I'll make no bones about it, Big Star's one of my favorite bands ever. It sounds like Matt Devine, the main Ventilator, is a big fan too. One of the charms of the Big Star records is that they were given extensive recording time to perfect the songs that they had since the studio (Ardent) was also the record company. Matt circumvents that problem by recording his album at home on a Tascam 388, which is one of those big ?" reel to reels with the built in mixer. So he worked very hard at the tracks on this record and it shows. Power pop of the highest order. And then, being the smart cookie he is, he enlisted veteran producer Earl Mankey to mix most it down, and Brad Laner or Medicine to mix one of the songs. It sounds great, it's pop heaven and there's even a Skip Spence cover. (Delmore, 2802 E. Madison St, #197, Seattle, WA 98112)

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