Radio City (album)

Radio City (album)

Radio City is the second album by the American rock group Big Star. Released in 1974, Radio City was recorded during 1973 at Memphis' Ardent Studios. Though not a commercial success at the time, it is now recognized as a milestone album in the history of power pop music. Critically acclaimed upon its release, the record sold poorly, partly due to a lack of promotion and the distribution problems of the band's struggling record label, Ardent Records. The album included "September Gurls" and "Back of a Car", which remain among the most famous Big Star songs; both the Searchers and the Bangles have covered "September Gurls".

The original Ardent Records LP featured record-jacket photographs by noted photographer William Eggleston, including The Red Ceiling on the cover. Eggleston was a close friend of band member Alex Chilton's.

Radio City is notable for its unique, chewy guitar sound and live-sounding yet meticulous textures, and for its somewhat tortuous recording history. The album shows a southern US band under the influence of British Invasion bands such as The Beatles and The Kinks.

Some of the outtakes from the album include "I Got Kinda Lost", "Gone with the Light", "Motel Blues" and "There Was a Life" (an early version of "There Was a Light" from Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos CD). The singles released from the album were "O My Soul" and "September Gurls".

Radio City's reputation has grown since its release, with many critics and listeners of the opinion that it is not only the definitive power-pop album but one of the finest rock-music albums. As writer Richard Meltzer told an interviewer, "Big Star...is the means through which most bands today who are influenced by the Beatles get their dose of the British Invasion."

In 2003, the album was ranked number 403 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone magazine also ranked the song "September Gurls" as number 178 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Sound And Vision ranked it number 43 on its The Top 50 Albums of All Time list.