01 Electric Warrior 02 Unicorn 03 T. Rex 04 A Beard Of Stars 05 The Slider 06 Futuristic Dragon 07 Tanx 08 Prophets, Seers and Sages 09 Dandy In The Underworld 10 My People Were Fair and Had Sky In Their Hair…But Now They’re Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows 11 Bolan’s Zip Gun 12 Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow
i started listen to tyrannosaurus rex when i received the Get it On EP for my 12th birthday (along with Michael Jackson ABC). I collected all the albums on wax and his poetic words and unusual sounds filled my head for years. I particularly like the older albums, even now going back through the whole catalogue, its the older sounds that interest and intrigue. I would never be able to list Marc's albums as in this poll, as i love them all equally, but it was so interesting to get the thoughts of others. I remember feeling a little embarrassed to admit that i was a T-Rex fan - i was the only one in my class. i remember getting up before dawn and walking more than 10kms from my house to the airport to greet them when they arrived in Sydney for their one and only concert (at the Horden Pavillion - Lobby Lloyed and the Coloured Balls opened).
Thank you Jason, the sonic quality of The Slider hit me when I least expected it a couple of years ago when doing the 1001 albums book and was like love at first listen, can't describe it but it was an epiphany and an experience like none other. like a shimmery metalic sound, just like what you're describing, that sound alone is enough to make it 5 stars and my #1 for T.Rex
‘Tanx’ is the closest marc ever came to merging his early mysticism to his later sound. ‘Great Horse’ from a beard of stars has one of the most achingly beautiful melodies ive ever heard
Absolutely! Another one with that kind of vibe is once upon the seas of Abyssinia. then to pull 1 from late T. Rex, pain and love has an other worldly, painful, longing in it as well. It sounds like an HP lovecraft inspired song.
@@CB-xr1eg Perhaps some of the cosmic mellotron sounds, phasing, and other studio trickery that has a late 60s bent to it? I agree I wouldn't exactly call the album "mystical" as a whole but perhaps that's what the poster was referring to.
1. The Slider 2. Electric Warrior 3. T. Rex 4. A Beard of Stars 5. Bolan's Zip Gun Love this band! Was very into them when I was in college, and the top 3 on my list have stayed in pretty consistent rotation since then. I love their sexually androgynous hard rock swagger (and love when it brushes shoulders with folk in their transitional records) and I also love the unique mix of hippie mysticism, throwback 50s rock n roll-isms, and surrealist nonsense in their lyrics. Great band, respect all your lists!
I never tire of Bolan and have been a fan since about 1970, I was 6 years old when I first heard the 'Unicorn' album being played by a much older cousin, come 1980 I owned all the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and yes I like them all (the bongo's are annoying at times & Marc's vocals make it difficult to pick out actual words) but it matters not I tend to like the whole experience... I mostly consume my music as self made compilations, so don't get hung up too much on albums, beside 'Electric Warrior' & 'The Slider' the rest have highs & lows, the lows are poor but It does not take away from the decent percentage that I believe are good to great... If I want to feed my brain I will listen to something else, if I want comfort then Bolan is firmly in my Goldilock zone... Love Jasons description for 'The slider'.... Marc had some good non album singles, shame he didn't leave off some of the dirge and include them instead... 01 Electric Warrior, 5/5... 02 The Slider, 5/5... 03 Tanx, 4.5/5... 04 T. Rex, 4.25/5... 05 A Bead Of Stars, 4/5... 06 Unicorn, 4/5... 07 Prophets, Seers and Sages, 4/5... 08 Futuristic Dragon, 3.5/5... 09 My People Were Fair, 3.5/5... 10 Dandy In The Underworld, 3.5/5... 11 Bolan’s Zip Gun, 2.5/5... 12 Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow... 2.5/5...
The most satisfying album, for me, over repeated listens, is A Beard Of Stars. It was the transition from Tyrannosaurus Rex to T Rex, where Bolan hit his peak in terms of consistent and interesting albums. Alongside A Beard Of Stars, T Rex and Electric Warrior rate highly with me. Once Bolan became a teen idol his emphasis began to shift, and despite truly great singles, his albums become repetitive and formulaic. This is noticeable with The Slider a little, but it became far more apparent with Tanx. Zinc Alloy found him attempting to get away from this, and at times he succeeds, although it is a little patchy. Thereafter, and with him continuing to incorporate soul and disco, he fails to truly convince, although all of his albums are never short of a few good tracks.
Tanx is a fantastic album. How is it repetitive?? And Zinc Alloy gets cricised for going in a new direction, then also gets criticised for being formulaic. Cannot both be true.
Tyrannosaurus Rex isnt for everyone. I love it. Truely hippie shit. Much different than T Rex. I love T Rex up through Tanx. Electric Warrior makes me stop what Im doing and just groove. One of the few artist where I love hearing the demos on the bonus editions. I like just listening to the demos.
A Beard of stars was the transformation from the acoustic guitar to the electric guitar, you need to have the lyrics in front of you when listening to the first 4 albums, then you will appreciate the albums more. The poetry is fantastic! The best track from all 4 albums is By the light of the magical moon for me. After Slider album only a handful of good tunes are worth listening to and I have been a T.Rex fan from the age of 12 now I’m 63. Happy listening!!
"Rip Off" was one of the best ever album closers IMO and the closest they ever came to punk. Yea the lyrics are a bit silly but theres also some venom to it. I would have loved them to go down that road a little more. Yea Electric Warrior would also be my number 1. The overall sound was so great
I get the feeling my relationship with T.Rex is like a lot of Americans at the time. Went gonzo over them when Electric Warrior blew up, then went back to give a quick listen to what had come before. Most of the earlier records got one, maybe two, listens and that was it. I stayed with them through Tanx, then never heard another release. They were excellent, especially for those few records, but there was just too much great stuff coming out back then and finances were limited. T.Rex simply got pushed behind artists like Bowie, Mott, and Roxy for my glam rock attention and glam rock dollars. Now that streaming is the law of the land, I'm looking forward to hearing what I missed the first time around. Thanks for the guide and inspiration, gentlemen, another fine episode.
Here is a little gem from the guys that sang on some of the T Rex albums (among many other things they did). The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie from 1972. (Flo and Eddie had to use the moniker for contractual reasons.) One of the good pop albums of the time, the former Turtles singers bring that to the table. They sang for Zappa during that period as well and the band is mostly the Mothers of Invention but they demonstrate that they are great musicians who can play this type of music just as well. Great production as well. (No trace of Zappa at all here...)
I really enjoyed this guys. I'm a bit surprised the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums fell so low but to be honest, they really do require repeated listening. My order would be: 1. Tanx 2. The Slider 3. Electric Warrior 4. A Beard of Stars 5. T.Rex 6. Unicorn 7. My People were Fair... 8. Prophets, Seers & Sages... 9. Futuristic Dragon 10. Zinc Alloy... 11. Dandy in the Underworld 12. Bolan's Zip Gun
repeated listening would drive one mad . . but yeah I know what yer sayin . . honestly they went up about a half star each the second time i ran though em . .
My T-Rex ranking. 12. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in their Hair....But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on their Brows 3 stars 11.Prophet Seers and Sages: The Angels of the Ages 3 stars 10.Unicorn 3 stars 9. Bolan's Zip Gun 3 stars 8. Beard of Stars 3.5 stars 7. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow 3.5 stars 6. T-Rex 4 stars 5. Futuristic Dragon 4 stars 4. Dandy In the Underworld 4 stars 3. Tanx 4 stars 2. The Slider 5 stars 1, Electric Warrior 5 stars
Huge fan. Been waiting foe this for a while. Jason nailed it. Tanx has only continued to grow on me over the years. My only difference to his ranking would be that I would swap Zinc Alloy with Futuristic Dragon which i feel is a little more memorable. In fact i might even have it slightly behind Bolans Zip Gun also, which would put it 7th. But The Slider has always been my favourite. It’s a glam rock classic
I just discovered T Rex during quorrientine. I got into Gloria Jones and her Motown stuff. Bought her 1973 album. Which was good and watched a bbc documentary on her and Marc Bolan. I love their 1971 album. Total surprise. But she had a really good music career. Love them!
Thank you so much! I'm going to look at it now. I love her stuff. I can't wait to check out VIxen-I've been listening to mostly T Rex stuff all year!@@TheBadLieutenant
You guys rock! I was particularly interested in this one cos I'm a huge T. Rex fan. You're knowledgeable guys and your critiques were spot on. Thanks for a great video. PS, I can't choose between Electric Warrior or Slider as the best. Rock on!
1) Electric Warrior- 5 stars 2) The Slider- 5 stars Two incredible albums that for me are absolutely the height of glam rock. Electric Warrior edges out just slightly because I like hearing a little more of the folkier sound but it's very close. Both albums are admittedly a little front loaded (especially The Slider) in terms of absolute favorites, but I also like every song on both these albums a lot, so it's not an issue for me. Strangely, for an artist I love this more, I don't have much urge to explore more, I want to live in my fantasy that Marc Bolan descended on the world, delivered perfection, and that's that. Not sure this video is going to change that, though Jason's adamant love of The Slider has helped me accept it, and yes I suppose I can give Tanx a try.
If these are the only two albums of Bolan's that you have heard, you're definitely missing out on some incredible stuff. I see you posted this a year ago--have you been able to hear any additional albums? If you like "Warrior" and "Slider" I would recommend the self-titled album from 1970 (which is my favorite), then "Tanx". And don't listen to people who slag off the early Tyrannosaurus Rex material--it's really unique and imaginative and Bolan's knack for penning killer tunes is already there in force, it's just couched in a different musical style than glam rock.
1. Electric Warrior - 5.0 2. The Slider - 4.0 3. A Beard of Stars - 3.5 4. The People Were Fair... - 3.5 5. T.Rex -3.0 6. Zinc Alloy - 3.0 7. Prophets, etc. - 3.0 8. Unicorn - 3.0 9. Tanx - 3.0 10. Futuristic Dragon - 2.5 11. Dandy in the Underworld - 2.5 12. Zip Gun - 2.0 I think I like the early freak folk stuff better than most, but honestly, most of the non-Electric Warrior/Slider albums didn't do a lot for me. I'm kind of splitting hairs on the grades between 3-10.
I'm with you on their early psych-folk stuff being better than their albums post-Slider/Tanx. Those early albums aren't great but they have moments of genuine interest, whereas the post-Tanx albums sound spark-less and direction-less to me.
@@edgustafson Maybe I listened to to Tanx to darn many times, but by the end of the week I was on the verge of giving it 4.5. It was only my lack of enthusiasm for the first 2 songs that held me back.
My favourite album has always been "Tanx" and "Electric Slim & The Factory Hen" is in my top 10 song of all time by anybody. I place "Electric Warrior" in a close second place because is another 10/10 masterpiece for me. "Slider" is the third. I think that it contains some of Bolan's best songs but it doesn't work that well as an entire album for me. To me this album has a compilation feel where the track sequencing is whatever. I think that Futuristic Dragon is a very strong album too. The bottom of the barrel for me is Zip Gun. I only love "'Till Dawn" on it and I enjoy one or two tracks quite a bit but overall is a very disappointing album. He was in the lowest point of his short life and sadly the album shows it. Listening to this album is quite depressing for me
Thank you so much for this album ranking video. I think all of you are so great. Bolans music is still so fresh and full of energy even after 50 years. He was amazing and had his own unic sound.
In my early teen years the CCR run of hits was followed by a period where either a Slade or a T Rex song was always on the charts. T Rex were no album band and Bolan refused to include the singles onto the albums. I had their hits on cassettes but only ever cared to buy their albums much later just to find they were not too good (one exception below). On the other hand, they were a band with a couple of songs that are still great 50 years later - just consider that in 2022 Def Leppard named an album after a Bolan song quote and everybody knew what it meant. And nobody else ever rhymed voice with Rolls Royce. The diamonds sparkle just brighter surrounded by all the garbage they produced at the same time...The bad thing was that Ziggy was just fiction while Bolan's rise and fall was a real tragedy. 11. Bolan's Zip Gun 0,5 (Bolan's Clapping) 10. A Beard of Stars 0,5 (Just compare this to what a band like Popol Vuh produced with a similar line-up in the early 70s and you will trample this into the trash can where it belongs.) 10. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair 1,0 (The only inspired thing on the album was the title...hippies with acoustic guitars and bongos were sitting around in every park and jamming on every street corner and dreaming of being Donovan - while Donovan dreamt of being Dylan...those were the days.) 9. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow 1,5 (Young Americans led to another Station and then another, this album led into a dead end.) 8. Prophets, Seers & Sages 2,0 (...and unicorns, do not forget unicorns...) 7. T. Rex 2,0 (Their 1970 song was Ride a White Swan which was not on the album full of Donovan imitations and transitional attempts. One Inch Rock sounds like Mungo Jerry of In the Summertime ?fame?. Beltane Walk is the only song here to care for.) 6. Unicorn 2,5 (There were more unicorns and pointy hat wizards on Bolan's album than there are sheep in New Zealand - and that is quite some number to reckon with. It could have been more childish...like yellow submarines or such.) 5. Tanx 2,5 (There has rarely ever been a clearer statement that it was over from any artist than this album. The one trick pony and the one trick producer.) 4. Dandy in the Underworld 3,0 (This feels like a greatest hits album until you notice it is all supposed to be new songs...just each one sounding like a former song - at least like one of the former good songs. T Rex as their own best tribute band. Anyway, not enough to make a whole album interesting.) 3. Futuristic Dragon 3,0 (LP side A maybe contained 15 consecutive minutes of the best T Rex on albums - of course it was completely out of time in 1976 and the rest of the release is forgettable. The benefit of a Listography is to look back to such little jewels from the distance of decades and just enjoy it.) 2. Electric Warrior 3,5 (The first three tracks plus Get It On - classic. The rest...many think those 4 songs are enough to cement the album as a landmark, I take the luxury to disagree. But those songs are really great...) 1. The Slider 4,0 (#60 AOTY 1972, this was a year with 33 albums I rate 4,5 or better and over 100 with 4 stars, so that is still pretty high up in such a year...and they were no album band anyway. This is their only release that really works as an album.) The definitive T Rex album however is Bolan's Boogie from 1972.
Hey Rox - Excellent comments but rating for Electric Warrior way off! (Curiously I agree w your comments, though . .) I am kind of gratified w the Futuristic Dragon comments here and elsewhere. Good points on side A but the flip side openner Theme For a Dragon is thing of beauty.
@@NaughtyVampireGod Maybe I should have said that for the album review I based it on the original releases. Later reissues and CDs etc often contain the singles and other tracks from the same time and maybe work differently if you have those.
@@roxannewalsh Actually I based my ratings on the original track listings. Reviewed the non-album singles on their own and several will show up tomorrow.
They have a good bunch of awesome songs (sexy, danceable, imposible-not-to-sing-along-to) that have become classic but also few totally forgetable albums, horrible lyrics and a lack of consistency even in their best albums... but what's good is so great! My top 3: 1. The Slider ( 9) 2. Electric Warrior (8.5) 3. Tanx (8) Fantastic video!
I love T Rex, and I ADORE Marc Bolan. He was such a charismatic and charming human - and so dang talented. I think this was a fabulous ranking of his catalog. Good job guys! And RIP Mr. Bolan - we will never forget you!
Kudos to you guys for ranking Marc Bolan 🍷. As a yank, I had to find out about Bolan and British T.Rextasy via a Creem magazine article! I'd wager many of your followers weren't clued into Bolan, and didn't want to spend an hour on an artist they are unfamiliar with. I suggest that you mention that Bolan was a contemporary of Bowies', even sharing the same producer, Tony Visconti. Also, that Bolan was early to the Punk party, even featuring Punk acts as opening bands ( The Damned! ) and as guests on his TV show, " Marc " ( tragically short - lived after Bolan died ).
Hello David - Actually I think this community is into T Rex since the band won a preference poll. 😀 Strong community here - Many comments on TLM videos are to the effect that "i don't know/like this artist but enjoyed listening to your opinions" - so. honestly many here WILL spend the time on an unfamiliar artist . . Yep, Visconti was very important to Bowie and Bolan . . . He was with Marc since day one just about (his first producer and teamed up while Marc was still developing as an artist) . . BTW this is a well-informed community . . I assume most know about the Bolan/Bowie connection . . not all of course . . good point about the Marc show . . it's a fascinating time capsule and you can witness the rise of punk, fall of disco before yer very eyes!!
One influence that never gets mentioned on Wiki as well as the comments below and your video is Donovan. The whole Tyrannosaurus Rex phase is beat poet meets Donovan. i picked up on it visually seeing photos of Bolan sitting cross-legged on the floor with his flowing locks. It hit me! Donovan wannabe! Great reaction guys. Just wanted to pull Donovan in because those early records make more sense in context of the influence.
Donovan yes. But both Donovan and Marc were heavily influenced by Bob Dylan. Donovan and Marc were pals, recorded some stuff together in the mid 70s but it's never been released.
I really enjoyed this week a lot more than I expected to. I thought their entire discography was consistently enjoyable and easy to get through. I even quite enjoyed the weirder earlier stuff, I thought it was really cool and interesting. They do have some pretty obvious highs, of course, but I still think everything else is worth hearing too. I definitely see me regularly going back to the albums at the top of my list now that the week's over. 12. Bolan’s Zip Gun - 3 (6.2) 11. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages - 3 (6.5) 10. Unicorn - 3.5 (7.0) 9. A Beard of Stars - 3.5 (7.1) 8. T. Rex - 3.5 (7.2) 7. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... - 3.5 (7.3) 6. Dandy in the Underworld - 3.5 (7.4) 5. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow - 3.5 (7.5) 4. Futuristic Dragon - 4 (7.9) 3. Tanx - 4 (8.2) 2. Electric Warrior - 4.5 (9.2) 1. The Slider - 5 (9.6)
@@Vanessa.P Getting there . . I listed 20-25 songs from which I will get my top 10. Get It On was my 1971 SOTY so I suppose that will be #1 or very near to it . . Nothing from the duo-phase (68-70)
Loved this show & your enthusiasm for Marc & co. Grew up watching T-Rex on TOTP. My mum hated them so in typical R’NR fashion, I loved them. I had all their singles. Only got into their albums much later. I’ve never listened to the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums & based on your comments I’m not missing anything. Top 5 - 5. Tanx, 4. Futuristic Dragon, 3. Dandy in the Underworld, 2. Electric Warrior, 1. the Slider,
One of The Slider's many virtues is its explosive opening track, "Metal Guru". Then you turn the LP over and you have the amazing "Telegram Sam". One of those albums that takes you back to a certain time. That whole 71-72 period, when I was in Junior High, when everything was making a very big impression. Electric Warrior and Slider live in my memories along with Fragile, Close to the Edge, Zeppelin 4, Harvest, Madman Across the Water, Honky Chateau, Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, and many others.
@@NaughtyVampireGod Later on. I didn't really catch up with Bowie until about 1973, then started listening to all his older stuff. Never listened to Transformer, but wallowed my way a few times through Berlin.
@@bobsmith3217 Hey Bob - yeah . you might be just a bit older than me . . in 72 i was listening to the Partridge Family 😀. . . caught up with all the fantastic glam music several years after the fact . . I am a lou reed fan (sorta) . . I don't like berlin . . . i love VU and reed's first two solo albums and other things here and there . . Satellite of love my 1972 SOTY . . Get It On for 71 . . Bowie in 73 , , what a line up, eh?
T Rex were my first music love, so really pleased to see you were doing this one My ranking would be 1) The Slider 5 stars ( got this for my Christmas 1972!) 2) Futuristic Dragon almost 5 stars ( good to hear Joe's positive review) 3) Electric Warrior 4.5 stars 4) T Rex (agree with Kramzers comments on this) 4.5 stars 5) Beard of Stars 4 stars 6) Dandy in the underworld 4 stars 7) Unicorn 4 stars 8) Bolans zip gun 3.5 stars 9) Zinc alloy 3 stars 10th equal for 3 worst records ( no more than 2 stars for these) My people were fair/Prophets/ Tanx I think they basically have 9 really good to excellent albums. The one which I am afraid I just couldn't get into was Tanx. Anyway, good to hear all your views PS Bolan boogie was actually my first T Rex album but that was a compilation album so can't really include that. I would have given that 4.5 stars though
My album list was a lot easier than my songs list 12. My People Were Fair (1968) 2.5 11. Prophets, Seers & Sages (1968) 2.5 10. Unicorn (1969) 2.5 9. A Beard Of Stars (1970) 2.5 8. Bolan' Zip Gun (1975) 3 7. Zinc Alloy (1974) 3 6. T.Rex (1970) 3 5. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 3.5 4. Dandy In The Underworld (1977) 3.5 3. Tanx (1973) 4 2. Electric Warrior (1971) 5 1. The Slider (1972) 5
I remember the day I spent $4.22 to buy The Slider. I played it until the needle went through the vinyl for a year and then never thought about T-Rex again. 12 albums! I had no idea.
12) My People Were Fair... (1968) 2/5 11) Prophets, Seers... (1968) 2/5 10) Unicorn (1969) 2/5 09) Futuristic Dragon (1976) 2.25/5 08) Dandy in the Underworld (1977) 2.75/5 07) A Beard of Stars (1970) 3/5 06) Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 3.25/5 05) T. Rex (1970) 3.25/5 04) Zinc Alloy... (1974) 3.75/5 03) Tanx (1973) 3.75/5 02) Electric Warrior (1971) 4/5 01) The Slider (1972) 4/5 0 stars - irredeemably terrible/insultingly bad/the worst .5 stars - terrible 1 star - bad 1.5 stars - pretty bad 2 stars - fair 2.5 stars - meh 2.75 stars - "It's OK, but quit playing it." 3 stars - OK/decent 3.25 stars - pretty good 3.5 stars - good 4 stars - very good 4.5 stars - excellent 5 stars - bone of the Universe Chronological Order: 2.00 My People Were Fair... (1968) 2.00 Prophets, Seers... (1968) 2.00 Unicorn (1969) 3.00 A Beard of Stars (1970) 3.25 T. Rex (1970) 4.00 Electric Warrior (1971) 4.00 The Slider (1972) 3.75 Tanx (1973) 3.75 Zinc Alloy... (1974) 3.25 Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 2.25 Futuristic Dragon (1976) 2.75 Dandy In the Underworld (1977) notes: * Marc Bolan was talented and charismatic. He had a fairly unique voice, he was a great guitar soloist and, by the time his band was known as T. Rex, his songs were loaded with hooks. He was primarily known for a particular "boogie woogie" style of rock n' roll, apart from his earlier folky phase and later flirtations with Soul. * He often used standard Blues structures which normally turn me off, but he almost always gave them his own twist, making them different enough not to be boring. * His lyrics are usually whimsical nonsense or sexual come-ons, although they did get a little more straightforward on his last few albums. * I don't care too much for the early, folkier albums. The songs are typically weak and the vocals tend to be rather garbled, although Bolan gets points for sounding intriguingly strange. On some of these early songs, the bongos and whatnot fall out of sync with the rhythm. * Many of their early songs are short and rather slight. It wasn't until Electric Warrior when they made (almost) a full album of standard-length pop songs. * "Elemental Child," the last song on A Beard of Stars, is the first time I noticed them really rocking. * Things really start to change with T. Rex the album which still has some of their strange acoustic songs, but they branch out with an orchestra for the first time and deliver a scorching extended rocker with "The Wizard." I also really like the song that serves as an intro and outro for the album. * Electric Warrior delivers some bluesy but good tracks, some honky tonk, not a great trumpet on "Girl," and I don't care for the closing song "Rip Off" (I don't get that one. Maybe I'm missing something there?). * The Slider gets my vote for best T. Rex album, thanks especially to a couple 5-star songs ("The Slider," "Telegram Sam") and two that aren't far behind ("Metal Guru," "Baby Boomerang"). But "Rock On" is just "pretty good," while the slower "Ballrooms of Mars" sounds rather dorky the way Bolan yells "Rock!" * Tanx is not quite as good as the previous two, but there's some interesting use of sax on a handful of numbers and what I believe is a mellotron on "Highway Knees." This is the first instance where they dabble in Soul as well. * Zinc Alloy... is interesting the way it finds T. Rex experimenting with Soul sounds and clavinet. There are quite a few very good songs on this one, but the opener "Venus Loon" is an unholy mess of funk, Gospel, orchestra, synth, and T. Rex. The cool echo on the vocal can't save it. On "Sound Pit," it sounds like Depeche Mode took some inspiration from it for their own song "Flexible." The last two tracks are also weak - "The Avengers (Superbad)" has some cool clavinet, almost a quasi-reggae, but the unrelenting command to "dig this" has the opposite effect. The album sports strong background vocals (which became a feature from here on out), some of which were sung by Marc's girlfriend Gloria Jones, who had a hit in 1965 with the original "Tainted Love," later covered by Soft Cell. * From there, we basically have diminishing returns with occasional highlights. Dandy In the Underworld suffers from too much Blues, especially when played too straight, but even in modified T. Rex form it's pretty tired by this point. "Hang-Ups" gets funky, but then just turns into a tired, old-as-the-hills Blues progression, and the icy disco synths are ill-fitting for the song. * On September 16th, 1977, the tragic death of Marc Bolan in a car accident drew the T. Rex story to a sad close. * Cheers mates!!!!!!!!!!
Great to hear your reviews guys. You ignored the elephant in the room, which is that T Rex were a singles band. Maybe that is a UK perspective at the time, but i think they peaked here with Ride a White Swan and Hot Love. My number 1 Bolan album is the T Rex LP, it is indeed the point of transition between the early stuff, the late early stuff, and the full flowering. Electric Warrior and The Slider i will give you, but it was all downhill from there.
Well done. I agree with Jason completely. The Slider is probably the best recordings of an album ever made except for Bowies Ziggy album. It's perfect. It got me through a summer in France 1973 visiting family.
Found the list I made a couple years ago included only the 8 T. Rex albums so the first 4 aren't shown. 1. Slider 2. Electric Warrior 3. Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow 4. Futuristic Dragon 5. Dandy In The Underworld 6. Tanx 7. Bolan's Zip Gun 8. T. Rex
1 The Slider 2 Electric Warrior 3 Zinc Alloy... 4 Tanx 5 Unicorn 6 T Rex 7 A Beard Of Stars 8 Prophets, Seers... 9 My People Were Fair... 10 Futuristic Dragon 11 Dandy In The Underworld 12 Bolan's Zip Gun
The guys said a lot of things that I've said about the band, like how they are a bit of a one-trick pony (not counting the early folky albums) and Kramzer mentioned how some of Bolan's early vocals are garbled, so that was kinda gratifying.
yeah - sounded like baby-talk which was annoying - i think Tony Visconti once said that the first time he heard the band he didn't think they were singing in the English language . .
Nice to hear you gentlemen agree with two of the great albums of the century.....nothing like those two top T.Rex albums. We need another Marc Bolan and T.Rex nowadays........
1 - Electric Warrior (9/10) 2 - The Slider (9/10) 3 - T. Rex (8/10) 4 - Unicorn (8/10) 5 - Tanx (8/10) 6 - Dandy in the Underworld (7/10) 7 - Beard of Stars (7/10) 8 - Prophets, Seers, and Sages... (7/10) 9 - Futuristic Dragon (6/10) 10 - My People Were Fair... (6/10) 11 - Bolan's Zip Gun (5/10) 12 - Zinc Alloy (4/10) I both love Electric Warrior and the Slider equally, but if I were to choose between of one of them, it would be Electric Warrior
Want to thank you guys for doing the T-Rex episodes. I was born in 68 and lived through this era but T-Rex never really captured me and always seemed one dimensional even when I was young.. but listening to some of your favourites kinda changed that to some degree. Loved Cosmic Dancer especially (even though it is kinda repetitive... amazing delivery and production I think). I recall reading about Marc's death in a newspaper back in the day which I later found under a carpet a good 20 or so years later.. it brought back all the childhood memories of Marc's show on TV here in the UK. 1970s was a crazy era to grow up in but I gravitated to Bowie and Queen back then. BTW Jason is usually closer to my own tastes but I kinda also found Slider a bit mushy soundwise... sorry mate... maybe there are different mixes around though..
Been really looking forward to this one! Kramz putting Zip Gun in his top 3, very bold choice there! Not going to count the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums, as I've never heard any of them in full. 1. The Slider 2. Dandy In The Underworld 3. Electric Warrior 4. Tanx 5. Futuristic Dragon 6. Zinc Alloy 7. T. Rex 8. Bolan's Zip Gun
@@crabmane3710 I agree. These guys are just clueless. Try finding any knowledgeable bongo player who thinks Steve is a "terrible" bongo player. What they are saying is insane. He is almost the Jimi Hendrix of Bongo playing.
Marc Bolan died before I was born and Dave Grohl I grew up listening to so Dave Grohl all the way. Sorry if thats the wrong opinion but nostalgia is a powerful drug and I have no shame in being nostalgic. Most people are.
@@Chaz4543 personally I love Bolan I was 3 when he died so not really nostalgia. Tried listening to Foo fighters they just don't do it for me. Also critical point they were comparing how each artists successive records were touted as a departure from previous sound,and weren't. Not who is better full stop not everything is a death match.
For some reason I've always categorized T. Rex as a one or two album wonder, but, man, I was wrong! Their classic glam rock albums from 71-73 are as good as anything, but even their early weird hippie folk stuff was if not great at least interesting and never boring. 12. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968) ★★★ 11. Unicorn (1969) ★★★ 10. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968) ★★★ 9. A Beard of Stars (1970) ★★★ 8. T. Rex (1970) ★★★ 7. Futuristic Dragon (1976) ★★★ 6. Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) ★★★½ 5. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974) ★★★★ 4. Dandy in the Underworld (1977) ★★★★ 3. Tanx (1973) ★★★★½ 2. Electric Warrior (1971) ★★★★★ 1. The Slider (1972) ★★★★★ ★★★★★ - Masterpiece ★★★★½ - Really great ★★★★ - Great ★★★½ - Really good ★★★ - Good ★★½ - OK ★★ - Bad ★½ - Really bad ★ - Awful ½ - The worst
Massive T.rex fan for 50 years now My top 5 is always different from every other fan 1 Zinc Alloy 2 Tanx 3 Futuristic Dragon 4 The Slider 5 T.rex (Brown Album) Tyrannosaurus Rex Different band for me I love all the Tyrannosaurus Albums Bolans words are not without meaning but you have to dig deep to find them which is part of the fun and experience. Theres a great book by Tony Stringfellow who delves deeply into Marc's lyrics well worth a read for any serious fan
I agree with Jason on Electric Warrior yes a brilliant album but possibly given more weight due to its importance to glam genre for me slider is a better sounding record.
Didn’t even notice the name tags on screen until now. Just want to say that Joseph Steigerwald is one of the greatest names of all time, second only to Storm Thorgerson.
12. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair... But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows (1968) 2/5 11. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels Of The Ages (1968) 2/5 10. Unicorn (1969) 2.5/5 9. Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 2.5/5 8. A Beard Of Stars (1970) 3/5 7. T. Rex (1970) 3/5 6. Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow (1974) 3.5/5 5. Dandy In The Underworld (1977) 3.5/5 4. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 4/5 3. Tanx (1973) 4.5/5 2. Electric Warrior (1971) 5/5 1. The Slider (1972) 5/5
Hi guys, I've never been into T. Rex for some reasons, I'll have a go, I've heard for some songs but never to a full album. I'll come back over the week for impressions on the albums
Electric Warrior is my favourite, followed by The Slider and the transitional album “T.Rex” . I was fortunate to see the band in London in 1972 when I was 15.
When I was a kid in 72 I couldn't afford the latest releases except for a compilation album called Ride a White Swan on the budget MFP label. They had hand picked many of the best tracks from the first four albums and was a great introduction to Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you give Tyrannosaurus Rex another go start with this album. It eases you in a bit more gently lol.
🤠 Started exploring in '82 with a tape from Warner Brothers' "Two On One" cassette series, which had Warrior on one side and Slider on the other...kinda like Marc's Physical Graffiti.
Bolan's Boogie is a great collection of T.REX tracks A-Side and B-Side of singles from 1971 and a few earlier album tracks on the FLY label. It's a great companion for Electric Warrior.
as you may know the Boys follow a fairly strict schedule - which is great from a community perspective so you can be prepared - a new artist every week - tuesday is album day - wednesday is songs day - thursday is "side 3" - fridays have been the year-by-year videos (temporarily on hold) - new videos post about 1 or 2 PM EST
I bought BEARD OF STARS in 1969 and was instantly smitten!!!.....it remains my favourite Marc album along with the accompanying 45 single KING OF THE RUMBLING SPIRES.....a shame the single was not included on the album though....then it would have been a 10/10 IMO
Slider and Warrior are not just my 2 fav T.rex albums but my 2 fav albums ever by anyone and the most played records through my life. How do they still sound so good today?
Love the band mostly Electric Warrior on. For me 8.T.Rex 7.Bolans zip gun 6. Futuristic dragon 5.Tanx 4.Dandy in the Underworld 3.Electric Warrior 2. The Slider 1. Zinc alloy and the hidden riders of tomorrow Not very familiar with Tyrannosaurus rex albums .
I love the band's acoustic period because I got their first album the best of t.rex from a friend around 71. Later I got Slider and love was born. Marc was my idol and to this day he is #1. later I ordered from the vinyl publisher everything they have from T.Rex and they sent me what was released up to that time up to the Zinc alloy...album. But Slider was and remains my T.Rex no1 album.
Yeah their collective take on all of the pre electric Warrior material I think is totally off the mark and ridiculously dismissive. There is some fantastic material in that era which is the inspiration to a lot of freak folk bands and artists now like devendra banhart. Florid, other worldly lyrics and just mystical sounding ethereal acoustic guitars and sounds. it's great stuff.
Of course if you listen to them all in one day, you're gonna get sick of it all! Gotta space it out. Took me about a month, and I have a completely different feeling and have become a huge fan!
@@TastesLikeMusic Demonstrably? Sounds like a challenge rather than agree to disagree. My proof is that I'm rocking out to the top 3 albums today happy as can be and you're not. But I blame our education, we barely heard about T.Rex but had Bowie crammed down our throats. I learned this week that T.Rex were hailed as the successor to the Beatles, worked with Ringo and Elton John on a T. Rex movie produced by Apple Records, that Bowie claimed to want to be as big as T.Rex, and that Bowie dropped his song Heroes on Marc's own tv show that was like MTV before MTV. As for the music, Zinc Alloy is the freest most confident and exploratory of the albums. Dandy is just pure fun, daring changes, subtle touches of electronic, reggae, harmonies, and a more complex redo of Bang a Gong, I'm a Fool for you Girl is like the quintessential 80s pop song, all of this framing a lyrically beautiful word painting. Tanx is the beginning of this triumphant leg of the journey. Electric Warrior and Slider are, like Beatles White album not true albums but collections of singles.
what a great week , 1 i had been waiting for 12 my people were fair and had sky in there hair 2.5 _ 11 prophets seers and sages 2.5 10 unicorn 2.5 9 bolens zip gun 3.0 8 a beard of stars 3.0+ 7zinc alloy and the hidden riders of tomorrow 3.0+ 6 futurestic dragon 3.0+ 5 t rex 3.5 4 dandy in the underworld 4.0 3 tanx 4.0 and this changed after 40 years 2 electric warrior 5.0 1 the slider 5.0 and wed a great song list best week in a long time Cheers!!
1. Electric Warrior (1971) 4.5/5 2. The Slider (1972) 4/5 3. Tanx (1973) 4/5 4. T. Rex (1970) 3.5/5 5. A Beard of Stars (1970) 3.5/5 6. Prophets, Seers & Sages (1968) 3/5 7. My People Were Fair... (1968) 3/5 8. Unicorn (1969) 2.5/5 9. Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974) 2.5/5 10. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 2.5/5 11. Dandy in the Underworld (1977) 2.5/5 12. Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 2/5 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: 3.0 My People Were Fair... (1968) 3.0 Prophets, Seers & Sages (1968) 2.5 Unicorn (1969) 3.5 A Beard of Stars (1970) 3.5 T. Rex (1970) 4.5 Electric Warrior (1971) 4.0 The Slider (1972) 4.0 Tanx (1973) 2.5 Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974) 2.0 Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 2.5 Futuristic Dragon (1976) 2.5 Dandy in the Underworld (1977) I only knew T. Rex's classic period so hearing their early stuff was somewhat of a revelation. Those first 4 psychedelic folk albums don't blow me away but they certainly have interesting moments. Their 1970 self-titled album (the first one released under the shortened 'T. Rex' moniker) gives hints of the glam-rock direction they were headed in, but doesn't feel fully formed yet. Superstardom came with 1971's Electric Warrior and it's attendant singles. It's easily Marc Bolan's most fully realized work. I'm not in love with every last song, but the best ones are absolute classics. I see its follow-up, The Slider, as a step down but I still think it harbors enough greatness to reach 4 stars. Tanx is where Bolan seems the most "at ease" and the songs just flow out of him. That album would've gotten beyond 4 stars if I liked first two songs more than I do ("Tenement Lady," "Rapids"). The rest of their discography occasionally sprouts a good single or memorable deep cut, but overall those late-career LPs don't amount to enjoyable listening experiences. In total, I'm not that fond of T. Rex's albums outside their classic period, but for singles I think they were an exceptional group. And not too many bands can say they launched an entire sub-genre. Heck, David Bowie owes an entire phase of his career to these guys. Realistically, T. Rex probably won't make my top 100 artists list, but I have a lot of love for their best songs. MY RATING SYSTEM: 5.0 = major classic (consistently great *and* stratospheric highs) 4.5 = minor classic (consistently great *or* stratospheric highs, but not both) 4.0 = great (a clear majority is worth revisiting and it's an essential record for this artist/style - passes my "it'll make a fan out of someone who's new to this artist" test) 3.5 = seriously good (at least half is worth revisiting) 3.0 = nominally good (less than half is worth revisiting) 2.5 = decent (competent but uninspired - not worth revisiting) 2.0 = poor (difficult listen) 1.5 = awful (can't finish it) 1.0 = historically awful (musical apocalypse) *Note: "Consistently" does not mean "flawlessly." I allow for a few clunkers if the rest of the songs are good enough. I also don't go below 1 star because once I'm in the realm of the truly terrible I don't care to differentiate anymore. Anything I rate 3.5 stars or higher is an album I'm enthusiastic about and would likely revisit at some point.
Hey Whammy - - - I'm with you on this - but later phase albums Zinc Alloy and Futuristic Dragon are solid. You like the duo's albums more than I do! (So to speak . .)
@@NaughtyVampireGod I don't think there's a huge gap between them, but I find the best tracks on their early albums are more interesting than the best tracks on their late albums. I'd take "Consuela" or "Stacey Grove" over "Light of Love" or "Dreamy Lady."
@@179rich Yeah . . I always appreciate Whammy's take but I do NOT condsider those early albums to be at all psychedelic . . nor are there too many highlights except for Cat Black (on Unicorn) which is the first real preview of T. Rex (several other songs are good as well) . . Unlike many here I found Unicorn to be the best of the first four, not Beard of Stars . .
Finished T Rex!!! 🦕 Electric Warrior (1971)- 4 stars (8) 🦕🦕🦕🦕 The Slider (1972) - 3.5 stars (7.7) 🦕🦕🦕/5 Futuristic Dragon (1976)- 3.5 stars (7.5) 🦕🦕🦕/5 Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974)-3.5 stars (7.2) 🦕🦕🦕/5 Tanx (1973)- 3.5 stars (7) 🦕🦕🦕/5 Dandy and the Underworld (1977)- 3 stars (6.5) 🦕🦕🦕 T. Rex(1970) - T. Rex -2.5 stars (5.4) 🦕🦕/5 Tyrannosaurus Rex - Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968)- 2.5 stars (5) 🦕🦕/5 T Rex- Bolan’s Zip Gun (1975) - 2.5 stars (5) 🦕🦕/5 Tyrannosaurus Rex - My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968)- 2 stars (4.5) 🦕🦕 Tyrannosaurus Rex - A Beard of Stars (1970) - 2 stars (3.8) 🦕 🦕 Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn (1969)- 1.5 stars (2.6) 🦕/5
Great reviews. I've been publishing the Bolan fanzine A THOUSAND MARK FELD CHARMS since 1996. One thing you forgot to mention was the fact Bolan didn't include a lot of his singles on the albums. Children Of The Revolution, The Groover, 20th Century Boy, Laser Love, Ride A White Swan, Hot Love, Truck On (Tyke), King of the Rumbling Spires, Solid Gold Easy Action, Celebrate Summer and London Boys were not on the original LPs. Even Dandy In The Underworld was re-recorded for the single release to drop the cocaine reference. I love all the albums but if push came to shove my list would be... 1 Tanx • 5 2 Dandy In The Underworld • 5 3 Futuristic Dragon 4.5 4 Electric Warrior 4.5 5 Unicorn 4.5 6 The Slider 4.5 7 Zinc Alloy 4 8 T.Rex 4 9 Bolan' Zip Gun 3.5 10 A Beard Of Stars 3 11 Prophets, Seers & Sages 3 12 My People Were Fair... 3
My Ranking of only T Rex from a massive fan! 1. Electric warrior (rip off puts this over the top) 2. Slider 3. Tanx 4. Futuristic Dragon 5. Dandy in the underworld 6. Zinc alloy 7. T Rex 8. Zip gun As for Tyrannosaurus Rex here are the top 2 1. Beard of stars 2. Unicorn
Hello Todd. yeah - those freakin bongos . . I had a "Shaggs-moment" while listening to one of those songs . . actually I don't think the Marc and The Hobbit were playing the same song together . .bongos completely superflous honestly
My list is similar to Jason’s! 1. The Silder (1972) 2. Tanx (1973) 3. Electric Warrior (1971) 4. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974) 5. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 6. Dandy in the Underworld (1977) 7. Bolan’s Zip-Gun (1976) 8. Unicorn (1969) 9. T. Rex (1970) 10. A Beard of Stars (1970) 11. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968) 12. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows (1968)
Got into T. Rex in 1971, then started to love Tyrannosaurus Rex. Sorry, can’t agree to your lists at all. Hard to say what’s best, depends on taste anyway, easier to say which album I would never give away and these are „Unicorn“ and „Beard of Stars“ - those had it all for me, timeless pleasure.
T.Rex were my favourite band back in the day. First concert I ever went to (saw them twice live) and thousands of gigs later still my favourite gig. Saved up for weeks my paper round money to buy "Electric Warrior" and was obsessed from that moment on. My parents were appalled. I remember playing "The Slider" and my father saying "That was absolute crap". Six months later I played "Tanx" and he said "That was good. Much better than that other awful thing you played". Soul influence I suspect (he was a huge Stylistics fan and as a family we had to suffer seeing them live - awful!) which I was never into and for me introduction of Gloria Jones took the band off track. I always thought "Dandy In The Underworld" was like a cruise ship band of session musicians trying to make an old-fashioned and extremely derivative rock record, but by then punk had arrived and I was obsessed with that. Talking of which... when are we going to get a Best of Wire album selection? So many great albums over the years to choose from.
This is the first time I've ever seen anybody rank albums like "Zip Gun" and "Zinc Alloy" over "Unicorn" or "A Beard Of stars"--just *way* different tastes from my own! I understand a lot of people can't get into the Tyrannosaurus Rex material but it ranks among his most creative and unique work, and the lyrics are out of this world. Here's my ranking/grading of the albums: 1. T. Rex A+ 2. Electric Warrior A 3. Unicorn A 4. The Slider A 5. A Beard Of Stars A- 6. Prophets, Seers And Sages B+ 7. Dandy In The Underworld B+ 8. Tanx B 9. Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow B- 10. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair B- 11. Futuristic Dragon B-/C+ 12. Bolan's Zip Gun C- The first five albums on this list covering 1969-72 are all transcendent (#'s 2, 3, and 4 almost all tie for second), as are all of the B-sides, BBC sessions, demos and outtakes from the period. Bolan could do NO wrong in those years. But there was a lot of great music in the other years as well. "Zip Gun" is the only album I would give a thumbs-down to.
Why is Tanx and Futuristic Dragon so low? I’d have Tanx 2nd or 3rd and FD 4th or 5th at the lowest. I don’t really like the Tyrannosaurus Rex stuff either.
@@JCStorm76 The whole point of posting my list was to show that I prefer Bolan's earlier work, unlike the people in the clip or what a lot of commenters here are saying. I still give "Tanx" a "B" grade which is high for any other artist, it's just that Bolan has so many albums I like more.
T. Rex is a good example of a band (duo) that takes years to find their big sound and their label/management was there for the long haul. Marc Bolan wouldn’t have made it nowadays. 🎶
I would say for any rock n roll fan, the bare minimum classic T. Rex era albums they should own are A beard of stars, T. Rex self titled album, electric Warrior, the slider and then TANX.. I list those with the proviso that they are the extended versions with all the unreleased hit singles that were not included on the albums...like ride a white swan, raw ramp, Cadillac, thunderwing, 20th century boy, hot love, king of the rumbling spires, children of the revolution, solid gold easy action… etc. After that, if they love the band, I would totally recommend Dandy in the Underworld which has a bunch of great tracks sprinkled throughout it like the gothic tinged title track, visions of domino and the post apocalyptic Pain and Love. The album Futuristic Dragon has slightly fewer good tracks but still some great ones like the trio of the self titled intro, the boogie rock Jupiter liar and then one of my favorite T. Rex songs, Chrome Sitar which is like an HP lovecraft inspired rock and roll masterpiece. Then "calling all destroyers" which mojo magazine has listed as a late proto punk inspiring song, then the soulful "dawn storm" and "my little baby" which has that classic T. Rex guitar sound punctuated throughout it. The extended version of the album has the other indispensable tracks "laser love" which has a riff wonderfully recycled by The Ramones in their song "the KKK took my baby away" and then the return to form cosmic acoustic ballad, "lifes an elevator." just a lush beautiful classic T. Rex acoustic number. After that, with caution, The zinc alloy and the hidden writers of tomorrow album. If they can get past the strange integration of soul singers into the t.rex sound, the tracks that really meshes this dynamic are Venus loon, explosive mouth, Galaxy, change, the wonderfully strange Teenage Dream single, interstellar soul and even though the intro to it is a little abrasive, Painless Persuasion and the Meathawk immaculate is a great song. This album you also would need the extended version with the hit singles "the groover" "truck on tyke" as well as the guitar inferno of "midnight." I would not necessarily recommend people buy the whole Bolan's zip gun album, but if they can download tracks, the ones that would be absolutely essential and which fit perfectly with the classic t.rex sound are: solid baby, think zinc, and till dawn -which is like a glam doowop song with a gentle sound but has a blistering melodic solo. Even before talking about zinc alloy or bolan's zip gun, I would refer people to the T. Rex unchained CD series which has a ton of rare and unreleased home demos and studio recordings, many of which should have absolutely been released in marc's lifetime. Look up "bolan's blues, plateau skull, Saturday night version 3, down home lady, over the flats, lock into your love, 21st century stance and jet tambourine. There are many other great tracks from that series but those are some serious highlights.
Fairly unfamiliar with the Rex, but I really love this run-through, guys! (unlike last week… 😣 😉) Time for…. Moodies? Van The Man? Judas Priest? Cure? Gentle Giant? Too many to mention??
0:52 Well I think you'll find The Moody Blues are a lot more popular than for example The Babys or Three Dog Night. What some critics may have thought is irrelevant. And I'm sure you would have done T-Rex anyway. Presumably because The Kinks aren't in these polls you are doing them sometime.
Many great T-Rex singles aren't on the albums that you reviewed. . 1-EW 2-The Slider 3-T-Rex 4-Beard of Stars 5-Tanx if you include the singles that were removed from each recording session.
I just felt i had to explain something here, back before streaming or mp3s, it was difficult to obtain marcs music because the catalogue had been deleted, what would be my process for obtaining these albums (in the early 80s) was to first work at a bed and breakfast and a café washing up, then a train ride, to a city go to a record fair search and hopefully find what you're looking for, this made the listening experience incredibly different from today, see i had worked for my treasure, it ment something, so if a vinyl didn't hit you immediately you would play it again because well !! You've bought the dam thing ..see with albums like unicorn you seriously need to spend time over them, they are not built for radio play like Electric Warrior/The Slider, you guys need to get deeper then where your at, the imagination, the creativity Marc is on fire here and it just went passed you, unfortunately because you're all used to a world of steaming where music now is sadly a throwaway, blasé passtime, ..by the way an awful lot of your facts on these recordings are wrong i guess its from Wiki right?.. What im saying is, if your going to be blasé about listening then its obvious that you all choose the biggest selling bolan albums. Shame because his earlier stuff is way way more intellectual
@@NaughtyVampireGod yes all his back catalogue was unavailable in the UK for sometime, Cube records were the first lable to re release E W , but its so much better to try to locate and own a Fly copy, hopfully still with its poster.
@@NaughtyVampireGod if your after buying EW on vinyl, there's just been a half speed master thats really good, ..the Fly one is just way cooler with the picture on one side of the lable and the inner bag. A really nice package. 👌
I think the Slider is overall a better record than Electric Warrior but the high points of EW such as "jeepster" and "rip off" may be stronger than the high points of The Slider - however I agree with Jason it is one of the best sounding records of all time - the bombastic "Metal Guru" is the epitome of glam rock awesomeness - it pulls you right in and makes you listen to the whole album - no question Bolan and Bowie were the kings of glam - Bowie was a more talented singer-songwriter but nobody had the style and swagger of Bolan- great ranking video guys -really enjoyed it - waiting for the KINKS!!!!
I am kinda surprised by all the favorable Rip Off comments. Electric Warrior is a 5 star ("six star") album but I said that song was a "throwaway" - I am glad you guys proved me wrong since I have so much love for that album.
The best things about the first Tyranosaurus Rex album are the cover and the title. ps, The original back cover of David Bowie's second album , Man of Words, Man of Music was painted by the same artist.
@Joe The "Bang a Gong" thing is pure Chuck Berry. Bolan actually quotes the original "meanwhile I was still thinking" as a homage to Little Queenie in the outro.
So . . I notice that too (the outro) . . But the song itself is not a direct copy . . I think ppl judged Marc a bit harshly on this issue . . the copying critique is fair for a song like Jeepster (taken from Howling Wolf) but not in other cases . .
@@NaughtyVampireGod There is nothing to judge or condemn here (and I did not intend my comment this way) because Bolan stated his sources many times, his first intention for Bang a Gong was a cover of the Berry song but Tony Visconti talked him out of that. Bolan was just a big fan of the Rock'n'Roller, just like Bowie or Keith Richards.
01 Electric Warrior
02 Unicorn
03 T. Rex
04 A Beard Of Stars
05 The Slider
06 Futuristic Dragon
07 Tanx
08 Prophets, Seers and Sages
09 Dandy In The Underworld
10 My People Were Fair and Had Sky In Their Hair…But Now They’re Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows
11 Bolan’s Zip Gun
12 Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow
Now this list is more my style!
i started listen to tyrannosaurus rex when i received the Get it On EP for my 12th birthday (along with Michael Jackson ABC). I collected all the albums on wax and his poetic words and unusual sounds filled my head for years. I particularly like the older albums, even now going back through the whole catalogue, its the older sounds that interest and intrigue. I would never be able to list Marc's albums as in this poll, as i love them all equally, but it was so interesting to get the thoughts of others. I remember feeling a little embarrassed to admit that i was a T-Rex fan - i was the only one in my class. i remember getting up before dawn and walking more than 10kms from my house to the airport to greet them when they arrived in Sydney for their one and only concert (at the Horden Pavillion - Lobby Lloyed and the Coloured Balls opened).
Thank you Jason, the sonic quality of The Slider hit me when I least expected it a couple of years ago when doing the 1001 albums book and was like love at first listen, can't describe it but it was an epiphany and an experience like none other. like a shimmery metalic sound, just like what you're describing, that sound alone is enough to make it 5 stars and my #1 for T.Rex
‘Tanx’ is the closest marc ever came to merging his early mysticism to his later sound.
‘Great Horse’ from a beard of stars has one of the most achingly beautiful melodies ive ever heard
Absolutely! Another one with that kind of vibe is once upon the seas of Abyssinia. then to pull 1 from late T. Rex, pain and love has an other worldly, painful, longing in it as well. It sounds like an HP lovecraft inspired song.
I'd love to know what you think is remotely mystical about Tanx. It's a guitar-driven rock album.
@@CB-xr1eg Perhaps some of the cosmic mellotron sounds, phasing, and other studio trickery that has a late 60s bent to it? I agree I wouldn't exactly call the album "mystical" as a whole but perhaps that's what the poster was referring to.
1. The Slider
2. Electric Warrior
3. T. Rex
4. A Beard of Stars
5. Bolan's Zip Gun
Love this band! Was very into them when I was in college, and the top 3 on my list have stayed in pretty consistent rotation since then. I love their sexually androgynous hard rock swagger (and love when it brushes shoulders with folk in their transitional records) and I also love the unique mix of hippie mysticism, throwback 50s rock n roll-isms, and surrealist nonsense in their lyrics. Great band, respect all your lists!
I loooove those early Tyrannosaurus rex albums, but I enjoy Electric Warrior and The Slider the most easily. Still love the later stuff too
I never tire of Bolan and have been a fan since about 1970, I was 6 years old when I first heard the 'Unicorn' album being played by a much older cousin, come 1980 I owned all the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and yes I like them all (the bongo's are annoying at times & Marc's vocals make it difficult to pick out actual words) but it matters not I tend to like the whole experience... I mostly consume my music as self made compilations, so don't get hung up too much on albums, beside 'Electric Warrior' & 'The Slider' the rest have highs & lows, the lows are poor but It does not take away from the decent percentage that I believe are good to great... If I want to feed my brain I will listen to something else, if I want comfort then Bolan is firmly in my Goldilock zone... Love Jasons description for 'The slider'.... Marc had some good non album singles, shame he didn't leave off some of the dirge and include them instead...
01 Electric Warrior, 5/5...
02 The Slider, 5/5...
03 Tanx, 4.5/5...
04 T. Rex, 4.25/5...
05 A Bead Of Stars, 4/5...
06 Unicorn, 4/5...
07 Prophets, Seers and Sages, 4/5...
08 Futuristic Dragon, 3.5/5...
09 My People Were Fair, 3.5/5...
10 Dandy In The Underworld, 3.5/5...
11 Bolan’s Zip Gun, 2.5/5...
12 Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow... 2.5/5...
The most satisfying album, for me, over repeated listens, is A Beard Of Stars. It was the transition from Tyrannosaurus Rex to T Rex, where Bolan hit his peak in terms of consistent and interesting albums. Alongside A Beard Of Stars, T Rex and Electric Warrior rate highly with me. Once Bolan became a teen idol his emphasis began to shift, and despite truly great singles, his albums become repetitive and formulaic. This is noticeable with The Slider a little, but it became far more apparent with Tanx. Zinc Alloy found him attempting to get away from this, and at times he succeeds, although it is a little patchy. Thereafter, and with him continuing to incorporate soul and disco, he fails to truly convince, although all of his albums are never short of a few good tracks.
Tanx is a fantastic album. How is it repetitive?? And Zinc Alloy gets cricised for going in a new direction, then also gets criticised for being formulaic. Cannot both be true.
Tyrannosaurus Rex isnt for everyone. I love it. Truely hippie shit. Much different than T Rex. I love T Rex up through Tanx. Electric Warrior makes me stop what Im doing and just groove. One of the few artist where I love hearing the demos on the bonus editions. I like just listening to the demos.
A Beard of stars was the transformation from the acoustic guitar to the electric guitar, you need to have the lyrics in front of you when listening to the first 4 albums, then you will appreciate the albums more. The poetry is fantastic! The best track from all 4 albums is By the light of the magical moon for me. After Slider album only a handful of good tunes are worth listening to and I have been a T.Rex fan from the age of 12 now I’m 63. Happy listening!!
"Rip Off" was one of the best ever album closers IMO and the closest they ever came to punk. Yea the lyrics are a bit silly but theres also some venom to it. I would have loved them to go down that road a little more. Yea Electric Warrior would also be my number 1. The overall sound was so great
Agreed. This track puts warrior over the top for me! Love his vocals and sax outro which was why Tony Visconti was so important to his sound.
I get the feeling my relationship with T.Rex is like a lot of Americans at the time. Went gonzo over them when Electric Warrior blew up, then went back to give a quick listen to what had come before. Most of the earlier records got one, maybe two, listens and that was it. I stayed with them through Tanx, then never heard another release. They were excellent, especially for those few records, but there was just too much great stuff coming out back then and finances were limited. T.Rex simply got pushed behind artists like Bowie, Mott, and Roxy for my glam rock attention and glam rock dollars. Now that streaming is the law of the land, I'm looking forward to hearing what I missed the first time around. Thanks for the guide and inspiration, gentlemen, another fine episode.
You have no idea if you think Steve Took was not a great percussionist. He was fantastic. You guys are hearing something totally different from me.
Here is a little gem from the guys that sang on some of the T Rex albums (among many other things they did).
The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie from 1972. (Flo and Eddie had to use the moniker for contractual reasons.)
One of the good pop albums of the time, the former Turtles singers bring that to the table. They sang for Zappa during that period as well and the band is mostly the Mothers of Invention but they demonstrate that they are great musicians who can play this type of music just as well. Great production as well. (No trace of Zappa at all here...)
Looove that second era of The Mothers
The 1985 🇺🇸 Compilation T Rextasy is well worth seeking out on vinyl 👌 - Excellent sound & song selection.
I really enjoyed this guys. I'm a bit surprised the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums fell so low but to be honest, they really do require repeated listening. My order would be:
1. Tanx
2. The Slider
3. Electric Warrior
4. A Beard of Stars
5. T.Rex
6. Unicorn
7. My People were Fair...
8. Prophets, Seers & Sages...
9. Futuristic Dragon
10. Zinc Alloy...
11. Dandy in the Underworld
12. Bolan's Zip Gun
repeated listening would drive one mad . . but yeah I know what yer sayin . . honestly they went up about a half star each the second time i ran though em . .
I think though they may grow on you to an extent,if that style is not your thing they will remain curios .
i agree regarding the tyrannosaurus rex albums - they are probably my favourite - especially the first two.
My T-Rex ranking.
12. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in their Hair....But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on their Brows 3 stars
11.Prophet Seers and Sages: The Angels of the Ages 3 stars
10.Unicorn 3 stars
9. Bolan's Zip Gun 3 stars
8. Beard of Stars 3.5 stars
7. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow 3.5 stars
6. T-Rex 4 stars
5. Futuristic Dragon 4 stars
4. Dandy In the Underworld 4 stars
3. Tanx 4 stars
2. The Slider 5 stars
1, Electric Warrior 5 stars
generally we are on the same page here . .
Huge fan. Been waiting foe this for a while. Jason nailed it. Tanx has only continued to grow on me over the years. My only difference to his ranking would be that I would swap Zinc Alloy with Futuristic Dragon which i feel is a little more memorable. In fact i might even have it slightly behind Bolans Zip Gun also, which would put it 7th.
But The Slider has always been my favourite. It’s a glam rock classic
I just discovered T Rex during quorrientine. I got into Gloria Jones and her Motown stuff. Bought her 1973 album. Which was good and watched a bbc documentary on her and Marc Bolan. I love their 1971 album. Total surprise. But she had a really good music career. Love them!
Thank you so much! I'm going to look at it now. I love her stuff. I can't wait to check out VIxen-I've been listening to mostly T Rex stuff all year!@@TheBadLieutenant
You guys rock! I was particularly interested in this one cos I'm a huge T. Rex fan. You're knowledgeable guys and your critiques were spot on. Thanks for a great video. PS, I can't choose between Electric Warrior or Slider as the best. Rock on!
1) Electric Warrior- 5 stars
2) The Slider- 5 stars
Two incredible albums that for me are absolutely the height of glam rock. Electric Warrior edges out just slightly because I like hearing a little more of the folkier sound but it's very close. Both albums are admittedly a little front loaded (especially The Slider) in terms of absolute favorites, but I also like every song on both these albums a lot, so it's not an issue for me. Strangely, for an artist I love this more, I don't have much urge to explore more, I want to live in my fantasy that Marc Bolan descended on the world, delivered perfection, and that's that. Not sure this video is going to change that, though Jason's adamant love of The Slider has helped me accept it, and yes I suppose I can give Tanx a try.
If these are the only two albums of Bolan's that you have heard, you're definitely missing out on some incredible stuff. I see you posted this a year ago--have you been able to hear any additional albums? If you like "Warrior" and "Slider" I would recommend the self-titled album from 1970 (which is my favorite), then "Tanx". And don't listen to people who slag off the early Tyrannosaurus Rex material--it's really unique and imaginative and Bolan's knack for penning killer tunes is already there in force, it's just couched in a different musical style than glam rock.
1. Electric Warrior - 5.0
2. The Slider - 4.0
3. A Beard of Stars - 3.5
4. The People Were Fair... - 3.5
5. T.Rex -3.0
6. Zinc Alloy - 3.0
7. Prophets, etc. - 3.0
8. Unicorn - 3.0
9. Tanx - 3.0
10. Futuristic Dragon - 2.5
11. Dandy in the Underworld - 2.5
12. Zip Gun - 2.0
I think I like the early freak folk stuff better than most, but honestly, most of the non-Electric Warrior/Slider albums didn't do a lot for me. I'm kind of splitting hairs on the grades between 3-10.
I'm with you on their early psych-folk stuff being better than their albums post-Slider/Tanx. Those early albums aren't great but they have moments of genuine interest, whereas the post-Tanx albums sound spark-less and direction-less to me.
@@AbbeyRoadkill1 Basically, that's my thought too. It seemed like after The Slider, Bolan just kept trying to make the Slider again with worse songs.
@@edgustafson Maybe I listened to to Tanx to darn many times, but by the end of the week I was on the verge of giving it 4.5. It was only my lack of enthusiasm for the first 2 songs that held me back.
My favourite album has always been "Tanx" and "Electric Slim & The Factory Hen" is in my top 10 song of all time by anybody.
I place "Electric Warrior" in a close second place because is another 10/10 masterpiece for me.
"Slider" is the third. I think that it contains some of Bolan's best songs but it doesn't work that well as an entire album for me. To me this album has a compilation feel where the track sequencing is whatever.
I think that Futuristic Dragon is a very strong album too.
The bottom of the barrel for me is Zip Gun. I only love "'Till Dawn" on it and I enjoy one or two tracks quite a bit but overall is a very disappointing album. He was in the lowest point of his short life and sadly the album shows it. Listening to this album is quite depressing for me
I agree a 100%
“Electric Slim and the Factory Hen” is amazing
Great stuff gentlemen. Still waiting for New Model Army album rankings.........................
Thank you so much for this album ranking video. I think all of you are so great. Bolans music is still so fresh and full of energy even after 50 years. He was amazing and had his own unic sound.
In my early teen years the CCR run of hits was followed by a period where either a Slade or a T Rex song was always on the charts. T Rex were no album band and Bolan refused to include the singles onto the albums. I had their hits on cassettes but only ever cared to buy their albums much later just to find they were not too good (one exception below).
On the other hand, they were a band with a couple of songs that are still great 50 years later - just consider that in 2022 Def Leppard named an album after a Bolan song quote and everybody knew what it meant. And nobody else ever rhymed voice with Rolls Royce.
The diamonds sparkle just brighter surrounded by all the garbage they produced at the same time...The bad thing was that Ziggy was just fiction while Bolan's rise and fall was a real tragedy.
11. Bolan's Zip Gun 0,5 (Bolan's Clapping)
10. A Beard of Stars 0,5 (Just compare this to what a band like Popol Vuh produced with a similar line-up in the early 70s and you will trample this into the trash can where it belongs.)
10. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair 1,0 (The only inspired thing on the album was the title...hippies with acoustic guitars and bongos were sitting around in every park and jamming on every street corner and dreaming of being Donovan - while Donovan dreamt of being Dylan...those were the days.)
9. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow 1,5 (Young Americans led to another Station and then another, this album led into a dead end.)
8. Prophets, Seers & Sages 2,0 (...and unicorns, do not forget unicorns...)
7. T. Rex 2,0 (Their 1970 song was Ride a White Swan which was not on the album full of Donovan imitations and transitional attempts. One Inch Rock sounds like Mungo Jerry of In the Summertime ?fame?. Beltane Walk is the only song here to care for.)
6. Unicorn 2,5 (There were more unicorns and pointy hat wizards on Bolan's album than there are sheep in New Zealand - and that is quite some number to reckon with. It could have been more childish...like yellow submarines or such.)
5. Tanx 2,5 (There has rarely ever been a clearer statement that it was over from any artist than this album. The one trick pony and the one trick producer.)
4. Dandy in the Underworld 3,0 (This feels like a greatest hits album until you notice it is all supposed to be new songs...just each one sounding like a former song - at least like one of the former good songs. T Rex as their own best tribute band. Anyway, not enough to make a whole album interesting.)
3. Futuristic Dragon 3,0 (LP side A maybe contained 15 consecutive minutes of the best T Rex on albums - of course it was completely out of time in 1976 and the rest of the release is forgettable. The benefit of a Listography is to look back to such little jewels from the distance of decades and just enjoy it.)
2. Electric Warrior 3,5 (The first three tracks plus Get It On - classic. The rest...many think those 4 songs are enough to cement the album as a landmark, I take the luxury to disagree. But those songs are really great...)
1. The Slider 4,0 (#60 AOTY 1972, this was a year with 33 albums I rate 4,5 or better and over 100 with 4 stars, so that is still pretty high up in such a year...and they were no album band anyway. This is their only release that really works as an album.)
The definitive T Rex album however is Bolan's Boogie from 1972.
Hey Rox - Excellent comments but rating for Electric Warrior way off! (Curiously I agree w your comments, though . .) I am kind of gratified w the Futuristic Dragon comments here and elsewhere. Good points on side A but the flip side openner Theme For a Dragon is thing of beauty.
@@NaughtyVampireGod Maybe I should have said that for the album review I based it on the original releases. Later reissues and CDs etc often contain the singles and other tracks from the same time and maybe work differently if you have those.
@@roxannewalsh Actually I based my ratings on the original track listings. Reviewed the non-album singles on their own and several will show up tomorrow.
Not an album band ? Shame you don’t enjoy the music on those releases. Your loss..
They have a good bunch of awesome songs (sexy, danceable, imposible-not-to-sing-along-to) that have become classic but also few totally forgetable albums, horrible lyrics and a lack of consistency even in their best albums... but what's good is so great!
My top 3:
1. The Slider ( 9)
2. Electric Warrior (8.5)
3. Tanx (8)
Fantastic video!
Hello Fran - My top 3 as well. Also I was really impressed w Futuristic Dragon this time around. Several of my top 10 songs will come from that one. 🐲
I love T Rex, and I ADORE Marc Bolan. He was such a charismatic and charming human - and so dang talented. I think this was a fabulous ranking of his catalog. Good job guys! And RIP Mr. Bolan - we will never forget you!
Kudos to you guys for ranking Marc Bolan 🍷. As a yank, I had to find out about Bolan and British T.Rextasy via a Creem magazine article! I'd wager many of your followers weren't clued into Bolan, and didn't want to spend an hour on an artist they are unfamiliar with. I suggest that you mention that Bolan was a contemporary of Bowies', even sharing the same producer, Tony Visconti. Also, that Bolan was early to the Punk party, even featuring Punk acts as opening bands ( The Damned! ) and as guests on his TV show, " Marc " ( tragically short - lived after Bolan died ).
Hello David - Actually I think this community is into T Rex since the band won a preference poll. 😀 Strong community here - Many comments on TLM videos are to the effect that "i don't know/like this artist but enjoyed listening to your opinions" - so. honestly many here WILL spend the time on an unfamiliar artist . . Yep, Visconti was very important to Bowie and Bolan . . . He was with Marc since day one just about (his first producer and teamed up while Marc was still developing as an artist) . . BTW this is a well-informed community . . I assume most know about the Bolan/Bowie connection . . not all of course . . good point about the Marc show . . it's a fascinating time capsule and you can witness the rise of punk, fall of disco before yer very eyes!!
One influence that never gets mentioned on Wiki as well as the comments below and your video is Donovan. The whole Tyrannosaurus Rex phase is beat poet meets Donovan. i picked up on it visually seeing photos of Bolan sitting cross-legged on the floor with his flowing locks. It hit me! Donovan wannabe!
Great reaction guys. Just wanted to pull Donovan in because those early records make more sense in context of the influence.
Donovan yes. But both Donovan and Marc were heavily influenced by Bob Dylan. Donovan and Marc were pals, recorded some stuff together in the mid 70s but it's never been released.
Nice. Glad Jason referenced the song Broken Hearted Blues with that lovely haunting hook. Can't wait for the Moodies!
Moodies would be great. . .
I really enjoyed this week a lot more than I expected to. I thought their entire discography was consistently enjoyable and easy to get through. I even quite enjoyed the weirder earlier stuff, I thought it was really cool and interesting. They do have some pretty obvious highs, of course, but I still think everything else is worth hearing too. I definitely see me regularly going back to the albums at the top of my list now that the week's over.
12. Bolan’s Zip Gun - 3 (6.2)
11. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages - 3 (6.5)
10. Unicorn - 3.5 (7.0)
9. A Beard of Stars - 3.5 (7.1)
8. T. Rex - 3.5 (7.2)
7. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... - 3.5 (7.3)
6. Dandy in the Underworld - 3.5 (7.4)
5. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow - 3.5 (7.5)
4. Futuristic Dragon - 4 (7.9)
3. Tanx - 4 (8.2)
2. Electric Warrior - 4.5 (9.2)
1. The Slider - 5 (9.6)
Same top 2 except 1 and 2 reversed - Happy to see Futuristic Draon is well recieved here.
@@NaughtyVampireGod Me too!
@@Vanessa.P 😀 How is your T. Rex song list coming along?
@@NaughtyVampireGod Just finished it this morning, actually! How about yours?
@@Vanessa.P Getting there . . I listed 20-25 songs from which I will get my top 10. Get It On was my 1971 SOTY so I suppose that will be #1 or very near to it . . Nothing from the duo-phase (68-70)
Loved this show & your enthusiasm for Marc & co. Grew up watching T-Rex on TOTP. My mum hated them so in typical R’NR fashion, I loved them. I had all their singles. Only got into their albums much later. I’ve never listened to the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums & based on your comments I’m not missing anything. Top 5 - 5. Tanx, 4. Futuristic Dragon, 3. Dandy in the Underworld, 2. Electric Warrior, 1. the Slider,
T. Rex fanatic from UK here. Great to hear your take on these albums! 👍🏼😀
Thank you so much for the ranking of T.Rex. i have 10 albums of T.Rex. i love the Slider and Electric Warrior.
One of The Slider's many virtues is its explosive opening track, "Metal Guru". Then you turn the LP over and you have the amazing "Telegram Sam". One of those albums that takes you back to a certain time. That whole 71-72 period, when I was in Junior High, when everything was making a very big impression. Electric Warrior and Slider live in my memories along with Fragile, Close to the Edge, Zeppelin 4, Harvest, Madman Across the Water, Honky Chateau, Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, and many others.
Were you also a fan of Transformer, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust . .?
@@NaughtyVampireGod Later on. I didn't really catch up with Bowie until about 1973, then started listening to all his older stuff. Never listened to Transformer, but wallowed my way a few times through Berlin.
@@bobsmith3217 Hey Bob - yeah . you might be just a bit older than me . . in 72 i was listening to the Partridge Family 😀. . . caught up with all the fantastic glam music several years after the fact . . I am a lou reed fan (sorta) . . I don't like berlin . . . i love VU and reed's first two solo albums and other things here and there . . Satellite of love my 1972 SOTY . . Get It On for 71 . . Bowie in 73 , , what a line up, eh?
Got my triple-disc T. Rex compilation in. Thanks, guys! 👍
Hello there
My list.
12. My People Were Fair... (2 stars)
11. Prophets, Seers & Sages (2.5 stars)
10. Unicorn (2.5 stars)
9. A Beard of Stars (2.5 stars)
8. T. Rex (3 stars)
7. Bolan's Zip Gun (3 stars)
6. Zinc Alloy (3 stars)
5. Tanx (3.5 stars)
4. Futuristic Dragon (3.5 stars)
3. Dandy in the Underworld (3.5 stars)
2. Electric Warrior (4.5 stars)
1. The Slider (5 stars)
T Rex were my first music love, so really pleased to see you were doing this one
My ranking would be
1) The Slider 5 stars ( got this for my Christmas 1972!)
2) Futuristic Dragon almost 5 stars ( good to hear Joe's positive review)
3) Electric Warrior 4.5 stars
4) T Rex (agree with Kramzers comments on this) 4.5 stars
5) Beard of Stars 4 stars
6) Dandy in the underworld 4 stars
7) Unicorn 4 stars
8) Bolans zip gun 3.5 stars
9) Zinc alloy 3 stars
10th equal for 3 worst records ( no more than 2 stars for these)
My people were fair/Prophets/ Tanx
I think they basically have 9 really good to excellent albums. The one which I am afraid I just couldn't get into was Tanx.
Anyway, good to hear all your views
PS Bolan boogie was actually my first T Rex album but that was a compilation album so can't really include that. I would have given that 4.5 stars though
Gold 🏅 - Electric Warrior Silver 🥈 - Slider Bronze 🥉 - Tanx 😃
My album list was a lot easier than my songs list
12. My People Were Fair (1968) 2.5
11. Prophets, Seers & Sages (1968) 2.5
10. Unicorn (1969) 2.5
9. A Beard Of Stars (1970) 2.5
8. Bolan' Zip Gun (1975) 3
7. Zinc Alloy (1974) 3
6. T.Rex (1970) 3
5. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 3.5
4. Dandy In The Underworld (1977) 3.5
3. Tanx (1973) 4
2. Electric Warrior (1971) 5
1. The Slider (1972) 5
I remember the day I spent $4.22 to buy The Slider. I played it until the needle went through the vinyl for a year and then never thought about T-Rex again. 12 albums! I had no idea.
12) My People Were Fair... (1968) 2/5
11) Prophets, Seers... (1968) 2/5
10) Unicorn (1969) 2/5
09) Futuristic Dragon (1976) 2.25/5
08) Dandy in the Underworld (1977) 2.75/5
07) A Beard of Stars (1970) 3/5
06) Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 3.25/5
05) T. Rex (1970) 3.25/5
04) Zinc Alloy... (1974) 3.75/5
03) Tanx (1973) 3.75/5
02) Electric Warrior (1971) 4/5
01) The Slider (1972) 4/5
0 stars - irredeemably terrible/insultingly bad/the worst
.5 stars - terrible
1 star - bad
1.5 stars - pretty bad
2 stars - fair
2.5 stars - meh
2.75 stars - "It's OK, but quit playing it."
3 stars - OK/decent
3.25 stars - pretty good
3.5 stars - good
4 stars - very good
4.5 stars - excellent
5 stars - bone of the Universe
Chronological Order:
2.00 My People Were Fair... (1968)
2.00 Prophets, Seers... (1968)
2.00 Unicorn (1969)
3.00 A Beard of Stars (1970)
3.25 T. Rex (1970)
4.00 Electric Warrior (1971)
4.00 The Slider (1972)
3.75 Tanx (1973)
3.75 Zinc Alloy... (1974)
3.25 Bolan's Zip Gun (1975)
2.25 Futuristic Dragon (1976)
2.75 Dandy In the Underworld (1977)
notes:
* Marc Bolan was talented and charismatic. He had a fairly unique voice, he was a great guitar soloist and, by the time his band was known as T. Rex, his songs were loaded with hooks. He was primarily known for a particular "boogie woogie" style of rock n' roll, apart from his earlier folky phase and later flirtations with Soul.
* He often used standard Blues structures which normally turn me off, but he almost always gave them his own twist, making them different enough not to be boring.
* His lyrics are usually whimsical nonsense or sexual come-ons, although they did get a little more straightforward on his last few albums.
* I don't care too much for the early, folkier albums. The songs are typically weak and the vocals tend to be rather garbled, although Bolan gets points for sounding intriguingly strange. On some of these early songs, the bongos and whatnot fall out of sync with the rhythm.
* Many of their early songs are short and rather slight. It wasn't until Electric Warrior when they made (almost) a full album of standard-length pop songs.
* "Elemental Child," the last song on A Beard of Stars, is the first time I noticed them really rocking.
* Things really start to change with T. Rex the album which still has some of their strange acoustic songs, but they branch out with an orchestra for the first time and deliver a scorching extended rocker with "The Wizard." I also really like the song that serves as an intro and outro for the album.
* Electric Warrior delivers some bluesy but good tracks, some honky tonk, not a great trumpet on "Girl," and I don't care for the closing song "Rip Off" (I don't get that one. Maybe I'm missing something there?).
* The Slider gets my vote for best T. Rex album, thanks especially to a couple 5-star songs ("The Slider," "Telegram Sam") and two that aren't far behind ("Metal Guru," "Baby Boomerang"). But "Rock On" is just "pretty good," while the slower "Ballrooms of Mars" sounds rather dorky the way Bolan yells "Rock!"
* Tanx is not quite as good as the previous two, but there's some interesting use of sax on a handful of numbers and what I believe is a mellotron on "Highway Knees." This is the first instance where they dabble in Soul as well.
* Zinc Alloy... is interesting the way it finds T. Rex experimenting with Soul sounds and clavinet. There are quite a few very good songs on this one, but the opener "Venus Loon" is an unholy mess of funk, Gospel, orchestra, synth, and T. Rex. The cool echo on the vocal can't save it. On "Sound Pit," it sounds like Depeche Mode took some inspiration from it for their own song "Flexible." The last two tracks are also weak - "The Avengers (Superbad)" has some cool clavinet, almost a quasi-reggae, but the unrelenting command to "dig this" has the opposite effect. The album sports strong background vocals (which became a feature from here on out), some of which were sung by Marc's girlfriend Gloria Jones, who had a hit in 1965 with the original "Tainted Love," later covered by Soft Cell.
* From there, we basically have diminishing returns with occasional highlights. Dandy In the Underworld suffers from too much Blues, especially when played too straight, but even in modified T. Rex form it's pretty tired by this point. "Hang-Ups" gets funky, but then just turns into a tired, old-as-the-hills Blues progression, and the icy disco synths are ill-fitting for the song.
* On September 16th, 1977, the tragic death of Marc Bolan in a car accident drew the T. Rex story to a sad close.
* Cheers mates!!!!!!!!!!
Haven't posted yet but we are hearing them about the same. I am a bit more of a fan than you are, though . .
Great to hear your reviews guys. You ignored the elephant in the room, which is that T Rex were a singles band. Maybe that is a UK perspective at the time, but i think they peaked here with Ride a White Swan and Hot Love. My number 1 Bolan album is the T Rex LP, it is indeed the point of transition between the early stuff, the late early stuff, and the full flowering. Electric Warrior and The Slider i will give you, but it was all downhill from there.
Well done. I agree with Jason completely. The Slider is probably the best recordings of an album ever made except for Bowies Ziggy album. It's perfect. It got me through a summer in France 1973 visiting family.
Found the list I made a couple years ago included only the 8 T. Rex albums so the first 4 aren't shown.
1. Slider
2. Electric Warrior
3. Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow
4. Futuristic Dragon
5. Dandy In The Underworld
6. Tanx
7. Bolan's Zip Gun
8. T. Rex
1 The Slider 2 Electric Warrior 3 Zinc Alloy... 4 Tanx 5 Unicorn 6 T Rex 7 A Beard Of Stars
8 Prophets, Seers... 9 My People Were Fair... 10 Futuristic Dragon 11 Dandy In The Underworld
12 Bolan's Zip Gun
The guys said a lot of things that I've said about the band, like how they are a bit of a one-trick pony (not counting the early folky albums) and Kramzer mentioned how some of Bolan's early vocals are garbled, so that was kinda gratifying.
yeah - sounded like baby-talk which was annoying - i think Tony Visconti once said that the first time he heard the band he didn't think they were singing in the English language . .
@@NaughtyVampireGod you guys are clueless
Nice to hear you gentlemen agree with two of the great albums of the century.....nothing like those two top T.Rex albums. We need another Marc Bolan and T.Rex nowadays........
1 - Electric Warrior (9/10)
2 - The Slider (9/10)
3 - T. Rex (8/10)
4 - Unicorn (8/10)
5 - Tanx (8/10)
6 - Dandy in the Underworld (7/10)
7 - Beard of Stars (7/10)
8 - Prophets, Seers, and Sages... (7/10)
9 - Futuristic Dragon (6/10)
10 - My People Were Fair... (6/10)
11 - Bolan's Zip Gun (5/10)
12 - Zinc Alloy (4/10)
I both love Electric Warrior and the Slider equally, but if I were to choose between of one of them, it would be Electric Warrior
#1 for me is The Slider. I never really got into any of his other albums.
Want to thank you guys for doing the T-Rex episodes. I was born in 68 and lived through this era but T-Rex never really captured me and always seemed one dimensional even when I was young.. but listening to some of your favourites kinda changed that to some degree. Loved Cosmic Dancer especially (even though it is kinda repetitive... amazing delivery and production I think).
I recall reading about Marc's death in a newspaper back in the day which I later found under a carpet a good 20 or so years later.. it brought back all the childhood memories of Marc's show on TV here in the UK. 1970s was a crazy era to grow up in but I gravitated to Bowie and Queen back then.
BTW Jason is usually closer to my own tastes but I kinda also found Slider a bit mushy soundwise... sorry mate... maybe there are different mixes around though..
Interesting to hear your comments about the psychedelic folky songs - you should try Incredible String Band next
Been really looking forward to this one!
Kramz putting Zip Gun in his top 3, very bold choice there!
Not going to count the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums, as I've never heard any of them in full.
1. The Slider
2. Dandy In The Underworld
3. Electric Warrior
4. Tanx
5. Futuristic Dragon
6. Zinc Alloy
7. T. Rex
8. Bolan's Zip Gun
Dandy at #2 is a surprise!
Steve Peregrin Took was an exceptional musician.
A terrible bongoist though. - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic how dare you! That mans bongos could resurrect Jesus again.
@@TastesLikeMusic ruclips.net/video/WffuNGC4vUg/видео.html pure bongo love making
@@crabmane3710 I agree. These guys are just clueless. Try finding any knowledgeable bongo player who thinks Steve is a "terrible" bongo player. What they are saying is insane. He is almost the Jimi Hendrix of Bongo playing.
Marc Bolan and Dave Grohl comparison? sorry that doesn't even compute. One's a rock star, the other's Dave Grohl
Marc Bolan died before I was born and Dave Grohl I grew up listening to so Dave Grohl all the way. Sorry if thats the wrong opinion but nostalgia is a powerful drug and I have no shame in being nostalgic. Most people are.
@@Chaz4543 personally I love Bolan I was 3 when he died so not really nostalgia. Tried listening to Foo fighters they just don't do it for me.
Also critical point they were comparing how each artists successive records were touted as a departure from previous sound,and weren't. Not who is better full stop not everything is a death match.
Lol! Too funny.
Both are great both are different
I agree! I enjoy both a lot!
For some reason I've always categorized T. Rex as a one or two album wonder, but, man, I was wrong! Their classic glam rock albums from 71-73 are as good as anything, but even their early weird hippie folk stuff was if not great at least interesting and never boring.
12. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968) ★★★
11. Unicorn (1969) ★★★
10. My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968) ★★★
9. A Beard of Stars (1970) ★★★
8. T. Rex (1970) ★★★
7. Futuristic Dragon (1976) ★★★
6. Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) ★★★½
5. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974) ★★★★
4. Dandy in the Underworld (1977) ★★★★
3. Tanx (1973) ★★★★½
2. Electric Warrior (1971) ★★★★★
1. The Slider (1972) ★★★★★
★★★★★ - Masterpiece
★★★★½ - Really great
★★★★ - Great
★★★½ - Really good
★★★ - Good
★★½ - OK
★★ - Bad
★½ - Really bad
★ - Awful
½ - The worst
Massive T.rex fan for 50 years now My top 5 is always different from every other fan 1 Zinc Alloy 2 Tanx 3 Futuristic Dragon 4 The Slider 5 T.rex (Brown Album)
Tyrannosaurus Rex Different band for me I love all the Tyrannosaurus Albums Bolans words are not without meaning but you have to dig deep to find them which is part of the fun and experience. Theres a great book by Tony Stringfellow who delves deeply into Marc's lyrics well worth a read for any serious fan
I agree with Jason on Electric Warrior yes a brilliant album but possibly given more weight due to its importance to glam genre for me slider is a better sounding record.
Didn’t even notice the name tags on screen until now.
Just want to say that Joseph Steigerwald is one of the greatest names of all time, second only to Storm Thorgerson.
12. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair... But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows (1968) 2/5
11. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels Of The Ages (1968) 2/5
10. Unicorn (1969) 2.5/5
9. Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 2.5/5
8. A Beard Of Stars (1970) 3/5
7. T. Rex (1970) 3/5
6. Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow (1974) 3.5/5
5. Dandy In The Underworld (1977) 3.5/5
4. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 4/5
3. Tanx (1973) 4.5/5
2. Electric Warrior (1971) 5/5
1. The Slider (1972) 5/5
Hi guys, I've never been into T. Rex for some reasons, I'll have a go, I've heard for some songs but never to a full album. I'll come back over the week for impressions on the albums
Electric Warrior is my favourite, followed by The Slider and the transitional album “T.Rex” . I was fortunate to see the band in London in 1972 when I was 15.
When I was a kid in 72 I couldn't afford the latest releases except for a compilation album called Ride a White Swan on the budget MFP label. They had hand picked many of the best tracks from the first four albums and was a great introduction to Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you give Tyrannosaurus Rex another go start with this album. It eases you in a bit more gently lol.
🤠 Started exploring in '82 with a tape from Warner Brothers' "Two On One" cassette series, which had Warrior on one side and Slider on the other...kinda like Marc's Physical Graffiti.
Great ep! Huge Bolan fan here 👋🏻 Slider > Warrior > Tanx > Dandy > Dragon
Bolan's Boogie is a great collection of T.REX tracks A-Side and B-Side of singles from 1971 and a few earlier album tracks on the FLY label. It's a great companion for Electric Warrior.
Bolan* Boogie not Bolan's*
@@CB-xr1eg Oops! You got me there! Tanx!
Can't wait to check this out!
Damn, this one I saw late on my notifications…. I’m excited about this one….. I still think you guys need to do Duran Duran soon but T Rex is 🤩
as you may know the Boys follow a fairly strict schedule - which is great from a community perspective so you can be prepared - a new artist every week - tuesday is album day - wednesday is songs day - thursday is "side 3" - fridays have been the year-by-year videos (temporarily on hold) - new videos post about 1 or 2 PM EST
I get that i just have a tendency to forget what day it is….
I bought BEARD OF STARS in 1969 and was instantly smitten!!!.....it remains my favourite Marc album along with the accompanying 45 single KING OF THE RUMBLING SPIRES.....a shame the single was not included on the album though....then it would have been a 10/10 IMO
Slider and Warrior are not just my 2 fav T.rex albums but my 2 fav albums ever by anyone and the most played records through my life. How do they still sound so good today?
Love the band mostly Electric Warrior on.
For me
8.T.Rex
7.Bolans zip gun
6. Futuristic dragon
5.Tanx
4.Dandy in the Underworld
3.Electric Warrior
2. The Slider
1. Zinc alloy and the hidden riders of tomorrow
Not very familiar with Tyrannosaurus rex albums .
I love the band's acoustic period because I got their first album the best of t.rex from a friend around 71. Later I got Slider and love was born. Marc was my idol and to this day he is #1. later I ordered from the vinyl publisher everything they have from T.Rex and they sent me what was released up to that time up to the Zinc alloy...album. But Slider was and remains my T.Rex no1 album.
Yeah their collective take on all of the pre electric Warrior material I think is totally off the mark and ridiculously dismissive. There is some fantastic material in that era which is the inspiration to a lot of freak folk bands and artists now like devendra banhart. Florid, other worldly lyrics and just mystical sounding ethereal acoustic guitars and sounds. it's great stuff.
1) Zinc Alloy
2) Dandy in the Underworld
3) Tanx
4) Electric Warrior
5) Slider
6) Bolan's Zip Gun
7) Futuristic Dragon
Of course if you listen to them all in one day, you're gonna get sick of it all! Gotta space it out. Took me about a month, and I have a completely different feeling and have become a huge fan!
This is demonstrably wrong. - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic Demonstrably? Sounds like a challenge rather than agree to disagree. My proof is that I'm rocking out to the top 3 albums today happy as can be and you're not. But I blame our education, we barely heard about T.Rex but had Bowie crammed down our throats. I learned this week that T.Rex were hailed as the successor to the Beatles, worked with Ringo and Elton John on a T. Rex movie produced by Apple Records, that Bowie claimed to want to be as big as T.Rex, and that Bowie dropped his song Heroes on Marc's own tv show that was like MTV before MTV. As for the music, Zinc Alloy is the freest most confident and exploratory of the albums. Dandy is just pure fun, daring changes, subtle touches of electronic, reggae, harmonies, and a more complex redo of Bang a Gong, I'm a Fool for you Girl is like the quintessential 80s pop song, all of this framing a lyrically beautiful word painting. Tanx is the beginning of this triumphant leg of the journey. Electric Warrior and Slider are, like Beatles White album not true albums but collections of singles.
what a great week , 1 i had been waiting for
12 my people were fair and had sky in there hair 2.5 _
11 prophets seers and sages 2.5
10 unicorn 2.5
9 bolens zip gun 3.0
8 a beard of stars 3.0+
7zinc alloy and the hidden riders of tomorrow 3.0+
6 futurestic dragon 3.0+
5 t rex 3.5
4 dandy in the underworld 4.0
3 tanx 4.0
and this changed after 40 years
2 electric warrior 5.0
1 the slider 5.0
and wed a great song list
best week in a long time
Cheers!!
Hey 🐯! Nice list. I have 1 & 2 in the reverse order but both 5 star albums. We are on the same page here. Looking forward to your song list.
@@NaughtyVampireGod electric warrior was always my top but i changed this week. It was a very hard decision for sure Cheers!!
@@bengalgangster that's kinda interesting . . the biggest news for me personally was how much Futuristic Dragon improved to my ears at least . .
@@NaughtyVampireGod i think another surprise for me was how much i liked dandy in the underworld
@@bengalgangster I see that 🤓 . . 4 stars . . the Boyz had some favorable comments as well . . i gave it a solid 3 w closer to 3 1/2
1. Electric Warrior (1971) 4.5/5
2. The Slider (1972) 4/5
3. Tanx (1973) 4/5
4. T. Rex (1970) 3.5/5
5. A Beard of Stars (1970) 3.5/5
6. Prophets, Seers & Sages (1968) 3/5
7. My People Were Fair... (1968) 3/5
8. Unicorn (1969) 2.5/5
9. Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974) 2.5/5
10. Futuristic Dragon (1976) 2.5/5
11. Dandy in the Underworld (1977) 2.5/5
12. Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) 2/5
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
3.0 My People Were Fair... (1968)
3.0 Prophets, Seers & Sages (1968)
2.5 Unicorn (1969)
3.5 A Beard of Stars (1970)
3.5 T. Rex (1970)
4.5 Electric Warrior (1971)
4.0 The Slider (1972)
4.0 Tanx (1973)
2.5 Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974)
2.0 Bolan's Zip Gun (1975)
2.5 Futuristic Dragon (1976)
2.5 Dandy in the Underworld (1977)
I only knew T. Rex's classic period so hearing their early stuff was somewhat of a revelation. Those first 4 psychedelic folk albums don't blow me away but they certainly have interesting moments. Their 1970 self-titled album (the first one released under the shortened 'T. Rex' moniker) gives hints of the glam-rock direction they were headed in, but doesn't feel fully formed yet. Superstardom came with 1971's Electric Warrior and it's attendant singles. It's easily Marc Bolan's most fully realized work. I'm not in love with every last song, but the best ones are absolute classics. I see its follow-up, The Slider, as a step down but I still think it harbors enough greatness to reach 4 stars. Tanx is where Bolan seems the most "at ease" and the songs just flow out of him. That album would've gotten beyond 4 stars if I liked first two songs more than I do ("Tenement Lady," "Rapids"). The rest of their discography occasionally sprouts a good single or memorable deep cut, but overall those late-career LPs don't amount to enjoyable listening experiences. In total, I'm not that fond of T. Rex's albums outside their classic period, but for singles I think they were an exceptional group. And not too many bands can say they launched an entire sub-genre. Heck, David Bowie owes an entire phase of his career to these guys. Realistically, T. Rex probably won't make my top 100 artists list, but I have a lot of love for their best songs.
MY RATING SYSTEM:
5.0 = major classic (consistently great *and* stratospheric highs)
4.5 = minor classic (consistently great *or* stratospheric highs, but not both)
4.0 = great (a clear majority is worth revisiting and it's an essential record for this artist/style - passes my "it'll make a fan out of someone who's new to this artist" test)
3.5 = seriously good (at least half is worth revisiting)
3.0 = nominally good (less than half is worth revisiting)
2.5 = decent (competent but uninspired - not worth revisiting)
2.0 = poor (difficult listen)
1.5 = awful (can't finish it)
1.0 = historically awful (musical apocalypse)
*Note: "Consistently" does not mean "flawlessly." I allow for a few clunkers if the rest of the songs are good enough. I also don't go below 1 star because once I'm in the realm of the truly terrible I don't care to differentiate anymore. Anything I rate 3.5 stars or higher is an album I'm enthusiastic about and would likely revisit at some point.
Hey Whammy - - - I'm with you on this - but later phase albums Zinc Alloy and Futuristic Dragon are solid. You like the duo's albums more than I do! (So to speak . .)
Pretty similar ranking and grades to me. Great minds think alike.
@@NaughtyVampireGod I don't think there's a huge gap between them, but I find the best tracks on their early albums are more interesting than the best tracks on their late albums. I'd take "Consuela" or "Stacey Grove" over "Light of Love" or "Dreamy Lady."
Interesting take, especially on the early albums.
@@179rich Yeah . . I always appreciate Whammy's take but I do NOT condsider those early albums to be at all psychedelic . . nor are there too many highlights except for Cat Black (on Unicorn) which is the first real preview of T. Rex (several other songs are good as well) . . Unlike many here I found Unicorn to be the best of the first four, not Beard of Stars . .
Finished T Rex!!! 🦕
Electric Warrior (1971)- 4 stars (8) 🦕🦕🦕🦕
The Slider (1972) - 3.5 stars (7.7) 🦕🦕🦕/5
Futuristic Dragon (1976)- 3.5 stars (7.5) 🦕🦕🦕/5
Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974)-3.5 stars (7.2) 🦕🦕🦕/5
Tanx (1973)- 3.5 stars (7) 🦕🦕🦕/5
Dandy and the Underworld (1977)- 3 stars (6.5) 🦕🦕🦕
T. Rex(1970) - T. Rex -2.5 stars (5.4) 🦕🦕/5
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968)- 2.5 stars (5) 🦕🦕/5
T Rex- Bolan’s Zip Gun (1975) - 2.5 stars (5) 🦕🦕/5
Tyrannosaurus Rex - My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968)- 2 stars (4.5) 🦕🦕
Tyrannosaurus Rex - A Beard of Stars (1970) - 2 stars (3.8) 🦕 🦕
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn (1969)- 1.5 stars (2.6) 🦕/5
Great reviews. I've been publishing the Bolan fanzine A THOUSAND MARK FELD CHARMS since 1996. One thing you forgot to mention was the fact Bolan didn't include a lot of his singles on the albums. Children Of The Revolution, The Groover, 20th Century Boy, Laser Love, Ride A White Swan, Hot Love, Truck On (Tyke), King of the Rumbling Spires, Solid Gold Easy Action, Celebrate Summer and London Boys were not on the original LPs. Even Dandy In The Underworld was re-recorded for the single release to drop the cocaine reference.
I love all the albums but if push came to shove my list would be...
1 Tanx • 5
2 Dandy In The Underworld • 5
3 Futuristic Dragon 4.5
4 Electric Warrior 4.5
5 Unicorn 4.5
6 The Slider 4.5
7 Zinc Alloy 4
8 T.Rex 4
9 Bolan' Zip Gun 3.5
10 A Beard Of Stars 3
11 Prophets, Seers & Sages 3
12 My People Were Fair... 3
Very cool! Thanks for commenting. Just glad to have won the respect of such a noted Bolan fan. - Joe
My Ranking of only T Rex from a massive fan!
1. Electric warrior (rip off puts this over the top)
2. Slider
3. Tanx
4. Futuristic Dragon
5. Dandy in the underworld
6. Zinc alloy
7. T Rex
8. Zip gun
As for Tyrannosaurus Rex here are the top 2
1. Beard of stars
2. Unicorn
Bang on rating especially with Dragon at 4. TOP 3 are in merit and Bolan at his greatest.
The insanity of surplus bongo drums!
Hello Todd. yeah - those freakin bongos . . I had a "Shaggs-moment" while listening to one of those songs . . actually I don't think the Marc and The Hobbit were playing the same song together . .bongos completely superflous honestly
My list is similar to Jason’s!
1. The Silder (1972)
2. Tanx (1973)
3. Electric Warrior (1971)
4. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974)
5. Futuristic Dragon (1976)
6. Dandy in the Underworld (1977)
7. Bolan’s Zip-Gun (1976)
8. Unicorn (1969)
9. T. Rex (1970)
10. A Beard of Stars (1970)
11. Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968)
12. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows (1968)
Got into T. Rex in 1971, then started to love Tyrannosaurus Rex. Sorry, can’t agree to your lists at all.
Hard to say what’s best, depends on taste anyway, easier to say which album I would never give away and these are „Unicorn“ and „Beard of Stars“ - those had it all for me, timeless pleasure.
T.Rex were my favourite band back in the day. First concert I ever went to (saw them twice live) and thousands of gigs later still my favourite gig. Saved up for weeks my paper round money to buy "Electric Warrior" and was obsessed from that moment on. My parents were appalled. I remember playing "The Slider" and my father saying "That was absolute crap". Six months later I played "Tanx" and he said "That was good. Much better than that other awful thing you played". Soul influence I suspect (he was a huge Stylistics fan and as a family we had to suffer seeing them live - awful!) which I was never into and for me introduction of Gloria Jones took the band off track. I always thought "Dandy In The Underworld" was like a cruise ship band of session musicians trying to make an old-fashioned and extremely derivative rock record, but by then punk had arrived and I was obsessed with that.
Talking of which... when are we going to get a Best of Wire album selection? So many great albums over the years to choose from.
This is the first time I've ever seen anybody rank albums like "Zip Gun" and "Zinc Alloy" over "Unicorn" or "A Beard Of stars"--just *way* different tastes from my own! I understand a lot of people can't get into the Tyrannosaurus Rex material but it ranks among his most creative and unique work, and the lyrics are out of this world. Here's my ranking/grading of the albums:
1. T. Rex A+
2. Electric Warrior A
3. Unicorn A
4. The Slider A
5. A Beard Of Stars A-
6. Prophets, Seers And Sages B+
7. Dandy In The Underworld B+
8. Tanx B
9. Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow B-
10. My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair B-
11. Futuristic Dragon B-/C+
12. Bolan's Zip Gun C-
The first five albums on this list covering 1969-72 are all transcendent (#'s 2, 3, and 4 almost all tie for second), as are all of the B-sides, BBC sessions, demos and outtakes from the period. Bolan could do NO wrong in those years. But there was a lot of great music in the other years as well. "Zip Gun" is the only album I would give a thumbs-down to.
Why is Tanx and Futuristic Dragon so low? I’d have Tanx 2nd or 3rd and FD 4th or 5th at the lowest. I don’t really like the Tyrannosaurus Rex stuff either.
@@JCStorm76 The whole point of posting my list was to show that I prefer Bolan's earlier work, unlike the people in the clip or what a lot of commenters here are saying. I still give "Tanx" a "B" grade which is high for any other artist, it's just that Bolan has so many albums I like more.
@@spiritof6663 Fair enough
T. Rex isn't the best band of all time, but they might be the coolest-sounding band of all time.
No they are best!
@@grahamrogers3345😂😂😂😂
The King of Glam before Bowie.
T. Rex is a good example of a band (duo) that takes years to find their big sound and their label/management was there for the long haul. Marc Bolan wouldn’t have made it nowadays. 🎶
Different era
Die heutige Zeit ist eben zu dumpf und fantasielos...
I would say for any rock n roll fan, the bare minimum classic T. Rex era albums they should own are A beard of stars, T. Rex self titled album, electric Warrior, the slider and then TANX.. I list those with the proviso that they are the extended versions with all the unreleased hit singles that were not included on the albums...like ride a white swan, raw ramp, Cadillac, thunderwing, 20th century boy, hot love, king of the rumbling spires, children of the revolution, solid gold easy action… etc.
After that, if they love the band, I would totally recommend Dandy in the Underworld which has a bunch of great tracks sprinkled throughout it like the gothic tinged title track, visions of domino and the post apocalyptic Pain and Love. The album Futuristic Dragon has slightly fewer good tracks but still some great ones like the trio of the self titled intro, the boogie rock Jupiter liar and then one of my favorite T. Rex songs, Chrome Sitar which is like an HP lovecraft inspired rock and roll masterpiece. Then "calling all destroyers" which mojo magazine has listed as a late proto punk inspiring song, then the soulful "dawn storm" and "my little baby" which has that classic T. Rex guitar sound punctuated throughout it. The extended version of the album has the other indispensable tracks "laser love" which has a riff wonderfully recycled by The Ramones in their song "the KKK took my baby away" and then the return to form cosmic acoustic ballad, "lifes an elevator." just a lush beautiful classic T. Rex acoustic number.
After that, with caution, The zinc alloy and the hidden writers of tomorrow album. If they can get past the strange integration of soul singers into the t.rex sound, the tracks that really meshes this dynamic are Venus loon, explosive mouth, Galaxy, change, the wonderfully strange Teenage Dream single, interstellar soul and even though the intro to it is a little abrasive, Painless Persuasion and the Meathawk immaculate is a great song. This album you also would need the extended version with the hit singles "the groover" "truck on tyke" as well as the guitar inferno of "midnight."
I would not necessarily recommend people buy the whole Bolan's zip gun album, but if they can download tracks, the ones that would be absolutely essential and which fit perfectly with the classic t.rex sound are: solid baby, think zinc, and till dawn -which is like a glam doowop song with a gentle sound but has a blistering melodic solo.
Even before talking about zinc alloy or bolan's zip gun, I would refer people to the T. Rex unchained CD series which has a ton of rare and unreleased home demos and studio recordings, many of which should have absolutely been released in marc's lifetime. Look up "bolan's blues, plateau skull, Saturday night version 3, down home lady, over the flats, lock into your love, 21st century stance and jet tambourine. There are many other great tracks from that series but those are some serious highlights.
Fairly unfamiliar with the Rex, but I really love this run-through, guys! (unlike last week… 😣 😉)
Time for….
Moodies?
Van The Man?
Judas Priest?
Cure?
Gentle Giant?
Too many to mention??
Moodies would be great but give T Rex a try - at least Electric Warrior . . then The Slider 🎩
I can't BELIEVE not one of these guys even mentioned the clavinet.
I too agree with Electric Warrior being the best T Rex album
It's a coin flip between that and The Slider, but yeah, Electric Warrior edges it out.
0:52 Well I think you'll find The Moody Blues are a lot more popular than for example The Babys or Three Dog Night. What some critics may have thought is irrelevant. And I'm sure you would have done T-Rex anyway. Presumably because The Kinks aren't in these polls you are doing them sometime.
T Rex and the Moodies were runners up on patreon polls which is why the question was put before the community
tell them Jason tell them ...love your reviews
I enjoy listening to you guys . Any chance of Elvis Costello ranks ?
Yes. Hopefully soon!
Also ROXY MUSIC @@TastesLikeMusic
Agree with Jason. Slider is his best album. And one of the top two glam albums along with Ziggy Stardust.
Many great T-Rex singles aren't on the albums that you reviewed. .
1-EW 2-The Slider 3-T-Rex 4-Beard of Stars 5-Tanx if you include the singles that were removed from each recording session.
I just felt i had to explain something here, back before streaming or mp3s, it was difficult to obtain marcs music because the catalogue had been deleted, what would be my process for obtaining these albums (in the early 80s) was to first work at a bed and breakfast and a café washing up, then a train ride, to a city go to a record fair search and hopefully find what you're looking for, this made the listening experience incredibly different from today, see i had worked for my treasure, it ment something, so if a vinyl didn't hit you immediately you would play it again because well !! You've bought the dam thing ..see with albums like unicorn you seriously need to spend time over them, they are not built for radio play like Electric Warrior/The Slider, you guys need to get deeper then where your at, the imagination, the creativity Marc is on fire here and it just went passed you, unfortunately because you're all used to a world of steaming where music now is sadly a throwaway, blasé passtime, ..by the way an awful lot of your facts on these recordings are wrong i guess its from Wiki right?..
What im saying is, if your going to be blasé about listening then its obvious that you all choose the biggest selling bolan albums. Shame because his earlier stuff is way way more intellectual
Unicorn is a weird album to get all worked up about. I would say it’s more pseudo-intellectual than intellectual but to each their own. - Joe
re: catalog deleted - is this true even for electric warrior?
@@NaughtyVampireGod yes all his back catalogue was unavailable in the UK for sometime, Cube records were the first lable to re release E W , but its so much better to try to locate and own a Fly copy, hopfully still with its poster.
@@vincehall Did Fly editions sound better than Cube, or just better packaging, or both?
@@NaughtyVampireGod if your after buying EW on vinyl, there's just been a half speed master thats really good, ..the Fly one is just way cooler with the picture on one side of the lable and the inner bag. A really nice package. 👌
I think the Slider is overall a better record than Electric Warrior but the high points of EW such as "jeepster" and "rip off" may be stronger than the high points of The Slider - however I agree with Jason it is one of the best sounding records of all time - the bombastic "Metal Guru" is the epitome of glam rock awesomeness - it pulls you right in and makes you listen to the whole album - no question Bolan and Bowie were the kings of glam - Bowie was a more talented singer-songwriter but nobody had the style and swagger of Bolan- great ranking video guys -really enjoyed it - waiting for the KINKS!!!!
I am kinda surprised by all the favorable Rip Off comments. Electric Warrior is a 5 star ("six star") album but I said that song was a "throwaway" - I am glad you guys proved me wrong since I have so much love for that album.
@@NaughtyVampireGod It's not a throwaway, it's a rip off! If it makes any sense, haha.
The best things about the first Tyranosaurus Rex album are the cover and the title.
ps, The original back cover of David Bowie's second album , Man of Words, Man of Music was painted by the same artist.
Top 3:
The Slider
Beard Of Stars
Electric Warrior
The rest are cool too...
@Joe
The "Bang a Gong" thing is pure Chuck Berry. Bolan actually quotes the original "meanwhile I was still thinking" as a homage to Little Queenie in the outro.
So . . I notice that too (the outro) . . But the song itself is not a direct copy . . I think ppl judged Marc a bit harshly on this issue . . the copying critique is fair for a song like Jeepster (taken from Howling Wolf) but not in other cases . .
@@NaughtyVampireGod There is nothing to judge or condemn here (and I did not intend my comment this way) because Bolan stated his sources many times, his first intention for Bang a Gong was a cover of the Berry song but Tony Visconti talked him out of that. Bolan was just a big fan of the Rock'n'Roller, just like Bowie or Keith Richards.
@@roxannewalsh Yeah . . not you . . others, though . . 😀 . . the Bolan/Visconti partnership was fantastic
@@roxannewalsh and if you're going to copy or pattern yourself after someone for this purpose, hard to pick a better example,,,
@@charlesandbettesson7229 I cannot object to that...Chuck Berry for me always has been one of the main elements of the music I love.