Marc Bolan and T-Rex
Messing With The Mystic:
Unissued Songs -- 1972-1977
[Chronicles]
Rating: 8.5
When I was fifteen years old, I took off for the weekend with a carload
of guys, all at least ten years older than I was, to catch the very last
L.A. Street Scene. In between drinking copious amounts of alcohol and
popping Benzedrine caps and Quaaludes, we managed to catch some of the
best acts of the '80s for free. What does this have to do with T.Rex?
In reality, nothing, except that as we were walking around downtown L.A.
from the Animotion set to the Sparks set to the L.A. Guns stage, we
passed around our requisite boombox and played every song of T.Rex's
known to God and man at full volume (all the way to 11) to avoid having
to have real conversations with each other. Or at least that's how it
seems now.
This release of Marc Bolan's previously unissued songs both hits and
misses. For the most part, the songs are recorded poorly and riddled
with static, which detracts some from Bolan's wonderful voice. There're
also a lot of Bolan's ventures into the spiritual side of glam-rock,
which can sound deep and meaningful to the listener at one moment
while sending the same listener into hysterical giggling fits at
another. Still, there are worse collections of Bolan's circulating,
and there are enough good songs on this to make buying the whole CD
worthwhile.
-Holly Day