Artist Spotlight: T.Rex

It’s all style over substance with T. Rex. But, oh, what style! Sick, slick, coolly crunching rock-and-roll grooves; vocal lines that slide and curve in unique directions; and that Marc Bolan voice that shimmers a hushed, cool buzz. I love it! Just don’t expect too much from the lyrics.

The three roughly LP-length playlists below probably represent a deeper dive into Marc Bolan and co. than one might expect—at one time, I had a single-CD length playlist, but found myself digging further to unearth more. Playlist 2 is probably where the uninitiated should begin.

Playlist 1: The Early Years

The first playlist covers the band’s earlier work as freak-folk pioneers, tossing off peculiar ditties about unicorns, wizards, and woodland dance moves. Completely ridiculous—yet oddly appealing, quite infectious if you let yourself sink down into the freak-folk bog. (It sucks you in.)

Playlist 2: Electric Warrior

The classic T. Rex LP, Electric Warrior, changed the formula. The mystical creatures are replaced by something just as silly, but far more appropriate—rock and roll! And space, too, of course. Instead of the “Woodland Bop” we have “Cosmic Dancer.” More rhythmic, more hook-laden than before, T. Rex had hit upon the magic formula. It rocks. But it rocks easy, like a cool, fizzy soda compared to Black Sabbath’s whisky bottle to the face.

Playlist 3: Glam

The Slider carried on in the same vein, leading toward Tanx, which went full-on, epic glam rock. With song titles like “Electric Slim and the Factory Hen” and “Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys,” T. Rex go for grandiose, like a glam Asbury Park-era Springsteen (if Springsteen were all surface), tossing in hordes of R&B backup singers years before Bowie’s “Young Americans.” I’m not sure if the lyrics add up to much, but boy, does the band sound fabulous, like a glorious celebration of sound.

Cover Art:

• Electric Warrior: Source, Discogs.com