Ride A White Swan!
Here's another MUST HAVE!!!!

T. Rex
T. Rex (Expanded Edition)

The classic T. Rex album from 1970, digitally remastered and augmented with nine bonus tracks - 'Ride A White Swan', 'Summertime Blues', 'Poem' (work in progress), 'The Visit' (take 4), 'Diamond Meadows' (take 6), 'One Inch Rock' (work in progress), 'Seagull Woman' (work in progress), 'The Wizard' (work in progress), & 'The Children Of Rarn' (work in progress). Universal. 2004.



All Music Review by Dave Thompson

The fifth Tyrannosaurus Rex album was also the first T. Rex set, as Marc Bolan abbreviated the band name at the same time as enlarging everything else -- most notably the group's sound. Transitional through and through, T. Rex is the obvious successor to Beard of Stars, but it's clearly looking toward Electric Warrior, a point proven when the band hit the tour and TV circuits early in 1971. But "Jewel," "Sun Eye," "Beltane Walk," and "One Inch Rock" are all bona fide Bolan classics and, if T. Rex itself was to be overshadowed by the simultaneous success of the "Ride a White Swan" single , then that only allowed Bolan more time in which to plan his next move. In many ways, this is the quintessential Bolan album, the last to be made before his entire life was swallowed up by superstardom, but the first to begin imagining what that could be like. Certainly he has an awful lot of fun revisiting one of his earliest ever compositions, "The Wizard," while his ambition is writ large throughout the opening and closing snippets of "The Children of Rarn," excerpts from a full-fledged concept album that he was then contemplating. You also get "Is It Love?," one of his most contagiously underrated compositions ever, but really, there's not a sour moment to be found all album long. And it might just be the last Bolan album that you could say that about.

Complete Track Listing:

[*] = Bonus Cut

1. Children of Rarn
2. Jewel
3. Visit
4. Childe
5. Time of Love Is Now
6. Diamond Meadows
7. Root of Star
8. Beltane Walk
9. Is It Love?
10. One Inch Rock
11. Summer Deep
12. Seagull Woman
13. Suneye
14. Wizard
15. Children of Rarn
16. Ride a White Swan [Single 'A' Side] [*]
17. Summertime Blues [Single 'B' Side] [*]
18. Poem [*]
19. Visit [Take 4][*]
20. Diamond Meadows [Take 6][*]
21. One Inch Rock [*]
22. Seagull Woman [*]
23. Wizard [*]
24. Children of Rarn [*]


(Another Cut'n'Paste job, just spreading the word...)


I say:
Wear it out!

Get Yer Arse Up Time!
...No, I didn't write this.
It was a cut'n'paste job.
Just wanted to spread the word.
This is a great album that's been in my collection for years. The "Expanded Edition" is a must have.
No kiddin', it's that good...

----

All Music Guide Reviews


Mott the Hoople
Live: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition


Review by Dave Thompson

Three long decades after the fact, what was once the least impressive album in the entire Mott the Hoople catalog reappears as one of the most significant live albums of the 1970s. A revelation in concert, Mott were nevertheless poorly served by their first (and, for many years, only) live album, as the original plan for a double was swallowed up by corporate nerves and instead emerged a brutally edited single disc, comprising a mere handful of oddly chosen highlights (two hit singles, two non-album B-sides, a nearly side-long medley). It was a disappointment at the time and, as further archival live performances leaked out of the vault during the 1990s and early 2000s, so Live sank even further back in the fans' estimation. But the 30th anniversary edition catapults it firmly to the fore, two magnificently mastered discs not only adding 13 unreleased performances to the original album's eight tracks, but also capturing two legendary concerts nearly in their entirety: the late-1973 Hammersmith show, where the set over-ran so long that the theater owners lowered the safety curtain on the band (keyboard player Morgan Fisher blocked it with his piano); and a taste of the group's triumphant Broadway season six months later. Of these, the effect of the latter might be diminished by the existence of Two Miles from Live Heaven, with its recounting of another gig (Santa Monica) from the same tour -- there is little variation between the two shows, and the California night may actually be a shade more exciting. But still, Broadway found Mott at the peak of their powers and, with the London disc proving equally sensational, the overall weight of the package renders this the one Mott live package that everyone needs to hear. A lot of people, after all, regard them among the most important bands that ever lived. Live: 30th Anniversary Edition tells you why.

Zot! Zot!
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More later.

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