T. Rex - The Electric Boogie, NineteenSeventyOne [2007] (5 x CD's)

 

T. Rex

T. Rex - The Electric Boogie, NineteenSeventyOne [2007] (5 x CD's)

A very hard to find box set. This is a truly mammoth set of Bolan magic. There are 5 CD's in all - Two are home demo recordings: one set of demos from Spring & one set from Autumn of 1971, two CD's cover the 1971 Summer tour & one CD (titled "The Electric Boogie") is a mix of studio out takes & interviews. A lot of the stuff on this collection was, according to the blurb in the accompanying booklet, stolen from Marc's home after his death but was returned to the family, hence this release.  The home demos are a truly fascinating (& hugely enjoyable!) insight into how Marc crafted, constructed, changed & rearranged the songs that would eventually come to form, arguably, his greatest album, "Electric Warrior" & let you hear how some of the songs might have sounded - "Jeepster" in particular.  These demo discs are just superb, featuring (on the Spring Demo CD), to reiterate, what sound like the "blueprints" for "Electric Warrior" as well as some tracks (on the Autumn demo disc) which would end up on "The Slider". There are also some unreleased tracks (on the Spring demo disc) which have a style & sound which would not have been out of place on the "Beard Of Stars" or "T.Rex" albums. The "Electric Boogie" disc has some marvellous studio outtakes of which a personal favourite is "T.Rex Jam" which is unlike anything else I have ever heard by T.Rex - you could almost be listening to a Hendrix or Zeppelin giving it both barrels, Marc really lets rip on the guitar & Steve Currie's bass is phenomenal. The only (slight)disappointment for me, is the two part interview on this disc (where Marc is discussing the release of "Electric Warrior" in America), in which Marc sadly demonstrates his tendency, at times, to talk himself up & make some fairly spurious claims, some of which makes him sound a little (& sometimes, very) lax with the truth. Those moments aside, the interview does give you an idea of how much Marc really wanted to crack America & helps understand how much it might have hurt, that he didn't. The live discs are pretty strong & feature "Electric Warrior" & "Slider" tracks, plus gems like "Elemental Child"  All in all though, an absolute must for the Bolan fanatic. It's fantastic. (Amazon)

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Track lists

CD1 Spring London 1971

01 T. Rex Jeepster 4:57

02 T. Rex Electric Warrior / There Was A Time 1:32

03 T. Rex Dark Lipped Woman 1:48

04 T. Rex Guitar Jam #1 2:43

05 T. Rex Get It On 3:15

06 T. Rex Guitar Jam #2 0:30

07 T. Rex Planet Queen 2:24

08 T. Rex Guitar Jam #3 0:17

09 T. Rex Guitar Jam #4 4:03

10 T. Rex Jeepster (Work In Progress) 2:39

11 T. Rex Life's A Gas (Acoustic) 2:46

12 T. Rex Gypsy Queen (My Shaky Jane) 8:31

13 T. Rex Girl (1 & 2, Acoustic Work In Progress) 4:27

14 T. Rex Guitar Jam #5 6:14

15 T. Rex Get It On Blues 11:55

16 T. Rex Sailors Of The Highway (4 Track Demo) 2:15

CD2 The Summer Tour Of '71 Part 1

01 T. Rex Cadillac (Clifton Park, Rotherham, 28th Aug) 6:03

02 T. Rex Ride A White Swan 9:06

03 T. Rex Hot Love 3:31

04 T. Rex Get It On 8:49

05 T. Rex Jewel 8:44

06 T. Rex Beltane Walk (Wolverhampton, 19th May) 5:30

07 T. Rex One Inch Rock 4:39

08 T. Rex Spaceball Ricochet 3:26

09 T. Rex Debora 6:49

10 T. Rex Instrumental Jam 5:45

11 T. Rex Elemental Child 13:22

CD3 The Summer Tour Of '71 Part 2

01 T. Rex Beltane Walk (Trentham Gardens, Stroke-On-Trent 22nd Aug) 4:20

02 T. Rex Girl 5:29

03 T. Rex Debora 6:05

04 T. Rex Spaceball Ricochet (Royal Ballrooms, Bournemoth, 12th Aug) 3:04

05 T. Rex Girl 4:29

06 T. Rex Cosmic Dancer 4:23

07 T. Rex Ride A White Swan (Odeon, Lewsham, 9th July) 5:04

08 T. Rex Get It On 4:44

09 T. Rex Summertime Blues 3:18

10 T. Rex Summertime Blues (Rehearsals) 2:53

11 T. Rex Jam (Rehearsals) 6:47

12 T. Rex Honey Don't (Rehearsals) 2:04

13 T. Rex Summertime Blues (Version #2 / Rehearsals) 3:31

CD4 Autumn '71 Home Demos

01 T. Rex Buick McKane #1 1:37

02 T. Rex Buick McKane (Different Version) 0:58

03 T. Rex Cadillac (Marc 'N' Mickey Demo) 3:23

04 T. Rex Rock On 2:11

05 T. Rex Guitar Piece 4:35

06 T. Rex The Slider 3:27

07 T. Rex Baby Strange (Acoustic Work In Progress) 2:34

08 T. Rex Telegram Sam (Marc 'N' Mickey Demo) 2:27

09 T. Rex Thunderwing 2:55

10 T. Rex Buick McKane #2 1:54

11 T. Rex Spaceball Ricochet 1:59

12 T. Rex Sunken Rags (Home Demo) 2:25

13 T. Rex Rainy Monday 5:11

14 T. Rex I Knew A Girl 8:32

15 T. Rex Guitar Piece 1:18

16 T. Rex Baron Of Wimpole Street 1:19

17 T. Rex Take Me Down To Birmingham 4:38

CD5 The Electric Boogie 1971

01 T. Rex Electric Boogie (Unused Mix From Oct/Nov '71) 2:12

02 T. Rex The Electric Warrior Interview (With Michael Cuscuna Pt1) 11:58

03 T. Rex Raw Ramp (Unused Mix From Oct/Nov '71) 2:33

04 T. Rex The Electric Warrior Interview (With Michael Cuscuna Pt2) 14:46

05 T. Rex T.Rex Studio Jam 12:19

06 T. Rex Jeepster (Oct '71) 3:39

07 T. Rex Life's A Gas (Oct '71) 2:11

08 T. Rex Baby Strange (Oct '71) 2:25

09 T. Rex Children Of Rarn Suite (Oct '71) 15:16

10 T. Rex Everybody's Loose (WGLG Chicago, Dec '71) 4:07

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