"O My Soul" question

I dunno about Dickinson on mellotron on "Radio City," tho...I'd bet it was Chilton or Terry Manning or Hummel or someone.

Don't have the Small Faces song to reference, Stormy. But I'd say "Sgt. Pepper's" maybe has the first mellotron? I know the Zombies used it on "Odessey." And both of them are '67.

Great guitar playing from Chilton too. The second greatest clean Stratocaster tone in history, in my opinion. Next to Hendrix on Wait Until Tomorrow/Little Wing. Thank god for the second and fourth position on the selector switch!

if i'm not mistaken, the beatles first used it on "strawberry fields forever," released a few months before sgt. pepper.

yeah, it's basically ripped off from James Brown in some ways. that first part is I-IV-V, he goes up from A6 chromatically to C-sharp6, to D, back down, and then does that little lick on the E chord. the middle part is just A to D. and then that augmented lick into "never you mind" which I think is E minor/A, and then the solo bit is in E. the ending is the same ending as Brown's "I'll Go Crazy." Such rich-sounding guitar playing, such simple yet slightly skewed ideas. they apparently just thought it'd sound better in mono (I forget if the edited 45 is in stereo?).

Yeah, The labyrinthine arrangement and structure of this song never fails to astound me indeed. I still think they were totally listening to HOuses of the Holy when they cooked this one up. No, everything doesn't come back to Zep for me, but come on! YOu know they were listening. Listen to Jody's drumming on this cut for crying out loud. "O My Soul" is totally their "Song Remains the Same". Hummel's bass is awesome too. I love how Chilton's all "drink all night. hey" -- that tossed-off "hey" is so funny, so disaffected; then, the "YOU'RE REALLY A NICE GIRL!"

oh man, and yeah, that Strat sound. God bless the strat. People who run it down are just dorks and non-listeners who hate SRV becuz he offends their indie know-nothingness. But check out Robbie Blunt on those first two Robert Plant solo albums. Right up there. If you like the "Radio City" sound, you gotta here Blunt on those records. I wouldn't kid you. But yeah, Jimi on Axis... phew, probably why Axis is my fave Jimi alb...

But back to StormyD's LZ comparison, does anybody else hear "You Get What You Deserve"'s Stairway/Watchtower-ness?

I've been listening to those Big Star records a lot lately--really listening to them for the first time in a while. I hear the Hendrix thing a la "Axis" (which is my favorite Hendrix album), too. But I can't think of any other record that sounds quite like "Radio City."

* the funk-type thing in the beginning
* the "really a nice girl" riff
* the "trying to see you" riff (this one is really killer, playing the thirds up and down)

Not to mention the licks in the solo, etc. Dude is underrated as a player!

I really like the way it isn't distinct, always breaking down, starting and stopping. They're so good at invoking the confusion involved in choosing what feeling is the right feeling. All sorts of spooky places other bands don't go with Big Star.

Ok the rest of the songs on this record are some of my favourites ever, but this song, the opener, it's so different to anything else.
It's also the last song on the album i came around to liking, long after i'd grown sick of the catchier stuff like "Get What You Deserve" and "September Girls".
I still go "huh ?" and ha (and "hey !")