Alex Chilton Live in London: Encore Edition 2LP (White Vinyl)

A full LP's worth of unheard Alex from his 1980 London dates!

This enthusiastic and erratic set of live performances from rock 'n' roll's perennial imp of the perverse, Alex Chilton, marks the first time anyone beyond the hardy handful who attended the first night of his U.K. solo shows will get an earful of Chilton's distorted stock of Memphis psychobilly at its best. Includes eight previously unissued cuts, pressed on colored vinyl!

This Encore Edition of Live in London marks the first time anyone beyond the hardy handful at the event has gotten an earful of Chilton and crew's first night at Dingwalls. The May 27 bonus tracks offer an extended peek into Alex's arcane bag of cover tunes.

The 14 songs making up the original Live in London were taken from the second night, when the shoeless rocker and his new British buddies had gelled more fully into fighting shape.

Chilton had recorded The Seeds' "Can't Seem to Make You Mine," Troy Shondell's 1961 rocker "Girl After Girl," The Kinks' "Come on Now" all summarily savaged with a gusto that goes even beyond the brutalism postmodern prankster Chilton accorded them earlier. Plus the band lends a feral bite to Big Star power-pop evergreens adding furry layers of feedback and existential yearning in equal amounts.

All of it presented a greasy, ground-level picture of where Chilton's heart resided at the time, delivered with an earnest derangement roughly akin to Captain Beefheart's early funhouse-mirror distortions of the blues.

Chilton may have arrived in his pajamas, but he came to rock. Live in London confirms that his mission was accomplished.