BOOGIE WONDERLAND!
TEN GEMS FROM PEAK REXMANIA, PLUCKED FROM THE UPCOMING T. REX: 1972 BOX SET. BY MARK PAYTRESS.
SUNKEN RAGS (B-side of Children Of The Revolution) The original acoustic demo of this dig at Ladbroke Grove’s freak fraternity – among them original Rex man Steve Took – invoked a Pink Fairies song (“ride on, fight on”) and, ironically, ended up on the
Glastonbury Fayre LP. Backing vocalists Flo and Eddie fine-tune this band version. TELEGRAM SAM
(Previously unreleased Top
Of The Pops version)
Telegram Sam did for the language of pop what Magritte did for pipes and apples: ultra-vivid sensory delirium. While a homage to Tony Secunda, “automatic shoes” and “corkscrew hair” place Bolan firmly at the song’s centre. MAIN MAN
(Radio session, KDAY-FM
Santa Monica)
The studio Main Man resonates with fragility. But in a February 1972 version taped for US radio, Bolan lets the song take him to all sorts of places, namechecking main men Elton John and Jimi Hendrix as he strums himself into reverie. SPACEBALL RICOCHET
(Live At Wembley: the Evening Show)
Intimacy was key to Bolan’s appeal which is why, even during peak Rexmania, there was always an acoustic interlude mid-set. 1972 highlight Spaceball Ricochet “just tears your hair out,” says Visconti. “‘I know I’m small, but I enjoy living anyway.’ Killer lines!” THE SLIDER
(from The Slider)
Built around a lusty, crunchy guitar, this title track speaks both of Bolan’s struggle to belong (“All schools are strange”) and nature-boy spirit (“the cosmic sea”). Has a devastating chorus: “And when I’m sad, I slide”. RABBIT FIGHTER
(from The Slider)
There’s a lot of Big Apple here:
violence, corruption, superheroes, Moondog. “One of the most beautiful things he’s ever recorded,” says Visconti, “a three-minute pocket symphony.” An exquisitely lyrical Bolan guitar solo and Mark Volman crooning falsetto on the fade virtually steal the show. BALLROOMS OF MARS (from The Slider)
Rich in symbolism, this deep cut is a meditation on transition – though for day into night, read loss of innocence. Bolan’s methods may be inscrutable, but autobiography is rarely far away. John Lennon gets a namecheck. JITTERBUG LOVE (B-side of Children Of The Revolution)
Powered up by Bolan’s Screaming Bird treble-booster pedal, this boppin’ burst of rock’n’soul is pure treasure. The chorus is feverish; Bolan’s snatched guitar break a nod to Eric Clapton’s ‘woman tone’. LEFT HAND LUKE (Radio session, WBCN Boston)
The epic that would give Tanx its rousing, gospel-rich finale was previewed acoustically by Bolan on US radio in September 1972. It’s a remarkable recording, a phantomlike Rock’n’Roll Suicide, with Bolan’s extreme, 1967-vintage warble resurrected for the final verses. CHARIOT CHOOGLE (Born To Boogie mix)
Having Bolanised a word magicked up by John Fogerty (1969’s Keep On Chooglin’), Marc and the band summon up a deliciously wonky rhythm that’s more Beefheart than bubblegum. “Choogle sounds like bagel!” says Visconti. “He wasn’t dead serious about everything.” All the above are on T. Rex: 1972, a 5-CD box set released by Edsel on April 22.