Third/Sister Lovers

Third (reissued in 1985 as Third/Sister Lovers) is the third studio album by the American band Big Star. The sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 1975, a combination of financial issues, the uncommercial sound of the record, and lack of interest from singer Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens in continuing the project prevented the album from ever being properly finished or released at the time of its recording. It was eventually released on March 18, 1978, by PVC Records. After two commercially unsuccessful albums, Third documents the band's deterioration as well as the declining mental state of singer Alex Chilton. It has since gone on to become a cult album, and was placed at number 449 on Rolling Stone's 2012 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Its reputation growing with time, the album moved up to number 285 on the magazine's 2020 listing. The album is included in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.