At last.... T. Rex!
It's been a while since I've focused on the 1970s and incredibly given that this blog is coming up to its 3rd birthday, the first time there has been a Dubhed selection of Marc Bolan and his merry crew.
I was a toddler during T. Rex's imperial phase but the songs were embedded in my psyche through frequent radio play in my formative years. An early - and essential - purchase in 1986/87 was K-Tel's 28-track double vinyl compilation Best Of The 20th Century Boy. It really is a spectacular package, inside and out.
I'd still have it now had it not been one of the casualties of a flooded and collapsed roof whilst my girlfriend and I were away, travelling around Spain for a month in the late 1990s. To come home and find the album and several others in the ill-fated record box had been totally wrecked by a combo of rainwater and sodden cement and plaster was (relatively speaking) the least of our worries but absolutely gutting to say the least. I've never replaced the album, but putting together today's selection has had me glancing over at the Discogs marketplace...
The thing is, even marketing a 28-track collection as a "Best Of" didn't capture all of the brilliance of T. Rex, so I'm not going to pretend that a 14-song selection will come ever close. However, however.... it's a mark of Marc Bolan's individual and collaborative genius that, despite the odd dip here and there, the quality of music wasn't just limited to the A-sides. Yes, this pseudo-mixtape is inevitably laden with hits but there are a few B-sides, album tracks and session versions which provide a hint of what I mean.
I've taken the same cue as that glorious K-Tel compilation by starting off with The Groover and left off as many personal favourites as I've included, though Metal Guru was non-negotiable. I've also resisted the temptation to mirror the "Best Of" by ending with Cosmic Dancer, much as I love it, instead going for a relatively lesser known T. Rex song from Bolan's Zip Gun (1974)...
One and a two and a three and four, hey
Golden eyes on a sunset lawn
Make me feel so glad to be born
Broken pages on the edge of night
Make me want to squeeze you tight
Till dawn
Till dawn oh
Heat will fly on a sky of gold
Rivers flow like diamonds oh
Sweet angel girl I need you now
Locked around me like a burning house
Till dawn
Till dawn oh
Golden eyes on a sunset lawn
Make me feel so glad to be born
Broken pages on the edge of night
Make me want to squeeze you tight
Till dawn
Till dawn oh
Till dawn t-t-till dawn Till dawn t-t-till dawn
Golden eyes on a sunset lawn
Make me feel so glad to be born
Broken pages on the edge of night
Make me want to squeeze you tight
Till dawn
Till dawn oh
Heat will fly on a sky of gold
Rivers flow like diamonds oh
Sweet angel girl I need you now
Locked around me like a burning house
Till dawn
Till dawn oh
Golden eyes on a sunset lawn
Make me feel so glad to be born
Broken pages on the edge of night
Make me want to squeeze you tight
Till dawn
Till dawn oh
Till dawn t-t-till dawn Till dawn t-t-till dawn
Wherever you are and whatever you're doing this weekend, I hope you can spare a few moments to groove and boogie. It's done me a world of good!
1) The Groover (1973)
2) Get It On (1971)
3) The King Of The Mountain Cometh (1971)
4) Metal Guru (1972)
5) Light Of Love (Album Version) (1974)
6) Jeepster (1971)
7) Born To Boogie (1972)
8) New York City (1975)
9) Zip Gun Boogie (1974)
10) Laser Love (1976)
11) Children Of The Revolution (1972)
12) Telegram Sam (1972)
13) Sailors Of The Highway (Bob Harris Session) (1971)
14) Till Dawn (1974)
1971: Electric Warrior: 2, 6
1971: Hot Love EP: 3
1972: Children Of The Revolution EP: 11
1972: Solid Gold Easy Action EP: 7
1972: The Slider: 4, 12
1973: The Groover EP: 1
1974: Bolan's Zip-Gun: 5, 9, 14
1975: Futuristic Dragon: 8
1976: Laser Love EP: 10
1996: Tyrannosaurus Rex & T. Rex: A BBC History: 13
