A recent mention, even erroneous, of Father John Misty reminded me to post this, another of my re-imagined and in this case slimmed-down versions of longer tribute albums, since it's been *checks notes* oh, three months since the last one. The original version of Angelheaded Hipster - The Songs Of Marc Bolan & T.Rex runs for two discs and had a bunch of songs I wasn't really into. If I was Bolan I'd probably say I don't dig 'em. As a matter of fact, my first single disc version ended up a mere 12 tracks that I liked. A second listen to the full thing yielded another six tracks on the 'to keep' list. See, during the first and second run, I thought Perry Farrell's version of "Rock On" was well-meaning karaoke - like a lot of the tracks that didn't make it on here. But repetition seemed to break down my defenses, as by swing number three I was on board. Same thing happened with U2's (with Elton John on piano!) take on "Get It On", which at first I found rather unremarkable, but it finally made the cut.
Anyway, I never was the biggest fan of Mr. Bolan and his oeuvre, so maybe that's why I had some trouble getting into some of Angelheaded Hipster. The good songs of T.Rex are memorable, but I also feel that the glam direction boxed Bolan in somewhat and there's a bunch of songs that sound a little samey to my ears. Be that as it may, as with my Fleetwood Mac tribute album, I tried to find a good mix between the more traditional versions and the more experimental re-imaginnings. Flow was important here, so I juggled the sequencing until I found what I think is a satisfying running order. To further improve the flow, three songs have been slightly edited.
The artists list is a healthy mix of vets (Nick Cave, the ever-present Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, Marc Almond, surprisingly: Nena) and young'uns or semi-young'uns (Kesha, Peaches, Devandra Banhart). And of course, Father John Misty, whose version of "Main Man" opens proceedings and is by far my favorite on this comp. I also quite like Nick Cave's stately, beautiful piano-dominated version of "Cosmic Dancer" and Devendra Banhart's fragile "Scenescof", a track not particularly often covered and on the other side of Bolan's music, Joan Jett's thumping "Jeepster" and Nena's slightly new-wave-ish "Metal Guru".
So, this stream-lined version of Angelheaded Hipster runs a little over an hour, a good 35 minutes less than the original. You can easily breeze through this in one sitting, which was the goal. "Bolan likes to rock now, yes, he does...yes, he does..." If you also like to rock (yes, you do! yes, you do!) rock and swing with his acolytes...
Singing for their main man:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/FaAvLvgMjQn
So, folks, what's everyone's favorite Bolan/T.Rex song?
ReplyDeleteFavorite might be Bang A Gong or Ride A White Swan but it is really (probably) Deboraarobed.
ReplyDeleteProbably Children of the revolution with its immortal line "I drive a Rolls Royce 'cos it's good for my voice".
ReplyDeleteThis morning it was Buick MacKane
ReplyDeleteThat run from 1970 to 1973 was stellar, so I'm def a major fan; in fact Tanx is one of my all-time fave albums. I like his more melancholy things, so Girl, or Left Hand Luke, or Electric Slim would get the nod, tho The Slider's title tune is right up there, too (despite its lack of melancholy).
ReplyDeleteC in California
I realize I've always had a -- well, "love/hate" would be too melodramatic, so let's say "affection/mystification" relationship with the work of Mr. Bolan. A case in point, and here's my somewhat reluctant answer to the original question, would be "Metal Guru." On the one hand, I went NUTS over that recording when it first came out, and I especially went nuts seeing it, um, performed on Top Of The Pops at the time. On the other hand, I knew as if instinctively, as if I could feel in my very bones, that it was by far the STUPIDEST song I had ever heard.
ReplyDeleteYet there are by now very many Marc Bolan / T. Rex songs that I would count among my favorites, each of them just about as stupid as the next. Some of those other favorites would of course include "Ride A White Swan," along with "Midnight" and "Children Of The Revolution." But there are many, many more, including a couple that I sort of have ulterior motives for enjoying: "Cat Black (The Wizard's Hat) because I like to think it's a ripoff of the old rockabilly era ballad "Red Cadillac and A Black Mustache," and "I Love To Boogie" because I am absolutely convinced it's a ripoff of Webb Pierce's hillbilly bopper "Teenage Boogie."
Yeah, I always thought Metal Guru had stupid lyrics. The album was a let down after Electric Warrior. Which had songs with stupid lyrics too. But the beat was catchy even if the lyrics sucked. At the time and my age I enjoyed it all.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess stupidity and pomposity always were part and parcel of Bolan and T.Rex, and the kids got that, but didn't care. More of a feature than a bug kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteI can't listen to hours of Bolan/T.Rex either, because the samey sound and feeling that these songs aren't really about much of anything, but in small doses Bolan could deliver.
My favorite is probably "Children Of The Revolution", but if we talk about Bolan's specific type of stupidity: My second favorite song is probably "Gardenia And The Mighty Slug (feat. The Leopards). Go figure.
Not much to add, except more votes for "Ride A White Swan," and "Bang A Gong."
ReplyDeleteD in California
Perhaps young Marc Feld thought himself some kind of hippie bard -- 'Bolan' is said to be a portmanteau of Bob Dylan -- but I think paying attention to his lyrics misses the point. He was in the (show) biz of making crunchy, catchy music that was easy to sing along to, and at that he was very successful. His lyrics sound no shallower to me than those of fellow fey Brit Islander Donovan, a dude also obviously very ambitious and capable of writing a hit when needed.
ReplyDeleteTho Tanx, as noted in my previous comment, is one of my all-timers, the meaty and mighty production on The Slider is my favorite sounding T Rex album. I don't remember which music blog I asked this question back a while -- perhaps the farqing Isle of Foam -- but what was it about pairing Brit musicians with Yank producers in that era that produced so much great music -- e.g., Jimmy Miller & the Stones, Phil Spector & 1970-1971 Lennon & Harrison, Joe Boyd & Nick Drake (& Fairport & [later on] 80s Richard Thompson), Tony Visconti & T Rex & Bowie?
C in California
Fair enough re: lyrics, though I think it's more the whole showmanship aspect of his songwriting. You said you preferred the more melancholy side of Bolan, but I'm not sure how well he could pull that melancholy off once he went full glam (haven't heard enough of the twee unicorns'n'shit Tyrannosaurus Rex). But you listened to a whole lot more of Bolan/T.Rex than I did, so maybe I'm misjudging a bit..
DeleteGood point with the 'across the Atlantic' connection of producers and artists. What about the opposite? I prefer the Eagles' work with Glyn Johns to most of their work with Bill Scymczyk...
Every song on The Slider is my favorite song when I listen to it (a definite MrDave Top 10 Fave album) but maybe the title track and Buick McKane in particular. I never saw any videos of Bolan playing until decades after I was a fan and it was very weird to see.
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