Big Star -- "Dony"
I often find the brilliance of Big Star hard to explain, but I do think it's here to be found in this song, from the late Alex Chilton's lukewarmly-received 2005 resurrection of the band. If nothing else, I'd have to say that the sound coming from Chilton's amp is just right: a crunchy pop crackle, not so much distortion that it drowns out the sound of the vacuum tubes, but enough to make the edges just a little fuzzy, a little jagged. It fills up a little more space that way. The simple guitar break is classic Big Star.
The sound of Big Star always teetered between that of the Stones and that of the Beatles, and here they are mostly in Stones terrain. Derivative, perhaps, but that's one of the things we love about rock music. Past their prime, but who isn't these days? I think that Radio City was their best work, but for power-pop fans this still does the trick.
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