Big Star's '#1 Record' and 'Radio City' to be remastered and reissued by Stax Records later this summer!

The news doesn't often get cooler than this! Stax Records is set to reissue two pioneering and essential albums from one of the greatest bands ever. Here are highlights of the official media release...

Albums available Sept. 2, 2014; packaging to include new liner notes by R.E.M.'s Mike Mills

Stax Records will reissue two seminal albums by one of the most influential bands of the 20th century, #1 Record and Radio City by Big Star.

#1 Record and Radio City will be available digitally in standard, mastered-for-iTunes and 24-bit high resolution audio. LPs of the two albums are presently in print, available via Stax Records. Liner notes by R.E.M.'s Mike Mills (a vocal fan of Big Star, as well as the core musician on the "Big Star's Third" concert series) will accompany the releases.

Big Star, considered to be among the founders of power pop, has been cited as an influence by many of the major alternative bands of the '80s and '90s, and continues to be a powerful presence in today's musical landscape. Artists such as R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, The Replacements (who famously penned the song "Alex Chilton") and the Bangles all enthusiastically tout the artistic impact of the group. Mike Mills recalls Big Star is "a band who had gotten it right, who made records that sounded like rock and roll bands should sound. A band who wrote all the songs, from flat-out rockers to achingly beautiful ballads that were still somehow rock songs."

For lots of more details, make sure to read the article posted earlier today on the Music News Nashville site here.

Speaking of both Music News Nashville and Big Star, read my column that ran in MNN in December 2013 where I reviewed the Big Star documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.