Music Munchers - Electric Warrior by Bolan & T Rex, Marc

Product Review
T. Rex's best album, Electric Warrior, distills the best elements of Marc Bolan's earlier acoustic period with a dynamic rock rhythm section--drummer Bill Legend and bassist Steve Currie--and lush arrangements by producer Tony Visconti. Featuring the classics "Bang a Gong (Get It On)," "Jeepster," and "Mambo Sun," Warrior ranges from the space-blues of "Lean Woman Blues" to the punk-jazz of "Rip Off," with a sound fleshed out by chamber strings and the falsetto harmonies of ex-Turtles and Mothers of Invention Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. (Zappa sideman Ian McDonald plays sax as well.) Touches such as the arcing cellos of "Cosmic Dancer" and the sexy rhythms of "Planet Queen" perfectly bring to life Bolan's imaginative world of "diamond star halos" and "shadowless horses." A must for any serious collector of British rock classics. --James Rotondi

This review is from: Electric Warrior (Audio CD) T. Rex and especially its elfin leader Marc Bolan were huge stars in England in the early 70's. They were the prototypical glam rockers and they racked up number one hit after number one hit in their native country. Despite the T. Rextasy that swept through England, the band never really caught on in America. The lone exception was Electric Warrior. The album spawned their only US top ten single, the pulsating "Bang A Gong (Get It On)". Those who only know the band from that song, should check out the rest of the album. The opens with a strong quartet of songs. "Mambo Sun" starts things off with a kick and then the album's best song "Cosmic Dancer" is next. The song has a slow, percolating rhythm accented by a string section and the song simmers along. The pace is quicken by the other big single the band had in the US, "Jeepster", which has a popping guitar riff and "Monolith" is a sexy rocker. Even though the band never hit it big in the US, their influence was felt in the 80's as T. Rex had a big impact on the British new wave invasion bands of that era. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)