A TIMEOUS GUEST POSTING by THE SWEDE
40 years ago, over breakfast on September 16th 1977, my Dad delivered the bad news – Marc Bolan had been killed in a car accident earlier that morning. Dad knew more than most just how much Bolan and his music meant to me. My first LP. My first gig. My first obsession. Barely six years had passed since my initial encounter with T.Rex, via a friend at school. Six Years is a blink of an eye now, but in 1977 it was a third of my life – and felt a lot longer. From a gawky shorts-wearing 11 year old in 1971 to 17 year old enthusiastic musical adventurer in 1977, Marc Bolan opened up a whole world to me, one I’ve been exploring ever since.
For the purposes of this imaginary compilation I’ve ignored the hits. I figure everyone is familiar with ‘Get it On’, ‘Telegram Sam’, ‘Metal Guru’ etc. You can find those classics on any one of the many greatest hits compilations available. I’ve chosen to dig little deeper into the catalogue to pull together an ICA from ten of my favourite T.Rex tracks.
Marc Bolan, 40 years gone and still missed.
1. Mambo Sun
In contrast to what would come later, 1971’s ‘Electric Warrior’ sounds effortless, uncluttered, pure. ‘Mambo Sun’ opens proceedings, featuring Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman‘s backing vocals to full effect. The duo are better known as Flo & Eddie of The Turtles and also contributed significantly to Frank Zappa‘s work with The Mothers of Invention in the early 1970s.
2. Cadilac
In the first flushes of superstardom, Bolan insisted on giving his fans value for money. Concert tickets were pitched at 50p and two otherwise unavailable tracks appeared on the flipside of each of the first few singles. ‘Cadilac’ (sic) was one of the pair of tunes on the b-side of T.Rex’s third No.1, ‘Telegram Sam’, in January 1972 and featured in the band’s live set throughout the rest of the year.
3. Chariot Choogle
‘The Slider’ was the first LP I bought with my own money, in the Summer of 1972. In December of that year, T.Rex became the first band I ever saw live. The thrilling ‘Chariot Choogle’ from ‘The Slider’ opened the band’s set that night and remained an intermittent live favourite until 1974.
4. Sunken Rags
Another value for money b-side, ‘Sunken Rags’ was recorded during sessions for ‘The Slider’, before eventually appearing on the flip of ‘Children of the Revolution’ in September 1972.
5. Electric Slim and the Factory Hen
‘Tanx’ was recorded in the Autumn of 1972 and released in January the following year. On the LP, Marc Bolan attempted to expand on the familiar T.Rex sound by heavily overdubbing instrumental passages and backing vocals to create a fuller, more claustrophobic feel. Brett Anderson allegedly took inspiration from ‘Tanx’ for Suede‘s ‘Coming Up’ LP in 1996. ‘Electric Slim and the Factory Hen’ demonstrates a lightness of touch that is not always apparent on ‘Tanx’ and also gives an early nod to the soul music direction Bolan would sporadically pursue in 74/75.
6. Venus Loon
Ask me what my all-time favourite T.Rex track is. Go on, ask me. Well, since you’ve asked so nicely, it’s ‘Venus Loon’, the opening track on 1974’s ‘Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow / A Creamed Cage in August’.
‘Bent spent psychedelic mailman’s head, gorging up my spokes like the ghostly dead’ – they don’t write lyrics like that anymore! The album, produced for the last time by Tony Visconti, is once again dense with overdubs, multi-layered vocals and the sound of the kitchen sink being thrown in. Some say the LP is self-indulgent – I reckon it’s underrated.
7. Till Dawn
‘Zip Gun Boogie’ and ‘Light of Love’, the two weakest singles T.Rex ever released, were lifted from the 1975 LP ‘Bolan’s Zip Gun‘, while the obvious choice, ‘Till Dawn’, remained criminally overlooked. ‘Bolan’s Zip Gun’ saw Marc Bolan sitting alone in the producer’s chair for the first time, with the exception of this leftover from the ‘Zinc Alloy’ sessions, which has Tony Visconti’s uncredited fingerprints all over it.
8. All Alone
9. Casual Agent
‘New York City’ and ‘Dreamy Lady’, the singles plundered from 1976’s ‘Futuristic Dragon’, were again less than inspiring, but elsewhere on the LP are ‘All Alone’ and ‘Casual Agent’, two of Bolan’s best latter-day compositions. If only he could’ve sustained this mix of musical invention and lyrical playfulness across the whole LP.
10. Teen Riot Structure
By the second half of 1976, Marc Bolan had shed his excess weight, together with a few of his excessive rock ‘n’ roll habits and he put together a new T.Rex line-up, which he took out on the road with The Damned in support. A strong new LP, ‘Dandy in the Underworld’ was released in March of 1977 and a batch of new songs were demoed for its follow up. Invigorated by the birth of his son and the energy of the nascent punk scene, the future looked bright. The mighty ‘Teen Riot Structure’ is the final track on ‘Dandy in the Underworld’, the last LP issued in Marc’s lifetime.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Man, I am so stoked about this ICA. On American radio you’re going to get one of two T.Rex songs: Jeepster or Bang a Gong. That’s it; no joke. My T. Rex collection consists of Electric Warrior and The Slider, so 8 of these 10 tunes are total unknowns to me. Will chime back in after giving this one a proper listen.
Thanks JTFL, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. My guess is that any UK tributes to commemorate the 40th Anniversary will also understandably be very hit heavy, so I decided to dig deeper into Marc’s extensive catalogue for this ICA. Enjoy!
As Jonny said slot of new to me stuff to be explored.
Thanks Swede
Mambo Sun, as covered by the New Jersey/Hoboken band The Bongos is a favourite since long – shamefully I had not earlier heard the original version until now. Even if I still prefer the version by The Bongos, it’s great to hear some of the lesser known T.Rex tracks.
Thanks CC.
Martin. The Bongos version of ‘Mambo Sun’ is a favourite of mine too – an inspired cover.
Good choices all, and perfectly structured.
I still think he had plenty of gas left in his tank; we shall never know.
You have done your hero proud today… here and over at your place. JTFL, sadly, is completely right. Americans, typically, know about two songs. Our loss.
Okay, have given this set a proper listen and the winner is…Casual Agent. What a great ICA. I like every song on it, and see why you went for them, Swede. Teen Riot is a close second because the band is absolutely on fire, but Casual Agent has that simple 2-chord back and forth thing that reminds of Bowie’s Golden Years.
Thanks for this one, The Swede, an excellent compilation of heretofore unknown tunes from a sadly missed legend.
Great to see Teen Riot Structure. For me it is the LAST Glam song.
I love the chug of Till Dawn.
But the song that was my go to as a teen glam fan was Planet Queen from Electric Warrior.
Davie Henderson’s Win used to do a blistering white hot live version of the Slider which was always a highlight of their shows. When they recorded it it was a pale imitation, suffering from the same sterile overproduction that marred all of Win’s recorded output.
From this great ICA of previously unknown tracks my fave is Teen Riot Structure. Great to hear a T Rex song from a slightly different era, hints at what might have been.
I remember the day Marc died as a young boy unaware of who Marc Bolan was because the local neighbourhood (couple of crucial years older) babe Angela Wallace was in floods of tears. Me and a few of my pals would have liked to console her.
Strong compilation Swede. Some songs a family to me – others I have to explore. Anyway thanks for this compilation because T. Rex was one of them bands that made me listening to music since then.
A fine compilation and good to see you have brought so many lesser-known songs to the attention of others – Hard for others to understand your personal pain 40 years ago, but around here they definitely would have.
What an interesting selection, TS – so much better to see the less obvious choices. My older sister was a big fan when he was at his height, so I grew up to a bit of a T Rex soundtrack, but still really only know the more familiar material. I know he was very significant to you so this is a lovely and fitting tribute too on the anniversary of his death.
Btw, we recorded a programme about him last night on BBC Four so looking forward to watching it back soon.
Thanks to everyone for giving my first ever ICA the once over and for leaving such positive comments.
Would definitely include “Telegram Sam” as representative and something from a Beardful of Stars for diversity.
I’m reading this many years later, but you’re selection mirrors my faves on each album, All Alone would have made a great single and a hit!! My 1st LP was Electric Warrior and I remember being gobsmacked at the sounds coming out of my little orange record player! Have you listened to Django Django Storm, it’s a dead ringer for Motivator from E. W the guitars are so Bolan. Cheers.