Before Alex Chilton formed Big Star with Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel, he was the singer/frontman/Mr. Personality of the Box Tops, the group that scored a #1 hit with “The Letter.”

While still in the Bob Tops, Chilton head The Band’s “Music From Big Pink, flipped over “I Shall Be Released” and recorded the song for the Box Tops 1969 album, Dimensions. The group’s cover version of “I Shall Be Released” reached #67 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

After he quit the Box Tops, Chilton played folk music in Greenwich Village, part of a period of growth and transition that led to Big Star.

Plus live recordings of Chilton in February 13, 1997 at The Knitting Factory in New York performing “I Walk The Line,” “Motel Blues,” “Someone To Watch Over Me” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”

And Chilton with Teenage Fanclub doing “Dark End of the Street”:

[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.]

– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-