Over the last twenty years most of us have given up on Alex Chilton ever recapturing the soul-deep, emotional bull’s eye of songs such as Big Star’s “What’s Goin’ Ahn.” Maybe Alex has, too. Once upon a time, he could do “lonely” as well as anybody who ever sang into a microphone. Sinatra, Gram Parsons, Everly Brothers. Bone-chilling lonely. Even fronting the Box Tops, he sang “I’m Your Puppet” with more than enough power to overcome the cruddy speaker of my clock radio. #1 Record and Radio City rank with Pet Sounds.
But while Brian Wilson did manage to fight off the demons (and lawyers) for a brief time, Chilton’s great gift hasn’t resurfaced. Maybe it’s an impossible standard and he knows it. What we have here, then, is a party record, a bunch of cover versions served up bar-band style — a mix of R&B and Tin Pan Alley, but well-chosen. Just Chilton on vocals/guitar and a rhythm section, Set sounds like it was recorded live in the studio, no overdubs, the old-school philosophy of booking an hour’s studio time and just getting it done.
The vocals are a little shaky, but the guitar playing is not. It’s a wonderful mixture of lead and rhythm and nearly makes up for the spare arrangements. These songs could use the American Studio treatment, horns, organ, but that costs big money these days. As it stands, it may take three spins to accept Set on its own terms, but it’s worth an audition.
