Mark Feld was a short, chubby, Jewish lad from the London âburbs. After slimming down, growing his hair, playing in a few bands and changing his name to Marc Bolan, he morphed his very 1960s hippy-dippy folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex into the very â70s full-on electric psychedelic boogie band T. Rex, becoming a bona fide rock star (in England, at least) and inventing glam rock in the process. After a four-year streak where he could do no wrong, he suddenly fell out of favor with the fickle public. Gaining weight and losing focus, he seemed doomed to self-parody when he got his shit back together. A comeback seemed imminent when he was killed in a traffic accident on Sept. 16, 1977, two weeks shy of his 30th birthday.
But hear this, children of the revolution: Thereâs much more to the legend of T. Rex than a âBehind the Musicâ-style rise and fall â he put out some damn fine records in his day, and thatâs what matters. At this writing, his sole American hit âBang a Gong (Get It On)â is being used in a series of JC Penney TV ads. It doesnât get better than that, right?
Well, maybe not, but the good folks at Rhino have undertaken a T. Rex extreme makeover program, unearthing demos, B-sides and other assorted rarities to compile deluxe editions of seven albums from the back catalog (and two compilations). These encyclopedic versions are more than a little excessive, but thatâs what T. Rex was all about.
Where to begin? You canât go wrong with â71âs Electric Warrior, as itâs Bolanâs most focused and cohesive effort and features âJeepster,â âMambo Sunâ and âBang a Gong.â Its follow-up, The Slider, is another highlight, from its iconic cover image (photo by Ringo Starr) to the music it contains, including âTelegram Samâ and âMetal Guruâ from which the Smiths boosted the riff for âPanic.â
If youâre just looking for the hits, Rhinoâs got your back: The T. Rex Wax Co. is a two-disc comp that collects the singles (minus Electric Warrior cuts), but for adventurous sorts, 1973âs Tanx is the real satisfaction pony. The original album release featured no singles, but with its string-drenched ambiance and lean, mean boogie riffs, itâs nearly as good as Electric Warrior. Better still, the expanded version features essential non-LP singles âChildren of the Revolution,â âSolid Gold Easy Actionâ and the transcendent â20th Century Boy.â
And speaking of imperfections, things got dicey for Bolan after Tanx. Futuristic Dragon has its moments, but the vaguely funky undercurrents of both Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow and Bolanâs Zip Gun are rather dire. Dandy in the Underworld recaptured some of the original spark. A tour with the Damned was in the works, but Bolan was dead weeks after Dandyâs release.
A thunderwing free angel. An explosive mouth who loved to boogie. An unrepentant hippy who served as one of the true godfathers of punk rock. Overlooked genius? Britrock also-ran? Bolan and T. Rex were all of these things and more. Truck on, tyke.
BY JAY DITZER
leobeat@leoweekly.com
This article appears in April 24, 2006.