T. Rex - 1972

 

50th Anniversary 180-gram 6LP box set

Limited edition deluxe LPs pressed on red, white and blue colored vinyl!

Bolan's T. Rex at their powerful best!

Includes The Slider album, Live at Wembley Show, Born To Boogie soundtrack, B-sides and more!

Having risen to superstardom through 1971, 1972 saw Marc Bolan attain the heights of "T. Rexmania," or "T. Rextasy," as the press dubbed the frenzy that took over the U.K.'s music scene.

This box set celebrates that year. For the first time, it brings together the 1972 studio recordings, broadcasts and performances made by Bolan and his band, T. Rex, putting the listener into the shoes of a T. Rex fan that year: singles, albums, live concerts, radio broadcasts, a film soundtrack and more.

Bolan started 1972 with a brand-new single on his own brand-new record label, The T. Rex Wax Co. "Telegram Sam" swiftly reached the No. 1 spot in the charts, his third chart-topper in under 12 months. In March, T. Rex played two sell-out concerts at Wembley's Empire Pool, later featured in Born To Boogie, a feature film directed by Ringo Starr that included guest performances from Elton John and Ringo. May saw the release of another number 1, "Metal Guru," followed in July by The Slider, the classic album.

The band also toured the U.S. twice in 1972, Bolan taking the opportunity to perform solo acoustic sessions for local radio stations. And, of course, the band featured regularly on the BBC throughout the year, recording special sessions for Radio 1 and Top Of The Pops. T. Rex ended the year with the singles "Children Of The Revolution" and "Solid Gold Easy Action," and the T. Rex Fan Club 1972 "Christmas Record" Flexi Disc (included here in its entirety).

The booklet contains a specially written 1,600-word note by producer Tony Visconti, as well as a brand new 12,000-word essay by acknowledged Bolan authority Mark Paytress (author of the definitive Bolan biography). Also featured are many previously unpublished photos taken by Keith Morris in the course of 1972.

"The American radio sessions are joyously loose and ragged, Marc having a blast as he traipses through songs from Electric Warrior and The Slider, strumming up a storm and pushing the vocal meter into the red. It's hard to imagine someone accidentally tuning in to this in 1972 and not wondering exactly what planet Bolan had beamed down from. The BBC sessions are a more studied affair, with a full band mostly sticking to the recorded versions but a little raucous around the edges. Anyone looking for something even looser and wilder need look no further than the live recording. Bolan mugs for the crowd, conjures up gnarly guitar riffs and roof-scraping solos, while the band gamely rambles along trying to keep up.

"The three-song acoustic interlude is a brave bit of showmanship that the audience eats up despite the variable tuning. It has a pleasant you-are-there recording quality that makes for a fine archival document, if not the first thing one might reach for when needing a T. Rex fix. The Born to Boogie soundtrack...[is] another fascinating piece of the puzzle, so that when you fit them together as Demon has, it makes for a thrilling set that truly does capture Bolan at his magical best, rarities be damned." — 4/5 stars, Tim Sendra, AllMusic.com

LP 1

1. Metal Guru

2. Mystic Lady

3. Rock on

4. The Slider

5. Baby Boomerang

6. Spaceball Ricochet

7. Buick MacKane

8. Telegram Sam

9. Rabbit Fighter

10. Baby Strange

11. Ballrooms of Mars

12. Chariot Choogle

13. Main Man

LP 2

1. Rosko's Intro [Emperor Rosko]

2. Cadilac

3. Jeepster

4. Baby Strange

5. Spaceball Ricochet

6. Girl

7. Cosmic Dancer

8. Telegram Sam

LP 3

1. Hot Love

2. Get It on

3. 'One More Time?' [Emperor Rosko]

4. Summertime Blues

5. Baby Strange [Alternate Mix]

6. Hot Love [Alternate Mix]

LP 4

1. Marc Bolan - Marc's Intro

2. T. Rex - Jeepster

3. T. Rex - Baby Strange

4. Marc Bolan - 'Electric Wind' [Poem]

5. Elton John, Ringo Starr & T. Rex - Tutti Frutti

6. Elton John, Ringo Starr & T. Rex - Children of the Revolution

7. Marc Bolan & Ringo Starr - 'Look to the Left'

8. Marc Bolan - Spaceball Ricochet

9. Marc Bolan & Ringo Starr - 'Some People Like to Rock'

10. T. Rex - Telegram Sam

11. Marc Bolan & Ringo Starr - 'Some People Like to Roll'

12. Marc Bolan & Mickey Finn - Cosmic Dancer

13. Geoffrey Bayldon - 'They've Come, Tis Said'

14. Marc Bolan & String Quartet - Tea Party Medley: Jeepster / Hot Love / Get It on / the Slider

15. Geoffrey Bayldon - 'Union Hall'

16. T. Rex - Hot Love

17. T. Rex - Get It on

18. T. Rex - Chariot Choogle [Soundtrack Mix of Studio Recording]

19. Marc Bolan - Marc's Outro

20. Children of the Revolution [Strings Reprise]

LP 5

1. Spaceball Ricochet

2. Jeepster

3. Cosmic Dancer

4. Main Man

5. Ballrooms of Mars

6. Mystic Lady

7. Girl

8. Baby Strange

9. Left Hand Luke

10. The Slider

11. Spaceball Ricochet

LP 6

1. Metal Guru

2. The Slider

3. Mystic Lady

4. Rock on

5. Main Man

6. Children of the Revolution

7. Solid Gold Easy Action

8. Telegram Sam [Christmas Top of the Pops]*

9. Cadilac

10. Thunderwing

11. Lady

12. Jitterbug Love

13. Sunken Rags

14. Sunken Rags

15. T. Rex Fan Club 1972 "Christmas Record" Flexi Disc

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