MB solo vs. Tyrannosaurus Rex vs. T. Rex

"Get It On" was unsurprisingly the first song I ever heard by Bolan and so for a long time I was almost exclusively focused on the Electric Warrior period, even after I picked up one of the eight million further compilations out there. It took a semi-promo comp from Edsel as part of their reissue series of the Slider and onward material for me to really get sparked into exploring that more, and on the flip side to start exploring the earlier roots of the band in more detail as well.

If we're talking Marc solo in 1966/7 or so -- The Beginning of Doves stuff and all that, "The Wizard" etc. -- pleasant enough fun, as is the brief John's Children flirtation. Early Tyrannosaurus Rex is a bit much for me at points (love the weird John Peel cameos, though), but in small doses it's a wonderfully off, hysterical takes on folkiness ("Deborah" and my personal favorite, "Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia"). The schizoid mutation period from Unicorn through the self-titled album is really wonderful (Steve Kilbey of the Church told me earlier this year that the self-titled was his favorite of them all, and I can see that) -- losing Took was unfortunate, but he didn't seem like he was entirely there at that point anyway, and Finn looked good. ;-) After that is godhead and fantastic collapse and revival and the end and all.

*taps fingers* If I had to select from particular periods, "A Midsummer Night's Scene" (that was him, wasn't it?), "Once Upon...," "Elemental Child," "Raw Ramp," "Ballrooms of Mars," "Country Honey," "The Groover," "Chrome Sitar," "Teen Riot Structure." Plus all the singles, most of the B-sides, a good number of the album cuts, a slew of the unreleased songs, the acoustic LA radio take on "Ballrooms of Mars"...

I also like some of the stuff from around the time the name was shortened like "King of the rumbling spires" and "Jewel"

With regards to the early stuff, the John's children album "Orgasm" is brilliant in places and The Toby Tyler mid 60's stuff is ok in a mid 60's Dylan impersination way and is certainly no worse than the stuff Bowie was doing around the same time and at least twice as good as Donovan.

Aw but Bolan was a brilliant pop star wasn't he? and no one can tell me that at 29 years old his best stuff wasn't yet to come. He would have loved New wave and I'm sure he would have claimed to have invented hip hop come 1981.

So I choose for his best period....1979 to 1985.

i love ilm just for such phase moments.

Which I'm going to relisten to for the first time in a long while here tomorrow, so roxor.

Plus, b/c he produced half of it himself, it doesn't sound a thing like anything else he did (though the sequence definitely accentuates Bolan's self-productions, which sound a touch like Lindsay Buckingham's ca. Tusk). I wonder if Visconti, who left during its production, would agree on its quality now that some time has passed.

Marcello via TPL on the first Tyrannosaurus Rex albums:

http://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2010/11/tyrannosaurus-rex-prophets-seers-sages.html

Pretty tough to pick between T. Rex/Tyrannosaurus, but when Tyrannosaurus records are soooo good for the fall or wintertime, or when you're feeling emo, or just spiritual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ187x-6x_8