Big Star – Back Of A Car….Power Pop Friday

If you want great power pop pick up a Big Star album…take your pick between their three original albums.

This song was on Radio City  released in 1974…their second album and follow up to their debut…Big Star #1 Record.  Although Chris Bell had quit the band after the release of #1 Record…Andy Hummel (bass player) stated that Chris Bell came back and helped with this song and O My Soul but received no credit.

Back of a Car slowly builds into a great song. The album got some better reviews than the first but Stax again could not distribute their album…so only around 20,000 copies were sold at the time.

Alex Chilton laid down great guitar for this song. Jody Stephens’ drums fills through the song are busy but adds to the over all sound.

Back Of A Car

Sitting in the back of a car
Music so loud can’t tell a thing
Thinking ’bout what to say
I can’t find the lines

You know I love you a lot
I just don’t know, should I not?
Waiting for a brighter day
I can’t find a way

I’ll go on and on with you
Like to fall and lie with you
I love you, too
Wo wo wo

Baby, I’m too afraid
I just don’t know if it’s okay
Trying to get away
From everything

Why don’t you take me home
It’s gone too far inside this car
I know I’ll feel a whole lot more
When I get alone

I’ll go on and on with you
Like to fall and lie with you
I love you, too
Wo wo wo

Sitting in the back of a car
Music so loud can’t tell a thing
Thinking ’bout what to say
I can’t find the lines

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

40 thoughts on “Big Star – Back Of A Car….Power Pop Friday”

      2. Ok… they never had the vocals up front with Big Star…maybe this is the reason I hate modern mixes when you can hear the singer breathe and the drums are way too loud. It’s a preference.

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      3. Listen to a song called It Won’t Take Long (Remastered) by the Stones… it’s not a bad song but the mix ruins it for me… the drums sound like they are in my head…micks voice is way too loud

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      4. I don’t want vocals way too loud but you can hear at all what they are singing. AC/DC’s album Fly On The Wall they buried Brian Johnson’s vocals. It was horrible.

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  2. I like the guitar a lot but Freefallin might have a point- at least on my very mediocre computer speakers, the treble and guitar really rolls over everything else on that video… would like to hear it on a different player and maybe from a different source than YT. Basic sound of song is very good…

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    1. I listen to it through headphones and it sounds great. I guess it’s just the way I like mixes…I things more equal and the voice and drums not booming like on modern mixes

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      4. Fair enough…there is a line I guess I don’t like mixes to cross…and I would rather have lower than too high.

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      6. Yeah I could hear it fine also. I don’t like modern mixes with the voice is so loud you can hear the person breathe. I don’t like where the voice dominates the song and the drums.

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      7. I agree. Most music, today, focuses on the singer…hence all these stupid singing shows. Everyone wants that “perfect” voice with range and vibrato. An iconic voice is better, along WITH the music.

        I love Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson…but, not because they were on AI. I like their whole package & persona.

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    1. Yes it could be…It would be a simple remix….I was just saying to Dave and Ricky…one of the reasons I don’t like as much modern music is because the voice and drums are way too loud for me on new releases. It’s like they are mixed for clubs…for dancing…even new Stones recordings are like that.
      It’s just a preference of mine…and I’m in the minority… I live in the minority lol.

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    1. Yes…that was a BIG problem and one of the reasons they failed…plus the company was failing at that time…teenagers and critics LOVED their three albums but you couldn’t find it at the store but of distribution problems….glad you liked it John…I’ll be posting another one next Friday off of that album.

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      1. Why did they stay with STAX after the first album? Was it because they signed contracts for more than one album with STAX? They had a distribution deal with Columbia and Columbia screwed them by not distributing the albums.

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      2. I think they did sign with more than one album. They should have stayed with that studio and paid for the recording themselves and shopped it around.
        Jim Dickinson produced their third album…the one that over saw Brown Sugar.

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      1. Jody Stephens is really good. I remember listening to a Golden Smog album for the first time and thinking that the drummer sounded like Stephens. I looked up the credits, and it was. He’s got a distinctive, splashy sound.

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      2. It was hard describing his drumming…splashy is good. I rarely do in my posts but I wanted to say… sort of like early surf records but slowed down to the rhythm of the song.

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