Alex Chilton - Like Flies On Sherbert FLAC download

To the 180 people who have this already: how's the sound quality of this pressing?

I agree with you on the Peabody label. It's a real work of art, fashioned after those old 78 Bluebird Records. I remember picking the album up at Dearborn Music in Michigan back in the day. Probably paid under twenty bucks for it. Only bought it because I was vaguely familiar with Big Star and remember always loving Chilton's voice on 'The Letter'.

The original mix and sequence are considerably different and in my opinion superior to the subsequent reissues. It comes in a dull thick "tip on" sleeve as opposed to the glossy thin sleeved reissues.

Lou Reed was knockin' around, having vocal levels drop in and out, with some good affect... Tom Verlaine attempted angular, disjointed romance and had some great affect... yet, both of these seminal NYC smiths had over-production, it was a paradigm that was in full effect, the studio was God. The best reference point is to think Chuck Berry coping with Skip Spence at the boards,and you're near target... Neal Haggerty would make a paltry living off this sound a decade later with Royal Trux, yet none of this is important. The frank honesty and temporal realizations Chilton exhibits comes through loud and clear. I mean, we wouldn't be having generation after generation of Kiwi pop if it wasn't for the paradigm shift this album exports... listen to The Clean's early recordings... is it that Chilton tapped into something or ushered in something of his own? I think having Big Star's Third close by, maybe throwing on Chris Bell's solo effort, goes a long way to unearth the base for why you would committ, at the time, to critics, and critics only, artistic suicide... this album sounds fresh to these ears. It must've sounded fresh to legions of Chilton fans who now could finally go for par with a pop song legend. I can not recommend this album enough for sonic explorers that still rely on a solid hook and chugging beat. If you listen to people that say this is a mess with a negative conotation, then I would be skeptical of what they call a record collection. An exceptional recording that defies expectation... again, Chilton cut your teeth, why dismiss this as a mishap... everything is purposeful or happy experiments that work within the context of both historical document and singular cultural voice. The new reissue on vinyl from Vinyl Lovers is nice, grab the double lp for the live set.

This disjointed (to say the least) effort by Alex Chilton has assumed a huge cult-like status, not necessarily deserved.I always thought this was the sloppiest piece of music ever put on vinyl, so I wasn't surprised to find that Alex was going through some bad times during the recording. He sounds like a mean drunk on some of these tunes....a happy drunk on the rest!So Chilton gets points for honesty. My guilty pleasures on this disk are the following:"Baron of Love, Part II": This is a real drunken fiasco! "Gonna get me some tall boys!" Alex rages. It's a mess and I like it.Ditto "Girl After Girl", another drunken spree in which we find the intoxicated Alex looking for love in all the wrong places. It's a salacious take on Troy Shondell's song.Drunken paranoia can be found on Chilton's "My Rival". This guy is just NOT happy here."I've Had It" is an inebriated mess of an Orbison song. It's hard to take -- must sound better if you're drunk."Rock Hard" really cracks me up. Chilton is horny drunk on this one. He's so blitzed, he thinks "purple" rhymes with "ripple" and "nipple". Maybe this tells me more about myself than I need to know, but I like this song!"Hey Little Child" could have made a nice straight forward little pop tune, but Chilton and Dickinson collapse the tune by the song's end. In an endearing way of course.So I enjoy half of this album. For not pretending to be anything but what it is I give it extra points. I find "Waltz Across Texas" unlistenable and "Like Flies On Sherbert" is psychedelic pop so bad that it makes Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" sound like Beethoven.I've looked this release up on the internet and someone says only 500 copies of this lp were released on Peabody. I added it to discogs because I didn't see the Peabody release, only the Aura issue. So apparently, this may be a real Alex Chilton rarity. Yippee!!!

You mean that isn't Chilton singing 'Baron of Love'? I had just assumed it was Alex. Whatever, I think Ross does a perfect vocal .... you positive it isn't Alex? I eventually sold my Peabody copy. As you can tell by my review, I never considered the album exceptional at all. It sounded like a bunch of mean drunken musicians totally fucking up takes and then putting said fucked up takes on vinyl. Maybe that's 'genius' nowadays. I liked the drunken excess of some of the material, but I really find half of the album unlistenable. Chilton was an interesting character. Another talent that seemed to go on permanent detour. I can't say I enjoyed 'Sherbert' with any of the excitement I get hearing Big Star's 'Radio City'.

It's definitely a real rarity, and I've also heard 500 copies were pressed on Peabody. Sid Selvidge couldn't really move the record because, well, it really wasn't commercial to put it mildly. However, "Baron of Love, Part II" features fellow Panther Burns member Ross Johnson on lead vocals. It was a carry over from Ross' drunken Panther Burns rants that made it onto the album and a tribute of sorts to Johnny "Guitar" Watson. If you have a Peabody copy, consider yourself very lucky. Selvidge did a great job with the label. Sherbert is an exceptional record.