T. Rex Album: “Work in Progress”

This represents the first SERIOUS effort to cut out the mountain of fat in the sea of "unreleased" material Bolan had the sense to leave that way, for the most part, in his lifetime. (No, I'm afraid the so-called, Best of the Unchained Series, was nothing more than an exploitation; no better than Messin' With the Mystic -- another unhinged collection of outtakes from the latter half of Bolan's career.) This set still has way too much dross, and worse, far too few of the true gems that exist. But I suppose one should expect no less: Did you really think they'd give you ALL the worthwhile stuff on one two CD set, with so much cash remaining to be siphoned off an unsuspecting music-buying public? No doubt to the compiler, this is an "honest" collection of what Bolan was "really like" when he wasn't playing what he knew was his best. One wonders what other "honest" music he thinks worthy of our attention (and hard-earned) when in a perfect world, a DECENT collection of the best o' Bolan's rest would look something like this:

disc 1 1972-1973

Alligator Man

Meadows of the Sea

Mr. Motion (version 2)

City Port (Fast Punk)

Fast Blues - Easy Acton

Dark-Lipped Woman

Organ Thing (instrumental)

All My Love (version I)

This is My Life

Big Black Cat

Down Home Lady (version I)

Sky Church Music

Dance In the Midnight (version II)

All My Love (version II)

Hope Your Enjoy the Show (version II)

I'm Coming to Rock 'n' Roll

High Wire

Yesterday (Everyday) (version I)

Sad Girl

Jet Tambourine

Dance In the Midnight (version III)

Saturation Syncopation (All Alone) (version I)

disc 2 1974-1977

Bolan's Zip Gun

Love For Me

Depth Charge

King of the Mountain Cometh

Swahili Boogie Woman (version I)

Baby Please, Baby Squeeze

It's My City

Swahili Boogie Woman (version II)

Riff

I'm a VooDoo Man

London Boys

Over You Babe

Riff

Wherever You Go

It's Alright

21st Century Stance

Messing With The Mystic

Sailors of the Highway

Marc Bolan has to be one of the most prolific artists in the history of rock 'n' roll. With at least a dozen albums to his credit before his tragic death in 1977 just weeks before his thirtieth birthday, he left behind hundreds of hours of home tapes and studio recordings. Much of this had been included on the now out-of-print T.REX UNCHAINED series. This two-disc anthology compiles 55 of these nuggets at a reasonable price.

Disc one consists of home recordings with Bolan accompanying himself on acoustic or electric guitar (and occasionally piano) utilizing a TEAC tape machine. Because of the nature of these recordings, there are no recording dates. Some of these are fully realized songs with complete lyrics. Others are little more than snippets with several clocking in at under a minute. On a couple tracks ("Sad Man" and "Skateboard") Bolan's singer/girlfriend Gloria Jones also adds vocals. "Over the Flats," "Jet Tambourine," "Alligator Man," "Auto Machine" and "21st Century Stance" are highlights.

Disc two consists of studio recordings from various sessions between March 1973 and April 1977. Highlights are the bluesy "Plateau Skull," the gospel-fueled "Sky Church Music," and the hard-rockin' "Funky London Childhood."

Fans of Marc Bolan/T. Rex will find much to enjoy here. RECOMMENDED [Running Time - 66:01 (disc 1), 64:02 (disc 2)]

This is an amazing collection of songs left in the vaults by Marc Bolan. The first cd brings Marc on his own and the second one treats us with full blown electric versions with T.Rex. The sound quality is surprisingly good on most tracks. Don't miss this one.

This CD is a great starting point for Bolan fans who have none of his myriad officially unreleased work. For those of us who know he was more brilliant than given credit for and already own some of the hundreds of his unreleased songs, this new CD may contain some duplication. But recommended anyway.