When I saw that Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson -- henceforth referred to as MBAR, because not only do I decline to write that 28-letter name again, I ain’t even cutting and pasting it -- described his sound on MySpace as “that song your mom really likes," I had to laugh. You nailed me, MBAR. You totally nailed me. Queen Bea is a mom, and Queen Bea really likes your sound.
I’ve heard the Dylan references and I am a Dylan fan, but that’s not what speaks to me. (Anyway, one Dylan is enough.) What I heard was that shattering rawness, that on-the-verge-of-coming-apart-at-the-seams quality that characterized Chris Bell’s first (and regrettably, last) solo effort. MBAR is not as overtly revealing as Chris Bell -- Bell concealed nothing, not an ounce of the pain, not an ounce of the absurdity. He was one of those people who did not get how the rest of us were doing this thing called life. It was beyond him, until at some point he ran his car into a tree. And then he was beyond it.
MBAR’s “The Debtor” has a lot less innocence and a lot more complexity than Bell’s “I am the Cosmos.” And that is a good thing.
Here's Chris Bell, if you haven't had the pleasure of hearing this founding member of Big Star minus the band.
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