In the current media perception, the transitional year 1970 was the height of the Sixties: the middle of the Vietnam War, a time of racial and poltical polemics, and arguably part of a post-Woodstock afterglow during which rock floated into a state of grace. Rock had found a comfortable niche with suburban teenagers of all ages, and there was finally no argument that this development on R&B music was not just a fad. In 1970 Alex Chilton was in the midst of a personal music transition from the studio-prepped pop of the Box Tops to the song craft of Big Star and his subsequent solo career.

On 1970 this mystical time so often in vogue today, comes across as a mellow and easy time capsule. The tapes are presented in a mix which features only sounds common to the era, and the songs are lost gems of the Chilton songbook including rolling opener "Come On Honey" which catches the 20 year old Chilton stretching out his chops on classic blues progressions. "Free Again" rides off on steel guitars and a hippy feel. The Abbey Road-ish "All I Really Want Is Money", and the cover "Jumpin' Jack Flash" attest to a continued fascination with British Rock while "I Wish I Could Meet Elvis" keeps the hero worship right at home in Memphis.

This nugget of a cd reveals the beginnings of Chilton's original songwriting style, dating from an intriguing series of experiments which prove surprisingly relevant today. Just one listen to the thrashing of "Sugar Sugar/I Got the Feelin'" which shows a slap happy Chilton arriving a few years too early for the slacker movement.