“Fronted
by the golden boy whose life
was cut so tragically short, T Rex has
a fabulous sound that captures both the
true spirit of the Seventies and a time-
lessness, as confirmed by the dazzling
reissued album Electric Warrior that
celebrates the 40th anniversary of Glam
Rock...”
HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE ALLURE of Marc Bolan, the front man for T Rex; or
recreate the remarkable impact made by the band back in the Nineteen-Seventies?
You would have to have been there to see it for yourself. And a big impact it
was, the like of which the music world had not experienced since The Beatles.
With charisma and talent, Marc led T Rex to phenomenal success and a whole new
phrase was coined: Glam Rock, or Glitter Rock. During the early 70s T Rex was
established as one of the foremost bands of the decade, producing a string of
memorable hits.
“T Rex and Electric Warrior...
Dazzling... Electric!”
Electric
Warrior was T Rex's second album, released in September, 1971. That was
the year that Marc Bolan made it to the top and heralded a new pop era by adding
a touch of glitter under his eyes for his performance of the band's fantastic
Number One single Hot Love on the March 10 edition of Top Of The Pops.
Before the year was out, Bolan and Rexmania was the closest anyone had come
to Beatlemania since 1963. They had ignited a movement that gathered pace throughout
1971 to an amazing crescendo in 1972.
Topping the charts twice, from 18 December 1971 to 29 January 1972 and again
from 5 February to 19 February 1972, T Rex's Electric Warrior is an incredible
collection of some of the band's great songs.
Tragically this success was cut short on 16 September 1977, the day Marc Bolan
was killed when his purple Mini hit a tree, just two weeks short of his 30th
birthday, and girlfriend Gloria Jones was badly injured. Inevitably, the band
broke up.
Now T-Rex's magnificent album Electric Warrior is to be released in a
brand new multi-format edition for 23 April 2012 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary
of Glam Rock — or, as some would have it, Glamiversary.
Universal Music releases a Deluxe, Super Deluxe, special vinyl and digital exclusive
editions of T Rex's monumental Electric Warrior album. This is preceded
by a box set of vinyl singles (Electric Sevens), produced especially for Record
Store Day 2012 (21 April). The four 7-inch singles are pressed on heavyweight
vinyl and feature unique sleeves.
These new editions contain previously unreleased demos and out-takes and the
centerpiece is original producer Tony Visconti's remastered version of Electric
Warrior, presented with four bonus tracks: The non-album single Hot Love
(No 1 in February 1971) plus the B-sides There Was A Time / Raw Ramp,
King Of The Mountain Cometh and Woodland Rock.
Two eternal favourites are the delightful and compulsive Cosmic Dancer
and the upbeat Jeepster (For Your Love). T Rex prove their worth
with Monolith and continue with sounds as distinctive and individual
as T Rex themselves. Take, for instance, the gorgeous blues-infused Lean
Woman Blues and the ever-fresh, optimistic Get It On. Wonderful.
T Rex also added refreshingly different and interesting tracks with The Motivator,
King Of The Mountain Cometh and Woodland Rock, just to demonstrate
the band's versatility. Throw in the intriguing Sailors Of The Highway
and the quirky Planet Queen and you have a marvelous collection of songs.
Listen to Marc Bolan's beautifully soft voice with controlled power. This package
is, well, Electric!
The second disc in the Deluxe and Super-Deluxe editions opens with Marc Bolan
reciting a previously unreleased poem entitled The Electric Warrior.
This was recorded for a US Radio promo and is featured in its entirety at the
end of the album.
Then comes an alternative version of the Electric Warrior album put together
from previously unreleased demos and out-takes. In addition there are unreleased
demos recorded in London and New York of a recently-discovered untitled instrumental
from the Hot Love sessions and a fine T Rex cover of Carl Perkins' rockabilly
classic Honey Don't.
The Limited Edition Super Deluxe Edition of Electric Warrior is housed
in a lavish box set which is foil blocked and debossed and contains the two
CDs plus a DVD of rare and unreleased TV performances and promos by the group.
There is also a wealth of additional items, alongside a 32-page hardback book
featuring a brand new essay from Bolan biographer Mark Paytress that includes
new interviews with those who were close to Marc. The box also includes reproductions
of rare photos and memorabilia: a poster including a timeline; three photographs;
a coaster; and a vintage press release.
The DVD includes the only two surviving Top Of The Pops performances
from the BBC archive of T Rex's Electric Warrior-era hits Hot Love
and Get It On, the latter featuring Elton John. The DVD also includes
the previously unseen Blue Screen versions of Jeepster and Life's
A Gas from Germany's Beat Club plus the actual broadcast versions of Jeepster
and Life's A Gas.
The rarely seen official promo videos for Get It On and Jeepster
are also included, plus live performances of Girl and Cosmic Dancer
which were recorded at the performance of T Rex's historic Wembley Empire Pool
concerts on 18 March 1972. These were not included in the concert film Born
To Boogie, which used none of the matinée concert footage.
Tony Visconti's re-mastered version of the album will be released on vinyl for
the very first time as a double LP and tracklistings for all the formats are
included below.
• Universal Music is pleased to announce a
Deluxe, Super-Deluxe, a special vinyl and digital exclusive editions of T Rex's
monumental Electric Warrior album on 23 April 2012. It will be preceded
by a box set of vinyl singles (Electric Sevens) produced especially for Record
Store Day 2012 (21 April 2012).
Tracklisting
Electric Warrior, Super Deluxe Edition, Disc One, original
album plus single A & B sides —
1 Mambo Sun | 2 Cosmic Dancer | 3 Jeepster | 4 Monolith | 5 Lean Woman Blues
| 6 Get It On | 7 Planet Queen | 8 Girl | 9 The Motivator | 10 Life's A Gas
| 11 Rip Off | Bonus Tracks: 12 There Was A Time / Raw Ramp (B-Side) | 13 Hot
Love (A-Side) | 14 King Of The Mountain Cometh (B-Side) | 15 Woodland Rock (B-Side).
Disc Two, Demos & Out-Takes —
1 Electric Warrior Poem (Rare US Radio Promo) | 2 Mambo Sun (Instrumental Edit)
| 3 Cosmic Dancer (Single-Vocal Version)* | 4 Jeepster (Single-Vocal Version)*
| 5 Monolith (No Backing Vocals Version)* | 6 Lean Woman Blues (Single Guitar
Track: Work In Progress)* | 7 Get It On (Full Length Version)* | 8 Planet Queen
(Acoustic Version)* | 9 Girl (New York Demo)* | 10 The Motivator (Work In Progress)*
| 11 Life's A Gas (Studio Out-Take)* | 12 Rip Off (Instrumental)* | 13 Raw Ramp
(London Demo Version) | 14 Electric Boogie (London Demo Version)* | 15 Honey
Don't (Studio Out-Take, Work In Progress)* | 16 Planet Queen (Acoustic Solo,
London Demo Version)* | 17 Girl (Acoustic Solo, London Demo Version)* | 18 Jeepster
(Electric Home Demo Version)* | 19 Get It On (Acoustic Home Demo Version)* |
20 Untitled Instrumental (Studio Out-Take)* 21 Electric Warrior Poem & Radio
Advert (US Radio Promo)*.
Disc Three, DVD —
1 Hot Love (Top Of The Pops, 24 March 1971: First Time On DVD) | 2 Get It On
(Top Of The Pops, 20 December 1971, featuring Elton John) | 3 Jeepster (Beat
Club, Germany: Previously unseen Blue Screen Version) | 4 Life's A Gas (Beat
Club, Germany: Previously unseen Blue Screen Version) | 5 Girl (Live at Wembley
Empire Pool, 18 March 1972) | 6 Cosmic Dancer (Live at Wembley Empire Pool,
18 March 1972) | 7 Get It On (Official Promo) | 8 Jeepster (Official Promo)
| 9 Jeepster (Beat Club, Germany: Broadcast Version) | 10 Life's A Gas (Beat
Club, Germany: Broadcast Version).
Record Store Day 2012 Exclusive Electric Sevens, 7-inch Singles Box Set:
Vinyl Single One, Hot Love —
A1 Hot Love (Single Version) | B1 Unnamed Instrumental, aka A Lot Of Rubbish
(O/T)* | B2 Hot Love (No Strings Version).
Vinyl Single Two: Get It On —
A1 Get It On (Single Version) | B1 Raw Ramp (London Demo Version)* | B2 Get
It On (Acoustic Demo)*.
Vinyl Single Three: Jeepster —
A1 Jeepster (Single Version) | B1 Life's A Gas (Electric Demo)* (2.22); B2 Jeepster
(Electric Demo (2.15).
Vinyl Single Four: BBC EP —
A1 Sailors Of The Highway (2:46) (BBC Radio 1 Club, 3 August 1971) | B1 Girl
(2:13) (BBC Radio 1 Club, 3 August 1971) | B2 Electric Boogie (1:47) (BBC Radio
1 Club, 20 July 1971*).
“Fronted
by the golden boy whose life