Chris Bell – I Am The Cosmos (Deluxe Edition)

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Chris Bell was an immensely gifted songwriter, performer and producer. As a founding member of Big Star and as a solo artist he struggled to have his songs heard. Sadly, the Memphis-born artist did not live long enough to see the enormous impact his music – both with Big Star and as a solo artist – would have on future generations. Bell’s influential legacy grows thanks to the release of his solo album I AM THE COSMOS – DELUXE EDITION, and Rhino Records’ September 15 release of KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY, the definitive Big Star anthology. The two-disc deluxe edition of I AM THE COSMOS contains more than a dozen unreleased recordings. As a special bonus, the first 1,000 orders will receive a free 7″ single of “I Am The Cosmos” b/w “You And Your Sister.”

Listen to I Am The Cosmos

I AM THE COSMOS – DELUXE EDITION contains a remastered version of the original 1992 Ryko compilation on one disc, plus a second disc of rare and unreleased music recorded between 1970 and 1976. On the second disc, all but two of the 15 tracks are previously unreleased. Among the wealth of unissued recordings are eight alternate versions and mixes of album tracks, including “You And Your Sister” with Mellotron in place of the original’s string arrangement, and a later version of “Get Away” featuring Big Star’s Alex Chilton on guitar, Ken Woodley on bass and Richard Rosebrough on drums (Again, it is only available at Rhino Handmade and Rhino’s affiliated International sites).
Revisiting the original 1992 release of I AM THE COSMOS, Rhino Handmade’s deluxe edition includes the previously released acoustic version of “You And Your Sister.” The original also featured a “Slow Version” of the title track, which is heard in its entirety for the first time on this double-disc set. This is actually the original 8 track recording of “I AM THE COSMOS” which was done in asible night. Chris later transferred it to 16 track, added additional overdubs, and mixed it with Geoff Emerick at George Martin’s AIR STUDIOS in London in 1974. Bell sped up the song in mastering to produce the version on the 1978 Car Records 45.

The collection also gathers up a number of unreleased songs Bell recorded that did not appear on I AM THE COSMOS, including two songs by Icewater (a precursor to Big Star); collaborations with Memphis songwriter Keith Sykes (“Stay With Me”) and singer Nancy Bryan (“In My Darkest Hour”); and “Clacton Rag,” an instrumental recorded in 1976 that features Bell solo on guitar.

The beginnings of I AM THE COSMOS can be traced back to 1972, 1973 when Bell left Big Star, the seminal power-pop he helped found. After helping Big Star write and record a few songs for RADIO CITY, the band’s follow-up, Bell left for France in 1974. While there, he recorded several demos at Hérouville Studios for a planned solo album.

Bell was back in the UK in 1975 and returned home to Memphis, where he recorded more songs with a revolving cast of Memphis musicians. In 1978, Car Records released a single featuring Bell’s “I Am The Cosmos” b/w “You And Your Sister.” Encouraged by the positive reaction to single, Bell was planning a return to music when he was killed in a car accident in 1978, two days after Christmas. His music remained unreleased until 1992, when several of his recordings were released posthumously as I AM THE COSMOS by RYKO.

27 tracks

13 unreleased

2 discs

TRACK LIST

Disc One

1.       I Am The Cosmos

2.       Better Save Yourself

3.       Speed Of Sound

4.       Get Away

5.       You And Your Sister

6.       I Got Kinda Lost

7.       Look Up

8.       Make A Scene

9.       There Was A Light

10.   I Don’t Know

11.   Fight At The Table

12.   Though I Know She Lies

Disc Two

1.       Looking Forward* – Icewater

2.       Sunshine* – Icewater

3.       My Life Is Right – Rock City

4.       I Don’t Know (Alternate Version)*

5.       You And Your Sister (Alternate Version)*

6.       I Am The Cosmos (Extended Alternate Version)*

7.       Speed Of Sound (Alternate Version)*

8.       Fight At The Table (Alternate Mix)*

9.       Make A Scene (Alternate Mix)*

10.   Better Save Yourself (Alternate Mix)*

11.   Get Away (Alternate Version)*

12.   You And Your Sister (Acoustic Version)

13.   Stay With Me* (With Keith Sykes)

14.   In My Darkest Hour* (With Nancy Bryan)

15.   Clacton Rag (Instrumental)*

*Previously Unissued

I AM THE COSMOS (DELUXE EDITION) PRESS

Pitchfork – The second disc…helps expand the history of Bell and Big Star. Yes, the bulk comprises alternate versions and mixes (including a version of “Get Away” featuring Chilton on guitar), but as with the rarities on Big Star’s box, the different perspective proves an invaluable annex to the band’s limited catalog (just as fleeting captures of Bell’s slow, Southern drawl of a speaking voice proves a fascinating contrast to his sharp, British Invasion-inflected singing voice). Fleshing out the still oddly incomplete Big Star portrait are a few tracks from Bell’s pre-Big Star bands Icewater and Rock City (whose early version of “My Life Is Right”, essentially the same as Big Star’s version, underscores Bell’s talents), subsequent collaborations with Memphis scene fixtures Keith Sykes and Nancy Byran, and a sleepy solo instrumental, “Clacton Rag”.

BLURT – For many reasons…Bell has never quite gotten the credit he deserves in shaping the so-called Big Star sound…More than just a fitting coda to the towering Keep An Eye In The Sky set, Rhino’s two-disc deluxe edition treatment of I Am The Cosmos reaffirms Bell as every bit Chilton’s equal. The de-facto album is certainly deserving of its separate re-release, but with Chilton present on a few tracks and many mutual Big Star associates in on the sessions, I Am The Cosmos is inseparable from the Big Star mythos.

Billboard – “Children by the millions/Worship Alex Chilton,” so goes the Replacements song, but only thousands know about Chris Bell, his bandmate in Big Star’s first incarnation. Bell helped shape Big Star’s take on British Invasion rock, then left after its first album to tackle personal demons and record as a solo artist…During the ’80s and ’90s, as Big Star gained critical respect as one of the greatest bands that never had a hit, Bell finally got props as its studio craftsman, the underappreciated artist in an underdog band. And his legend grows still. The album “I Am the Cosmos” wasn’t released until 1992. Now, to mark the long-awaited release of its Big Star boxed set, Rhino is releasing a deluxe version with a second disc of early work and alternate versions. Almost all of it lives up to the legend.

Record Collector – Bell’s part in Big Star’s vibrant distillations of their anglophilic pop fixation is well known 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, achingly vulnerable 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.