TYRANNOSAURUS REX - Unicorn
MARC BOLAN started out as a teenage model, then began performing music
professionally in 1965, releasing his first single, "The Wizard," on Decca
Records. He joined the psychedelic folk-rock combo John's Children in 1967,
and the next year formed the folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist
Steve Peregrin Took, later replaced by Mickey Finn. The group built a sizable
underground following as "T. Rextacy" got in full swing in England. The
band had captured the imaginations of both teenagers and the media with
its sequined, heavily made-up appearance. The release of Unicorn, the third
Tyrannosaurus Rex album (and their Debut US release), was the first to reveal
the game plan which Marc Bolan had been patiently formulating for two years
- the overnight transformation from underground icon to overground superstar.
Not only does it catch him experimenting with an electric guitar for the
first time on record, it also sees Steve Peregrin Took add a full drum kit
to his usual array of bongos. Minor deviations to be sure, but significant
in the fact you can hear the future direction of the group with their effortless
hooks and trashy fun. All of Marc Bolan's signatures are here: Mystical
folk-tinged ballads, overt sexual come-ons crooned over sleazy, bopping
boogies, loopy nonsense poetry, and a mastery of the three-minute pop song
form. The opening "Chariots Of Silk" sets the ball rolling, and is as lovely
as any of Bolan's early songs, but driven by a tumultuous drum roll, a pounding
percussion which might be the sound of distant gunfire, but could as easily
be a petulant four year old, stamping around an upstairs apartment. Either
way, it must have been a rude awakening for the bliss-soaked hippy acid-heads
who were the duo's most loyal audience at the time. The album settles down
somewhat afterwards, but that initial sense of alarm never leaves. By the
time you reach the closing number, "Romany Soup", a nursery jingle duet
for voice and whispered secrets, you feel like you've just left the wildest
roller coaster on earth. In between there's "Pon A Hill" remarkable for
the backing chorus, and "Catblack (The Wizard's Hat)", a song which had
been around since before Bolan joined John's Children, and comes on like
a lost Phil Spector classic with ominous percussion and a soaring chorus.
"She Was Born To Be My Unicorn", with Hammond Organ and timpani, and "Warlord
Of The Royal Crocodiles", are no less resonant than their titles demands.
Other selections are "The Seal Of Seasons"; "The Throat Of Winter"; "Stones
For Avalon"; "Like A White Star, Tangled And Far, Tulip That's What You
Are"; "Evenings Of Damask"; "The Sea Of Beasts"; "Iscariot"; "Nijinsky Hind";
"The Misty Coast Of Albany"; and "The Pilgrim's Tale". Reprising his role
on the duo's first album, BBC DJ John Peel reappears to read a brief children's
story. Melody Maker's review tagged the once eclectic acoustic duo as "electrified
teenybop". The following year they shortened the group's name to T. Rex.
This classic LP appears on pre-Gulf & Western BLUE THUMB RECORDS (07),
with gatefold cover & POSTER! The record labels, jacket & playing surfaces
all appear in overall beautiful near MINT condition!
