Until this week, the only T.Rex songs I'd heard were 'Bang a Gong" and 'Jeepster." Now that I've heard several albums and dig much of it, I'm curious to know more about Marc Bolan. What book(s) should I read?
Until this week, the only T.Rex songs I'd heard were 'Bang a Gong" and 'Jeepster." Now that I've heard several albums and dig much of it, I'm curious to know more about Marc Bolan. What book(s) should I read?
I have read and recommend the bio Marc Bolan: Twentieth Century Boy by Mark Paytress. Paytress writes for Mojo. I found the book informative and well written.
I'm sure others will recommend books to you but I'm going to recommend that you investigate Marc's pre-T.Rex recordings, the ones he did (with Steve Took) under the name Tyrannosaurus Rex.
* 1968 My People Were Fair and Had Stars in their Hair
* 1968 Prophets, Seers and Sages
* 1969 Unicorn
* 1970 A Beard of Stars
For my money the pre-glam, pre-drugs Bolan was a lot more interesting, a lot more innovative and a lot more important than what he became.
that's out of my price range. what about 'Ride A White Swan' or 'The Rise And Fall Of A 20th Century Superstar'?Originally Posted by kenneth8446
^^ thanks 'Carl." I am aware of those records and will tune in.
I remember flicking through one of the Paytress books (a paperback) in a library, that was pretty thorough. The sad thing is with him, like Roy Orbison was when he died, Marc was going through a bit of a revival in popularity before his death. He had a pretty bad mid 70s (drug/weight problems) but had cleaned himself up by 1977.
Album-wise, I like 'Electric Warrior' best of all. That has the two songs you mention. I'm not sure how big he was in America but he seems to have been *the* biggest thing going in the UK circa 1971-2.
uh-huh, I listened to EW last evening. first time ever. I thought it was great. I had a friend in HS (72-75) who loved Electric Warrior. I had the BAG 45 but never bought the TR album. another good band around at that time that I was watching on YT (BBC doc) was Slade. again, I had Slade 45's. I assume the Slade Box-Anthology 1968-91 is worth the price instead of getting their individual CDs, if one would want to buy something Slade. I'Ve found some T-Rex shows for dl at guitars101. gotta check that stuff out.
^Yes, Slade were maybe the main rivals to T Rex at that point.
For Slade, I don't have it but that box has always looked pretty comprehensive to me. Failing that, I like the 90s compilation 'Feel The Noize'- that has all the big hits on it. Two of my favourite hits of theirs are ballads, 'Everyday' and 'How Does It Feel'. Album-wise, I like 'Slayed', there's a great album track on that called 'Look At Last Nite'. (Mis-spelt titles was their schtick.)
So, was Slade's "Gudbuy T'Jane" about T-Rex?
Last edited by Jerjo; 04-25-2014 at 03:26 PM.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Agreed.This is a great Bolan song ,pre - Tyrannosaurus Rex.But again John's Children is probably first ever glam rock band.
I'm also more partial to the pre-glam stuff
I believe Steven "pregrine" Took was only on the first two... Mickey Finn on the next two...
And I doubt that his Tyranosaurus era was drug-free...
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
some good stuff here with Tony Visconti, gets into T-Rex stories and some Bowie stuff too...
http://smartest.libsyn.com/greg-proo...n+the+World%29
With Steve "peregrine" Took
I watched a BBC documentary about him a few months ago & man, I never knew the fucked up circumstances surrounding his death. Very sad.
^ the only thing I know about that is he was riding in a car with his girlfriend, I think; she lost control and they collided with something. he died instantly. I need to buy one of those books.
Not only the way he died, but the sad/fucked up aftermath for his family.
I'll always got him mixed up with Tommy Bolin. Both died tragically.
Never was a fan of T-Rex. The one or two hits I've heard never did anything for me. But I always liked this album cover:
Even the title kicks ass: Electric Warrior
I thought he wrapped a motorcycle around a tree?
I saw him around 1975, when he taped a Don Kirschner Rock Concert show in Long Beach
^It was a car.
As for the early stuff, I'm particularly partial to 'A Beard Of Stars' which introduced electric guitar to the sound. I love that huge guitar freak-out on 'Elemental Child'. 'Lofty Skies' is another good one. Some of the singles from that time like 'King Of The Rumbling Spires' and 'By The Light Of The Magical Moon' are great too.
If you just want a cover-all-bases compilations, there are a few good ones that I've picked up very cheaply over the years. There's a 2-cd one called 'Greatest Hits' which has all the A-sides, some B-sides, album tracks and rarities (including John's Children's 'Desdemona'...not that easy to find elsewhere). I'd rather it was chronological- not that he was the most varied of writers but the sound itself changed over the years- and there's a bit of fake-stereo on it. But it's very comprehensive.
There's a 3-cd set called 'Solid Gold T Rex' which is similar- doesn't have the pre-Tyrannosaurus Rex stuff on it, but is a very strong selection of all his stuff from that point onward.
Last edited by JJ88; 04-26-2014 at 03:25 AM.
All these mentioned above, plus T-Rex(1970) - their fifth album.
I just looked on abebooks.com and there are some cheap copies. A couple are undermined by ridiculous postage rates but you can get one of them delivered for less than ten dollars. I haven't read anything else so I can't unfortunately comment on the other books (and there are quite a few).
I have the pre-T Rex recordings with Steve Peregrine Took and while they are interesting they don't touch my soul like EW and the Slider. Both are gloriously fun.
Enjoy!
+1, although I caught him in '74 and he kicked!
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
I bumped into this. So far it's very interesting.
Free drugs for sure.
I have a massive soft spot for Bolan, for all his faults and excesses. The first single I ever bought was Solid Gold Easy Action (c/w Born To Boogie, which was the title of a strange self-indulgent movie he made with Ringo, Elton et al).
That single includes the line "Easy as picking foxes from a tree", which was later picked up on after his death - the registration number of his car that collided with a tree in the fatal accident was FOX 661L.
Get It On/Bang A Gong is easily one of the greatest rock singles ever, such an amazing groove.
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