.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Alex Chilton - My Elvis

Original Post - Friday, March 19, 2010

I feel now that I can understand people who say they will always remember 'The Day Elvis Died'. Alex Chilton was my Elvis.

When I first heard Sister Lovers I was almost knocked over by the impact it made on me and I have probably listened to it more than any other album by a factor of ten or more. For years I listened to something from it every day.
When I had time again for other records I tracked down everything I could by Alex and I can still remember the excitement of finding something new at a time when it was hard to find many records and if it was out of print you had to physically hunt through the racks of second hand record shops. I still remember finding Like Flies on Sherbert, Radio City and Bach's Bottom. He also led me to Tav Falco's Panther Burns and I was to find his name on some of my Cramps albums.

The day before he died I posted a link on my Facebook page to a video of the Box Tops performing The Letter on Youtube. I had never posted one before. And on the day I heard the news I had been playing his music on the train. This was the first time in months I had played so much of his music. I heard the news when I met another fan for coffee - deciding on a whim to call on him as I had some time before my train. He had posted a comment on my video link. He told me the news. It feels like something strange happened.

And now Alex you are floating in the ether like those magical sounds that haunt Sister Lovers, a music that connects with me like memories and dreams. You enriched my life and will continue to do so as long as I can hear or even remember hearing your music.

Thank you Alex!

No comments:

Post a Comment