DAILY NEWS REVIEW

(pretty good pix of band)
Bigger is Better: alex chilton leads all-Star lineup at Tramps, 21[not a
typo- D.] years after band's last New York show.
headline:Figuring Big in Rock History
subhead:Star -crossed in the '70's, band still a major power in pop

by Jim farmer
daily News Staff Writer

Rock dreams don't come true overnight.
The classic band Big Star let 21 years pass between its last New York gig-
at the now defunct Max's Kansas City-and a reunion of its main surviving
members at Tramps on Wedn3esday.
It was worth the wait.
With great melodic flair and pluckish spirty, Big Star illuminated the songs
that made the band on e of the bright lights of '70s hard pop. On the first
two albums (1972's #1 record" and '74's "radio City"), Big Star helped birth
a genre called power pop- an intensification of the Beaatles' love for
smartly rounded melodies and intimate harmonies.
Bands like Badfinger, Grin, and The Raspberries filled out this appealing
genre-though none of them had to suffer the utter commercial failure of Big
Star. [i beg to differ, Grin found big success in this country?? and nils is
*still* unappreciated-back flips or no back flips!- D.]
Very likely, more people showed up at Tramps than bought the original Big
Star LPs. Yet, if the band's press priase translated direc5tly to sales, the
group would be bigger than Whitney Houston.[is WH a group? am i missing
something here?]
The group's songs, likewise, proved a crucial influence to a string of
current power-pop revivalists, from Matthew Sweet and Teenage Fanclub to the
Pooh Sticks [yeah!]and the Idlewilds.
With all that history behind Big Star, it's no wonder that the Tramps show
doubled as a party for the latest edition of the Rolling Stone Rock
Encyclopedia [i am sorry but i think this shameless plug for RS's latest
Ensucklopedia has as much to do with Big*'s history as sewing buttons for a
living does.(n'est-ce pa, mr.sharples? )] 
Big Star's performance brough a full chapter to life. Joining original
frontman Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens were quitarist Jonathan Auer
and bassist Kenneth Stringfellow of the neo-power pop act The POsies.  The
latter two helped re-create various parts originated by Chris Bell (who died
in a car crash in 1978).
THe group's four part harmonies hardly rated as slick. In fact, both the
singing and the band's playing could lapse into the ragged. Band members also
had to frequently check the set list to see which song came next.
Luckily, that just lent the show a loose charm, which hardly halted the band
from finding a working balance of kicking guitars and sweet harmonies. Songs
like "Way Out West" and Big*'s best known number "Septemeber Gurls" (a hit
for the bangles), brought a host of hooks to the fore.[i didn't say this guy
was a *good* critic or anything..ok? don't shoot me, i'm only the lowly
typist]
Chilton himself proved most moving in his version of "the Ballad of El
Goodo"(recently covered[clobbered?] by Evan Dando)The singer found in the
piece both a steely defiance and great vulnerability.
Beyond such performances loomed the craft of Big*'s songs-especially numbers
like "Thank you Friends" or "Dont' Lie to Me".
If another two decades went by before Big* graced a New York stage again,
such melodies would linger on.(end..and copied without permission, of course)