Top singles from the past…
20 May 2022
Band: T.REX
Active: 1967-1977
Single: Metal Guru
B-side: Mystic Lady
Released: 1972
Score: No 1 hit in the UK on
20 May 1972 – 50 years ago today
Album: The Slider – third studio LP
R.I.P. Marc Bolan
T.REX: Facebook
20 March 2022
On 6 September 1977 it will be 45 years since MARC BOLAN, the pin-up
spearhead of glam and glitter rock legends T.REX died in a car incident. He
was only 29. His wife was behind the wheel enad survived the crash.
A 45th Anniversary Concert will take place in London in September with British
veteran stars Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Tony Visconti (celebrated producer), David
Vanian (Japan) Toyah, Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes To Hollywood), Andy Ellison and
several more.
R.I.P. eternal jeepster…
MARC BOLAN: Story
29 January 2022
London’s electronic duo FERAL FIVE pay
homage to the late great glam rock icon
MARC BOLAN and T.REX with their new
cover of the classic GET IT ON.
FF: “Featuring both Ferals on vocals, this stomping version saw a fans-only sneak
peek to celebrate finishing their album. They soon had requests for a full release,
which the band dutifully obliged. Talk about ‘Bang A Gong’, this track has dirty synths,
floating fuzz guitar, heavy bass and beats (including cymbals and gongs of course).
Crank up the generator and set your speakers to overload, this song is more than
electric, it’s a mesmeric fully Feralised electronic smash!”
The duo’s version is a repetitive banging gong going on and on.
Glam and glitter electro for the dancefloor lit by a rotating, shiny
disco ball.
Let’s dance, take a chance, understand me
You’re dirty, sweet and you’re my girl…
.
FERAL FIVE: Facebook
Back in time
24 September 2021
Band: T. REX
Active: 1967-1977
4 studio LPs as Tyrannosaurus Rex
and 12 albums as T. Rex
R.I.P. Marc Bolan
30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977
Anniversary album: ELECTRIC WARRIOR
Released: 24 September 1971 – 50 years ag today
Producer: Tony Visconti (who worked a lot with Bowie
too and several other big-name musicians))
Score: # 1 in the UK
Pitchfork said: “Electric Warrior does contain the immortal “Bang a Gong (Get it On)”, but that’s neither the only nor the best reason to pick it up. What makes this record so enduring is its almost accidental emotional depth: When T.Rex is kicking out the jams, they sound like they’re having the most gleeful, absurd good time ever committed to wax. There’s nothing so glorious in rock and roll as hearing Bolan croon, “Just like a car, you’re pleasing to behold/ I’ll call you Jaguar if I may be so bold,” over his namesake boogie… The most significant aspect of Electric Warrior isn’t its arena rock confidence; it’s that Bolan allows his grinning mask to slip. With the incomparable aid of producer Tony Visconti, Bolan sketches a vast, empty room, where, after the party’s over, he resides alone, wide-eyed and desperate. On ballads like
“Cosmic Dancer”, “Monolith” and “Girl”, he speaks in the same gibberish as elsewhere, but
he’s clearly haunted by what we can’t say.” Full review here. Score: 9.5/10.
Turn Up The Volume: A natural-born rock star. Charisma, looks, clothes,
voice, and most of all tons of classic gems, slow and fast, glamorous and
moody. A genuine electric warrior. Icon 4ever.
Singles: Get It On / Jeepster
– GET IT ON –
(No 1 on the UK Singles Chart)
– JEEPSTER –
(Peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart)
Album in full…
.
T.REX: Discography
Top singles from the past…
2 July 2021
This day 50 years ago, on 2 July 1971 the late great Marc Bolan‘s
glam rock band T. REX released GET IT ON, one of their 24 Karat
knockout hits.
Bolan revealed later that he took the main riff from Chuck Berry‘s hit
Little Queenie. In the US the track was renamed ‘Bang a Gong (Get It On)‘
to avoid confusion with a song of the same name by a combo called Chase.
Let’s groove it on…
T.REX: Facebook
18 March 2021
Here come three big hits with a No 1 score, respectively this day in 1971 – 1981 – 1991
Band: T. REX
Single: HOT LOVE
B-side: Woodland Rock
Score: No 1 in the UK – 18 March 1971 – 50 years ago today
T. REX: Discography
Band: ROXY MUSIC
Single: JEALOUS GUY
B-side: To Turn You On
Score: No 1 in the UK on 18 March 1981 – 40 years ago today – their only #1 in the UK
ROXY MUSIC: Discography
Band: THE CLASH
Single: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO
B-side: Straight To Hell
Info: Originally released in 1982, but re-released
in 1991 after Levi’s used the song in a commercial.
Score: No 1 in the UK – 18 March 1991 – 30 years ago today
THE CLASH: Discography
12 February 2021
Band: T. REX
Active: 1967-1997
Frontman and glam hero Marc Bolan passed
away on 16th September, only 29. R.I.P.
Single: HOT LOVE
B-side: Woodland Rock and
King of the Mountain Cometh
Marc Bolan: “There is so little time for us all I need to
be able to say what I want quickly and to as many people
as possible.”
Released: 12 February 1971 – 50 years ago today
Score: first #1 hit in the UK
Well she’s my woman of gold
And she’s not very old – a ha ha
Well she’s my woman of gold
And she’s not very old – a ha ha
I don’t mean to be bold, a-but
a-may I hold your hand?
Well she ain’t no witch and I love the way she twitch – a ha ha
Well she ain’t no witch and I love the way she twitch – a ha ha
I’m a labourer of love in my persian gloves – a ha ha…
T. REX: Facebook
18 December 2020
Band: T. REX
Active: 1967-1977
Album: T. REX – fifth LP
Released: 18 December 1970 – 50 years ago
Note: The record’s front cover was unusual, requiring a sideways look
to unfold the cover, or to have the artwork sideways to remove the LP.
AllMusic / Marc Deming said: “If Bolan was reaching for the big time with
T. Rex, he also sounds like he was letting out the rock star that had always lurked
within him, and there isn’t a moment here that doesn’t sound like he’s singing
from his heart and soul.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.
Turn Up The Volume: The psych-folk years of Bolan before becoming
a massive 24-carat glam star.
Marc Bolan: “There is so little time for us all; I need to be able to say what
I want quickly and to as many people as possible.” He died in a car accident
in 1977, only 29.
Stream album…
.
T. REX: All Albums
25 November 2020
AL JOURGENSEN, the disturbed spearhead of Chicago’s veteran metal act
MINISTRY teamed up in 2018 with LA-based Goth rock supergroup BEAUTY
IN CHAOS for a titanic and back-breaking cover of 1973 glam hit 20TH CENTURY
BOY by T. REX.
Their take is over the metallic moon. Steamed-up, hot-tempered, and filthy
with Jourgensen‘s horror-ific vox adding a Satanique craziness and heated
harmonica fragments reinforcing the stampede force of this blowout.
Aaaargghhh…
I actually picked this ripper as cover of the week in the light of the recent event of MARC
BOLAN, rightly so, becoming a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His son ROLAN did the acceptance speech in name of his late father…
Rolan himself covered T. Rex‘s 20th Century slam, last year, together with
The Mission‘s frontman Wayne Hussey and also a Beauty In Chaos mix…
.
BEAUTY IN CHAOS: Facebook
(photo on top: cover ‘Relapse’ album)
11 November 2020
Here’s Marc Bolan‘s son Rolan with the acceptance speech in name of his late father…
Two big ones to celebrate…
– GET IT ON –
– TELEGRAM SAM –
T. REX: Facebook
TURN UP THE VOLUME 