Music is something to share, to talk about, and occasionally ram down other people's throats. This is a blog that does all of that.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Perfection on Vinyl, Part Two: Electric Warrior

I came to T Rex late in life. Yeah, I heard and loved the Power Station’s version of "Get it On (Bang a Gong)" back in 1985. And the original T Rex version was the first I’d heard of them.

Then I saw the marvelous film Billy Elliott, and that made me a T Rex fan. When Billy takes that tattered copy of Electric Warrior out of the sleeve and plays “Cosmic Dancer” as he jumps up and down on his bed, it sets the stage for the film beautifully—and in a sense is symbolic of what glam rock did in the early 70s. It made tough guys like the tough, sexy music made by androgynous men . Were they men? Women? Gay? Straight? Who cared?

I found this review from January 1972 of Electric Warrior which foretells of the classic status this album was later to achieve:

Well, this is the group, rock and roll fans. I feel it is important to impress on you the ingenuity of these two young Englishmen who have somehow, ingeniously, constructed a rock album that will enter the annals of rock history as one of the most original sounding, unusual sounding, obtusely, cleverly and creatively written albums ever. The sound could only be accurately pegged as "mystic boogie." Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn are the two dinosaurs involved here. Bolan does all the writing, singing, and plays guitar. Finn takes care of the percussion end of things. The rhythms this unique duo create, with the help of various session musicians (who play saxophone, flugelhorn, bass and drums) are devastating.

Devastating, indeed. My favorite tracks are "Jeepster," "Cosmic Dancer," and "Life's a Gas."

Lead singer/songwriter Marc Bolan was the pinup boy of the era, and he had a strange little voice that could croon and rock, whisper and scream, turn you off and turn you on all at the same time.

Bolan died in September 1977, a month before his 30th birthday. T Rex bandmate partner Steve Peregrin Took choked to death on a cocktail cherry in 1980, and bassist Currie was killed in a car crash in Portugal a year later. Mickey Finn is the only surviving member of T Rex.

1 Comments:

Blogger Walt said...

I love this album. And if you love "Electric Warrior" you will also love "The Slider." Rhino recently reished it with a bonus cd of demos and alternate versions. It's my favorite of the two (if I have to pick faves and I hate doing that).

Earlier today i just ordered the "Born To Boogie" 2-cd set (the dvd is great too).

1:40 PM

 

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