The Box Tops: "The Letter"

September 30, 1967 (1 week)

As a music nerd I've long been aware of the name Alex Chilton. He is adored by music critics, grumpy guys who work in record stores and members of bands that I think are okay. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Still, you can probably detect that I'm not a huge fan, which I'm not. I'm not much of a music critic, I've never worked in a record store (though I've tried, believe you me; I'm certainly grumpy enough to be qualified) and I haven't been in a band since I was in junior high school — and, to be sure, we weren't even close to being "okay". But there's more to it than that. Mainly, I've never been that crazy about power pop so why would I be into the band that practically defined it?

The band I'm talking about is Big Star, Chilton's Memphis-based project that followed the dissolution of The Box Tops, his much more successful outfit from his teen years. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say his much better outfit. For while I'm sure garage bands the world over may learn a great deal from listening to albums like #1 Record and Radio CIty, far greater actual listening pleasure comes from a dozen-or-so first rate Box Top singles. And kudos to Chilton, who sings like a demon and was a steady rhythm guitarist — the only trouble was, he didn't write many of their great songs.

"The Letter" was the group's first and biggest hit and it is the one they are remembered for but it isn't quite their best. Not cursed with the power pop straight jacket that would stick to Big Star, they actually improved during their three years as a going concern, their background in Memphis soul blending perfectly with their debt to The Beatles. Still, their debut single is remarkably mature. The sixteen year old Chilton with his gravelly voice of a seventy-two year old helps the song's urgency.

A common complaint I've been noticing on YouTube is that it's too short. Certainly at just a minute and fifty-four seconds it is brief, especially during the late sixties when tracks going past the three minute mark was no longer an exception. More problematic, however, is that it doesn't have much substance within that swift running time. A verse, another verse, chorus, then they're repeated. If anything, the insubstantial writing on the part of Wayne Carson Thompson makes it guilty of going on a bit too long. No doubt it ought to be another sixty seconds longer but only if there was more for them to work with. Luckily, The Box Tops give such a fine performance that it almost doesn't matter. Almost.

(A big point in its favour is that "The Letter" is a clear influence on the typically outstanding "From a Whisper to a Scream" from Elvis Costello and the Attractions' album Trust. I'm kind of surprised I never noticed this before but, then again, it doesn't seem to have been remarked upon by anyone else either. I guess it wasn't just bloody Big Star who influenced everyone, huh?)

Alex Chilton would never hit this level of pop success again. As I mentioned above, The Box Tops released better material than this but their popularity waned enough that they would only have two more Top 10 entries on the RPM hit parade. From there, he would have critical acclaim to look forward to but sales never materialized. (Big Star seem to be one of those bands who are always being praised but still remain "underrated" in the eyes of their fans; I've never been able to square this one) Bad luck and a lack of record label support are frequently blamed but it couldn't have helped that he never wrote anything close to as catchy and engaging as "The Letter" or all those other Box Top numbers that I, for one, would much sooner be coming back to. The critics, record store clerks and so-so bands are welcome to the rest of Chilton's material.

Score: 7