Electric Warrior [Remaster]

Performer: Marc Bolan/Marc Bolan & T. Rex/T. Rex
Artist: Flo & Eddie
Producer: Tony Visconti
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Includes liner notes by Nikki Sudden, Cliff McLenehen & Bill Legend. Includes liner notes by Nikki Sudden, Cliff McLenehan and Bill Legend. Marc Bolan/Marc Bolan & T. Rex/T. Rex: Marc Bolan (vocals, guitar); Mickey Finn (vocals, percussion). Additional personnel: Ian McDonald (saxophone); Burt Collins (flugelhorn); Steve Currie (bass instrument); Will Legend (drums); Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Seamus Egan. Marc Bolan's detractors never understood how he seemed in such total command of his game, not even after Electric Warrior's September 1971 release. This outtakes album shows why: Bolan's ability to meld garage smarts and a glam pop beat, which holds true for the two versions of his big American hit, "Get It On." The opening version is fairly identical to the finished article, but its pre-sweetened, six-minute companion is raw, rowdy, and untamed listening. Drummer Bill Legend and bassist Steve Currie had only just joined in the spring of 1971. To tighten things up, Bolan ran them through the feverish '50s-era paces of "Honey Don't" and an edgy "Summertime Blues," which rumbles under clattering Mickey Finn percussion, then explodes into an entirely different place after Bolan's feverish "1-2-3-4!" count-off. Two versions of "Monolith" further impressions of T. Rex locked in a garage, as do thunderous broadcast takes of "Jeepster" and "Baby Strange." (The sound is surprisingly crisp and coherent, a commodity not readily associated with unofficial T. Rex releases.) A scruffy bedroom acoustic demo of "Life's a Gas," on the other hand, could probably have stayed in the "completists only" filing cabinet. Anyone writing off Bolan as just another jaded teen-beat merchant will be in for a rude surprise: he's totally in command and always looking for a new angle -- such as on the electric "Cosmic Dancer." When that idea didn't pan out, Bolan recut it with a heavily orchestrated arrangement. But that's the mark of a creative mindset -- use what works and toss the discards. This is an essential snapshot behind the scenes of a classic rock album, and a great deal of fun, too. ~ Ralph Heibutzki An extraordinary two-CD set that's as much a tribute to an album as it is to an artist, reprising the Electric Warrior sessions and the way in the songs evolved and developed. Included are three versions of "Get It On," including one with just Bolan's original basic rhythm guitar track, and working versions of much of the rest of the album. The opening uncut version of "Get It On" running more than six minutes is worth the price of admission, and it gets better from there are we hear the album get pieced together. In contrast to some bootlegs that give take after take, the editing here is judicious and worthwhile, giving a succinct audio documentary style account of the creation of this landmark album. And the sound, from the original raw session tapes in mid-1990's transfers, is a lot crisper than the Warner Bros. standard CD of the album--the guitars have a sharp, slashing attack, the drums are close, and the bass is very hard and heavy, like being at the session, and you haven't lived until you've heard Bolan's raw version of "Honey Don't." As a bonus, there's also an interview with Bolan about the album, done at the time of its recording, on Disc Two. ~ Bruce Eder The album that essentially kick-started the U.K. glam rock craze, Electric Warrior completes T. Rex's transformation from hippie folk-rockers into flamboyant avatars of trashy rock & roll. There are a few vestiges of those early days remaining in the acoustic-driven ballads, but Electric Warrior spends most of its time in a swinging, hip-shaking groove powered by Marc Bolan's warm electric guitar. The music recalls not just the catchy simplicity of early rock & roll, but also the implicit sexuality -- except that here, Bolan gleefully hauls it to the surface, singing out loud what was once only communicated through the shimmying beat. He takes obvious delight in turning teenage bubblegum rock into campy sleaze, not to mention filling it with pseudo-psychedelic hippie poetry. In fact, Bolan sounds just as obsessed with the heavens as he does with sex, whether he's singing about spiritual mysticism or begging a flying saucer to take him away. It's all done with the same theatrical flair, but Tony Visconti's spacious, echoing production makes it surprisingly convincing. Still, the real reason Electric Warrior stands the test of time so well -- despite its intended disposability -- is that it revels so freely in its own absurdity and willful lack of substance. Not taking himself at all seriously, Bolan is free to pursue whatever silly wordplay, cosmic fantasies, or non sequitur imagery he feels like; his abandonment of any pretense to art becomes, ironically, a statement in itself. Bolan's lack of pomposity, back-to-basics songwriting, and elaborate theatrics went on to influence everything from hard rock to punk to new wave. But in the end, it's that sense of playfulness, combined with a raft of irresistible hooks, that keeps Electric Warrior such an infectious, invigorating listen today. ~ Steve Huey Prior to ELECTRIC WARRIOR's release, T. Rex (or, as it had mostly been known, Tyrannosaurus Rex) was a folk-rock duo that played acoustic guitar and bongos augmented by the occasional electric and full drum kit. While some of the hippie-prophet philosophy that dominated Tyrannosaurus Rex's music can still be heard here (especially on the dreamy geneology of "Cosmic Dancer"), ELECTRIC WARRIOR, for the most part, represents a revolution in attitude and approach. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Marc Bolan expanded the band here for a full rock sound, and focused on lean, hook-heavy pop songs that relied on slinky grooves and the riveting energy of early rock & roll. Married to Bolan's cheeky sexuality and theatrical flair, the results were undeniable. From the mid-tempo thump of "Mambo Sun" to the crashing yowl of "Rip Off," ELECTRIC WARRIOR is fuzzy, nasty, and immediately appealing. Songs like "Jeepster" and "Bang A Gong" pump straight from the elemental heart of rock & roll, yet the songs are fleshed out beautifully with strings, handclaps, backup vocals, and Tony Visconti's expansive production. Bolan's glitzy, sexy aesthetic directly sparked the glam movement (he was a huge influence on David Bowie and the creation of his Ziggy Stardust persona), while his punchy, back-to-basics approach also presaged the stripped-down, three-minute song attack of the Ramones and the punk movement in the later '70s. As a result, ELECTRIC WARRIOR can be seen as one of the most enduring and quietly influential records in the rock canon. It's pretty easy to argue that T. Rex hit its peak with 1972's ELECTRIC WARRIOR. Song for song, WARRIOR sported the group's most consistent set of tunes. Marc Bolan found his voice here, both the metallic purr of songs like "Planet Queen" and the salacious crooning of "Life's a Gas." Tony Visconti's superb production gave the tunes much-needed heft, and the groovy, gritty guitar never sounded better. It also included the group's signature song, "Get it On (Bang a Gong)." The ELECTRIC WARRIOR SESSIONS consists of earlier takes of some (but not all) of the album's tracks--sometimes in multiple versions--along with early rock & roll covers including "Summertime Blues" and Carl Perkins's "Honey Don't." Among the minutiae revealed by these rough versions is that Bolan's seemingly offhand, half-spoken "Meanwhile, I'm still thinkin'," in the fadeout of "Get it On" was actually in the song in a much earlier take. Most fascinating is the 12-minute 1971 Bolan interview. His words "I don't feel there's that much time to jive about anymore...I realize the urgency to do whatever you're gonna do...now" are eerily prophetic in the light of his fatal car crash five years later.

Rolling Stone (1/6/72, pp.64-66) - "...he plays to the post-J.F.K. set, yet with enough decadence and sarcasm for any war baby to hum along....Marc is one of the eternally precocious, fated to live outside the world of adults forever..." Q (9/01, pp.137-8) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Glistening, seemingly extra-terrestrial prettiness....bewitching stuff..." Mojo (Publisher) (10/01, p.133) - "...This music may even sound better than it did at the time: stripped of baggage, it's the kind of pop-rock deluxe which is, these days, in short supply..."

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