Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos: Deluxe Edition

And keep an eye on the cosmos too

With Rhino’s box set and Universal reissuing the first two Big Star albums, this couldn’t be a better time to pay tribute to the late Chris Bell, the founder member who died in a car crash in December 1978, just when his solo career was finally getting under way. Earlier that year, this writer received a package containing Bell’s first single, I Am The Cosmos, and recalls being captivated by the ethereally-haunted quality which continues to shine through on this remastered edition of Ryko’s 1992 compilation. There’s also a second disc of mainly unreleased music Bell recorded between 1970-76 at France’s Chateau Herouville and in Memphis, including a longer, earthier version of the title track, which will forever be his defining moment.

Bell’s part in Big Star’s vibrant distillations of their anglophilic pop fixation is wellknown and well-represented on tracks such as I Don’t Know and My Life Is Right, both here in alternate versions. His main strength, however, was in beautiful, soul-baring ballads such as the incandescent Speed Of Sound, achinglyvulnerable You & Your Sister (here in three versions), cathartic There Was A Light and several more, whose aching poignancy heighten the tragedy of this life and major talent cut short.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Rhino | tbc

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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