Tyrannosaurus Rex
My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows - Regal Zonophone 1968
Tracks: Tracks: 1. Hot Rod Mama/ 2. Scenescof / 3. Child Star / 4. Strange Orchestras / 5. Chateau in Virginia Waters / 6. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues / 7. Mustang Ford / 8. Afghan Woman / 9. Knight / 10. Graceful Fat Sheba / 11. Wielder of Words / Frowning Atahualipa
Comments:
It will probably be a bit of a surprise to listen to this first album from Tyrannosaurus Rex if you only know Marc Bolan from his T Rex releases.
Where T Rex is often called glam rock with a traditional rock line-up, Tyrannosaurus Rex is almost purely acoustic with guitars and conga drums. Bolan's vocal is there, of course, but most often with even more vibrato than with T Rex – if you like this must be a matter of taste.
The arrangements are quite similar, with a limited instrumentation, and since the songwriting is often rather diffuse, it can be difficult to remember the individual songs from each other.
It is obvious that the group was both original and innovative for its time, but if the music lasting qualities, is more doubtful to me. Of course, fans of Bolan / T Rex fan, will want to explore his early music and like to look positive to this.
However, I think Tyrannosaurus Rex is generally overvalued and personally I have difficulties with enduring a full listen to their albums, even though some numbers show the potential that would bloom on T Rex's fine albums.
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