Thoughts on Big Star


I've read a little about Big Star after getting two of their songs on a southern music CD sampler. I really like "For You" and "Stroke it Noel". After sampling some of their other stuff I found that I also like "September Gurls".

I really like those three songs but I'm having a hard time finding other stuff of theirs that I like.

Just wondering if anyone else is into them, which albums you might like best, which songs you like best, best approach to getting into them, which recordings/format you prefer? 

They seem to have been one of those 'influential' bands with critical acclaim and with a strong but small following. Sometimes I find that I just don't see the magic in some 'cult' bands of that sort but liking the three songs mentioned above I feel like they might be worth getting to know. My only streaming is low end iTunes....for now.
n80
radio city is one of my all-time top ten, although at various times i prefer "third"---all the studio records are brilliant. i would also pick up chris bell's solo record, "i am the cosmos", which is just as worthy.
I saw a great documentary on Big Star a couple of years ago, should be easy to find somewhere. There are quite a few Pop groups who are cult legends, never achieving much commercial success, but inspiring a lot of members of groups/bands who did. Big Star were one of those. Their dual frontman/songwriter/singer dynamic was also found in Uncle Tupelo, The Jayhawks, The dB's, a few others.
I've been a fan of Alex Chilton for years. He is creative with a bit of an edge. Last year I bought all three of the third album reissues which I thoroughly enjoy. It includes the demos & rough mixes as well as obviously the final version. Funny thing is I've noticed this with other bands as well (Sonic Youth comes to mind), that often I prefer the stripped down versions better than the final cuts. There is something very organic about those versions.