Pauls Desert Island Discs - No.1 : Tyrannosaurus Rex (Marc Bolan) Unicorn/Beard of Stars When I first heard the 3rd and 4th Tyrannosaurus Rex albums (reissued as a double LP back in 1972), I was immediately transported to another realm – a world more magical and fanciful than anything J.R.R. Tolkien had dreamt up, although Tolkien had been Bolan’s primary inspiration. It was the sound of the idiosyncratic voices and the unusual instrumentation (acoustic guitar, bongos and assorted toy organs purchased from the children’s department of a London department store) that evoked another dimension, not the words. You couldn’t make out the lyrics, because of Bolan’s exaggerated vibrato vocal and the garbled way he sang in what sounded like a lost gypsy language or an invocation to Pan and the gods of the forest. It was even more unintelligible when blended into the eccentric vocals of partner Steve Took; the two sounding like two pixies romping in the woods. Then when I found the lyrics years later they were even more incredible and evocative than I could have imagined. Bolan was criminally underrated during his lifetime and for decades after his death, because he was considered a teeny bop idol, but these two albums are just magical and unique. He was my first musical hero, but so under appreciated that I had two write TWO biographies (‘Electric Warrior’ in 1979 and ‘Cosmic Dancer’ in 2013) to do him justice. youtu.be/FhvQUJZtgDo youtu.be/tU9AbpBc2fA
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 09:37:54 +0000
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