My Rival

• Track Listing

Vinyl LP pressing. Rare tracks by Alex Chilton, engineered by Chris Bell. It's mid- to late-1975, what remained of Big Star is no longer, Third/Sister Lovers was sitting on a shelf and Alex Chilton was in Memphis at a very low point. Chris Bell spent a large part of the year in London trying to get a solo record deal, but turned up empty and flew home to visit family in late summer. While at home, Bell was cutting more solo tracks at Ardent, one of which, "You And Your Sister" needed a harmony vocal, so he called in Alex. Fans have long thought that was the last recording of Bell and Chilton collaborating in the studio, but within what was probably a few days of that session, they were in the studio together again, with Bell engineering a set of demos for Alex. In some alternate universe, this could've been the next chapter for Big Star, and it sounds beautiful.