release date: Jul. 5, 1968
format: 2 cd (2015 remaster - Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,32]
producer: Tony Visconti
Label: A&M Records / Universal - nationality: England, UK
Tracklist: 1. "Hot Rod Mama" - 2. "Scenesof" - 3. "Child Star" - 4. "Strange Orchestras" - 5. "Chateau In Virginia Waters" - 6. "Dwarfish Trumpet Blues" - 7. "Mustang Ford" - 8. "Afghan Woman" - 9. "Knight" - 10. "Graceful Fat Sheba" - 11."Weilder of Words (Robard de Font Le Roy)" - 12. "Frowning Atahuallpa (My Inca Love)"
Studio album debut by Tyrannosaurus Rex originally released on Regal Zonophone. The 2 cd Deluxe Edition contains extensive material. Tracks #1-1 to #1-12 are identical to the original mono album LRZ 1003, released Jul. 5, 1968 on Regal Zonophone. Tracks #1-13 to #1-18 are recorded live for the John Peel BBC Radio Show "Top Gear", Picadilly Studio1, London, Oct. 12, 1967, and tracks #1-19 to #1-24 are recorded live for Top Gear, Mar. 11, 1968.
All tracks are composed by Marc Bolan, who is credited on guitar & vocals, and he is accompanied by Steve Peregrine Toke, credited on percussion, bongos, Chinese gong, pixiephone and vocals.
The style may be quite unique but it only really shows Bolan's inspiration in celtic folk, bluegrass, and psychedelic folk. There's not much rock in any of these tracks and it basically works as a musical testimony of his early stages in music before making his journey from psychedelic folk to glam rock.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]
