazz guitarist would. As with many of Chilton's records, this works as an exercise in taste better than it does as something you can listen to all the way through--I've never been able to listen to his "Clichés" album at all. This one is right up (down) there with the "Live in London" set from about twenty years ago, which has as its most memorable moment Chilton's reply to a fan who requests "Mod Lang": "My Plane?" The French version sports a much funnier title and cooler cover shot and doesn't abbreviate the song titles as does (inexplicably) this U.S. issue.

5 out of 5 stars

Music Album:

  1. Uncommon Goal ~ Allgood
  2. Kevn Kinney's Sun Tangled Angel Revival ~ Kevn Kinney's Sun Tangled Angel Revival
  3. The Funeral Sciences ~ Schoolyard Heroes
  4. Comic Violence ~ Spooky Tooth
  5. Sex ~ The Necks
  6. The Collection: Piano Man/52nd Street/Kohuept: Live in Leningrad ~ Billy Joel
  7. Strategy of Violence ~ Noise Unit
  8. A Guide For the Daylight Hours ~ Ballboy
  9. Positively Dumptruck ~ Dumptruck
  10. The Samples ~ The Samples

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Talkin' Verve ~ Quincy Jones

The Hammer ~ Ivo Perelman & Jay Rosen

Suite En Sous-Sol/Time to Lose/Short Stories ~ Tuxedomoon

Monk by Five ~ Adaker Stenson

Greatest Hits: Legend Series ~ Duke Ellington

Fear No Love ~ Bob Ostertag

Libertad ~ Al Bano & Romina Power

Les Essentials

Partido Ao Cubo ~ Nei Lopes

Concert inaugural, Place des Arts (Édition anniversaire)