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Big Star vault opens up

Blurt magazine confirms what has been rumored for some time -- a four-disc box set is due Sept. 15 covering the career of Big Star from Rhino Records. Read all about it here.

The box set comes on top of Concord's recently announced plans to reissue the two-fer of Big Star's records #1 Record and Radio City on June 16. And Blurt further reports that the late Chris Bell's posthumously-released solo album, I Am The Cosmos, is rumored to be the focus of a two-disc set via Rhino's online-only, limited edition boutique label Rhino Handmade.

This all comes on the heels of last year's Ardent Records retrospective Thank You Friends, which yielded some interesting outtakes and superior mixes of Big Star's final studio album, known as Big Star's Third or Sister Lovers.

While this latter day Big Star love is in evidence, someone really ought to do a comprehensive look at the Big Star's Third sessions. The alternate mixes on Thank You Friends hinted that there's an even greater record lurking amid the tapes than has been represented on previous releases.

As The Replacements once sang: "Never travel too far without some Big Star."

Comment by Ron Frankl on May 24, 2009 at 3:13pm: Wow. This was one of those rumored boxed sets that I thought would never become a reality, but in this year in which Neil Young's vault is finally opening, Big Star's time has come as well. I'm really curious how much completely unheard material will be included. I've been a BS/Chilton fan for over 30 years, and I'm sure this package will find it's way into my home.

Comment by Paul Cantin on May 24, 2009 at 4:20pm: So much interesting stuff has surfaced in different places, it would be nice to see it all in one place, and nicely appointed. I'll be interested to hear the I Am The Cosmos stuff, too.