T. Rex [LP]

by T. Rex

Overview

Tyrannosaurus Rex's transformation from oracles of U.K. hippie culture to boogie-friendly rock stars began with the album A Beard of Stars, released in early 1970 when the band picked up electric instruments, and by the time the year was out, Marc Bolan had pared their name down to the more user-friendly T. Rex and dropped their first album with the new moniker. Oddly enough, while the songs on T. Rex bear a much stronger melodic and lyrical resemblance to what would make the band famous on Electric Warrior in 1971, the tone of the album is a bit more pastoral than A Beard of Stars; on most of the tunes, the electric guitars are more successfully integrated into the arrangements so they lack the jarring immediacy of "Elemental Children" or "Pavilions of the Sun," and Mickey Finn still wasn't using a full drum kit, so the tunes don't quite have the kick of a full-on rock band. But Bolan himself sounds like he's ready for his close-up, as his vocals -- mannered yet quietly passionate and full of belief -- suggest the glam hero he would soon become, and numbers like "Beltrane Walk," "Is It Love," and "Diamond Meadows" (with its wink-and-nudge refrain "Hey, let's do it like we're friends") are just a few paces away from the swaggering sound that would make him the U.K.'s biggest star. If Bolan was reaching for the big time with T. Rex, he also sounds like he was letting out the rock star that had always lurked within him, and there isn't a moment here that doesn't sound like he's singing from his heart and soul. T. Rex is the quiet before the storm of Electric Warrior, and it retains a loopy energy and easy charm that makes it one of Bolan's watershed works. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2016
Label:	Rhino
UPC:	0081227943318
Rank:	30042

Tracks

1. The Children of Rarn
2. Jewel
3. The Visit
4. Childe
5. The Time of Love Is Now
6. Diamond Meadows
7. Root of Star
8. Beltane Walk
9. Is It Love?
10. One Inch Rock
11. Summer Deep
12. Seagull Woman
13. Suneye
14. The Wizard
15. Ride a White Swan

Album Credits

Performance Credits

T. Rex   Primary Artist
Marc Bolan   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Jerry Capehart   Composer
Marc Bolan   Composer
Eddie Cochran   Composer