T. Rex Album: “Bump 'N Grind”

This is a must for fans of Marc Bolan & T.Rex.It starts out with "The Groover"with false starts in the beginning with Marc Talking then comes the song which continues way past the normal fade out. Then comes "Jitterbug Love" this is an earlier version of a popular B side.Next comes "Dishing Fish Wop"(which would eventually become "Golden Belt" on Bolans Zip Gun CD).Next "Telegram Sam" an amazing Rocking Version.Which is Marc at his best."Laser Love" is next with different some different lyrics and minus the background vocals. "20th Century Boy" One of his best known songs. Here is the complete uncut version."Silver Lady" which would later become "Dreamy Lady" which shows a song from its beginning stage.One of my favorites."Metal guru"Another amazing version with Marc Laughing in the beginning."Fast Blues (Easy Action)" Working version of another popular song. "Light of Love"This song continues past the normal fade out."The Soul of My Suit" This one of the hilights of this amazing collections with Marc explaining the song to the band before going into the song."Thunderwing"This is an alternate version which has Marc giving himself encourgement during his guitar solo."Christmass Bop" A much different version complete with seasonal bell."The Groover" This time the Acoustic Demo version incredable! Last but not least "The Children of the Revolution" 12 minute plus version.Complete with the entire band jamming through to the end.I can't stop playing this CD.

Over the years Bolan fans have had almost too much of the man to choose from--other than Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan may just hold the record for most posthumous releases. The "Unchained" series, as well as the "alternate" versions" of all of the albums from "Slider" through "Dandy", offered up some interesting glimpses into his working methods, and now even the Tryannosaurus Rex era has been recently remastered with good alternate outtakes as bonus tracks. This would seem to make any other rarities/outtakes releases redundant, but "Bump'n'Grind" proves that is not the case. The versions of the songs here are incredibly strong, in excellent sound quality, and one wonders why they were not chosen over other versions in the "alternate" series. Both "20th Century Boy" and "The Groover" are alternate

versions that are far extended past their original lengths, ending in lengthy--and excellent-guitar jams. The 12-minute "Children Of The Revolution" has an eerie feel thanks largely to Flo And Eddie's experimental backing vocals, underneath which that killer riff is repeated to the extreme.

Other highlights include "Dishing Fish Wop" (a better--and better produced--version of "Golden Belt"), "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru". Some of these versions are gloriously rough, others extended, others with alternate lyrics, and all are worth hearing if you are a Bolan fan.

I was a little skeptical of this CD as there have been countless Bolan "rarities" and "outtake" discs released over the years, each one seemingly worse than the one before it. You could almost hear the sound of the bottom of the barrel being scraped. The good news is, the tracks on this disc are phenomenal -- I cant believe this stuff remained unreleased for so long. Some are completely different takes than the official versions, some are alternate mixes -- but all of them are good. It's fascinating to hear the false starts and un-faded endings to the familiar original tracks, as well as discarded lyrics and alternate guitar parts.

Another strong point is the sound quality -- while many past Bolan rarities collections have been assembled from home recordings and roughly mixed dubs of session tapes, this stuff is all from master tapes and in some cases remixed. The disc sounds GREAT.

This CD is recommended for any T. Rex fanatic, you will NOT be disappointed!

Great for hard core Bolan fans.