Children Of The Revolution (An Introduction To Marc Bolan) - T-Rex

...did appear;

Children of the Revolution (An introduction to Marc Bolan) - T-Rex

I was upon finding this (and still am) in ecstasy, T-Rex was back in my life again, Yey!!!

So what did I get that could relieve the years that had been shorn of my beloved Bolan? Certainly a good deal of stuff I hadn't heard of before. All in all there are about 45 tracks split over the two CD's, the booklet isn't that impressive, ...
...silly drug addict to ruin Children of the Revolution at live aid, this song is still a timeless classic.

Free angel and Rapids are again not that great, though the former does have just juddering lyrics that pulsate with a nice feeling.

Spaceball Ricochet is a nice little weaving, groaning piece, its sounds a lot like the noise you make when hum to yourself in grand tones of complacency, wonderful sound if you like groaning ... more

My first slice of T-rex came with a compilation of rock classics; the single song in question was 20th century boy. What a song this is, the first roaring screech of this deluxe 2CD "Intro" to the world of Bolan was intoxicating, and for an instant I could transport myself to when I would come back from school full of longing, desperate to hit that play button, desperate to hear the screaming grace of that song reach my ears once again. It started there!

Of course after my first slice of T-Rex go out hunting for anything, something to resolve my Bolan blues, and to my delight I found a cheap greatest hits, £3.99 from Woolworth's, perfect! And once again my world had reached a peak, a crescendo of whirling, wiry wizardry! I loved that album, I loved hitting repeat on twentieth century boy, I loved I Love to boogie, and just generally singing to my hearts content … but then tragedy struck, the dreaded relationship split, my precious T-Rex CD no longer in my possession...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo …….. My world collapsed, I was without motivation or purpose, happiness had seemingly deserted me, and I was thrust upon the bosom of despair …. I might have not made it …

But no … on the horizon a shinning light did appear;

Children of the Revolution (An introduction to Marc Bolan) - T-Rex

I was upon finding this (and still am) in ecstasy, T-Rex was back in my life again, Yey!!!

So what did I get that could relieve the years that had been shorn of my beloved Bolan? Certainly a good deal of stuff I hadn't heard of before. All in all there are about 45 tracks split over the two CD's, the booklet isn't that impressive, (a few pictures of Marc, and a little note about why the CD was created) but who cares it's the music that matters, and its safe to say that in terms of new material which I hadn't heard before and tracks which I had heard, the discs had them in plenty.

As an introduction it is perhaps a bit misleading, it seems to contain a good deal of tracks off older albums. When I looked into their history they had made quite a good number of albums, and I had to be patient before I could see a track I'd heard of let along listened to. I hadn't realised how much material they had actually released, subjected as I was too greatest hits and singles. This is where this CD comes in at somewhat of an advantage, if your looking to start off at the other end of the T-rex scale, this is perfect, something I hate when getting into new music, is buying a greatest hits or similar compilation and then becoming disenchanted with the thought of buying any more material from that artist. Yet on the basis of what I've been reading and listening T-Rex still has a bit more to offer me, anyway the tunes ….

Disc one starts of with the virtuoso ejaculation of raw pulsating metal that is twentieth Century Boy, easily my favourite song off the CD. Not much can beat that the first opening moments; it's a virtual crunch, as if a jiggling giant has just stood as hard as he could upon some nearby boulder. It's that potent; it just grips you, stuns you in place and forces you to prostrate yourself before that mighty riff. It rams itself inside your head and causes all sorts of havoc before withdrawing and leaving you all dazed and awestruck

After this grand opening it's all a bit tame in comparison really Country Honey and Mad Donna are fairly good, Cadillac is a little ditty on walking someone home. And Mystic lady is growing on me steadily, it's very soothing and calming, it must be the constant repetition of all the baby's that he intones during the song, hehe!

Apart from the attempts of some silly drug addict to ruin Children of the Revolution at live aid, this song is still a timeless classic.

Free angel and Rapids are again not that great, though the former does have just juddering lyrics that pulsate with a nice feeling.

Spaceball Ricochet is a nice little weaving, groaning piece, its sounds a lot like the noise you make when hum to yourself in grand tones of complacency, wonderful sound if you like groaning music that is.

In-between this and Metal Guru is Thuderwing, a nice little foot tapping tune, complemented my hand claps and Bolan's luxurious silken wording. Then comes the beast; "Metal Guru is it you? Metal Guru is it true? Yeh yeh yeh" Words fail me hear ( aha actually no they don't), I love this song, rising back vocals, yet more repetitive choruses, but this is the whole charm of T-Rex, such simple lyrics, yet instantly your in tune and singing to the harmonies seducing your ears, magic!

It gets better you realise, "Telegraph Sam, you're my main man" again nothing beats the simplicity, in essence it's a simple repeat procedure, a rising electronic jazz feel pervades the whole song, its impossible not to get caught along with this "Jungle fist Jake, Jungle fist Jake I said make no mistake about jungle fist Jake".

After this comes a bit of a weak period, some songs which I've not really come to embrace as yet, Rabbit fighter is a bit more crooning and he almost sings it like a lullaby.

Buick Mackane isn't that good to be honest, it easily leaves the mind. Baby Boomerang Tenement lady feels a bit more low key and less sprightly than the usual fare, more mournful and the addition of piano makes it seem more like a ballad.

Electric Slim and the Factory Hen Solid Gold easy Action come at you quite furiously with many a "hey hey hey" and some good complementary backing vocals make them nicely fast paced and well wrought on the whole.

The nest few again don't stick in the mind too much, the willowy sounds evident on Jitterbug Love is nice effect. Ballroom's of Mars is a bit plodding and self indulgent at times.

Then we our rescued, Born to boogie, rustling tambourines, catchy lyrics, and a pulsing beat, this has heart to it. "Boogie children, uh ah" Repeat this with some frantic pace guitar and you've got a winner. The next track is very delightful one; a slightly off Bolan starts the beginning like he hasn't got any teeth. Chariot Choogle has some startlingly high pitched singing later on from Bolan, contradicted by the harder whipping of symbols and guitars, simply superb. Disc one is aptly finished off by the Groover, and Bolan stating how he is a Groover honey, smooooth!

Now for disc Two, not quite the opener from the first disc, yet Venus Loon does a nice little job of setting your toes a tapping. The strapping violins on this track make it stand out quite well, in addition to the backing which gives the track a lovely glitzy feel.

Did you ever see a woman coming out of New York City with a frog in her hand, I did don't you know! This is a top track, it weaves and dances, it shimmers and cascades through your mind, a bit like a cacophony of the weird and wonderful, so many different beats and clanks, chimes and chants, very uplifting too, plus it has the tell tale "Ahhhhhhh ohhhhhh eeeeeehh! " laced throughout, luuuurvelly!

Think Zinc is a very well made track, and complements, what's gone before and what will come after in Truck on Tyke, the stringy singing and well measured backdrop to this song makes it just damm fun to listen too. Truck on Tyke, Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaah!!!

Humming and Buzzing, and arching with lust; Dawn Storm injects itself upon you like hardline drugs waiting to infest your system. I really really like this song, it's just got all the right ingredients, "But I want to lay my lips on your explosive mouth!"(Amazing lyric), this being swiftly followed by a Waaaaaaaaooow! (James Brown like scream there) After this it almost gets better, Solid baby has all the attributes of a randy teenager watching Buffy for the first time "Oooh solid baby, whos a gonna love me tonight?" from this line comes a clattering of claps, twangs and seductive lyricism from Bolan, it's a plea for pleasure, crikey its good!

All alone is another great song, and this followed by Blackjack and left-hand Luke, make a great trinity of songs. Blackjack in particular has great oozing quality to it, masterful!

Sky church music, is a bit more downbeat and slowed down a notch Girl in the thunderbolt suit is a bit manic and full of "She's cute that girl!" You get the idea, its almost cuddly in how he says that line.

Sitting here slides away with a bit of a whimper really, not the best of the bunch.

I love to boogie is incredible; I think it was on a Vimto advert a while back, and it was on the Billy Elliot soundtrack as well. The song is so lightening fast and so full of life, it's just so bouncy, and full of alluring lyrics like "Jenny's lost her cherry walking all the way home" The guitar bit in the middle is so jumpy and jazzy, damm good!

Light of love "La la la la la la la la Liiiiiight la la light of love, won't you shine on me" I listened to this track amid frantic preparation for something or other (I was probably doing my hair) This deserves to be turned up and sang along too, the chorus is constantly interchanged with claps and slaps making it irresistible all together now "La la la la", simple elegance and wonderfully catchy.

Satisfaction pony is just mental song writing, the slamming "satisfaction pony" on the chorus hurts quite frankly in its electric pounding, and wacky lyrics, strange to say the least.

Even stranger is The Leopards feat Gardenia and the Mighty Slug, with the bizarre lyric "King Kong built a car inside his brain." Eh??? What that all about?

The last two tracks City Port and Love and Pain are for want of a better word f****n amazing. Almost in the first track alone is T-Rex summed up, clanging symbols, twangy glitzy guitars, and bizarre lyrics still make the track work work, in typical T-Rex fashion. Pain and love is such a hazy groan of sound, so melancholic and brooding, it's almost a lazy song if that is applicable.

What you get with Bolan is essentially Sex, mythical lyrics, wacky crunching guitar work, long silly titles, and of course if your lucky a picture of the little elf himself. Glamish rock at it's finest; the latter years of his T-Rex had a distinctly punkish feel to them, so as a consequence the material on these CD's is a fine attempt to provide an introduction but rather at the end segments of his career.

Well thanks for reading, if indeed you got this far, sorry about the length I felt like a rant, and this deserves a good one.

Ok the rest of the details now, I bought this 2 disc set for £4.99 down at the January sales in HMV

Amazon lists it as £9.99, while used it starts at £5.06

Play on the meantime has it at £8.99, but as I write this it's out of stock.

CD ONE

1. Twentieth Century Boy
2. Country Honey
3. Mad Donna
4. Cadillac
5. Mystic Lady
6. Children of the Revolution
7. Free Angel
8. Rapids
9. Spaceball Ricochet
10. Thunderwing
11. Metal Guru
12. Telegram Sam
13. Rabbit Fighter
14. Buick Mackane
15. Baby Boomerang
16. Tenement Lady
17. Electric Slim and the Factory Hen
18. Solid Gold Easy Action
19. Jitterbug Love
20. Ballrooms of Mars
21. Born To Boogie
22. Baby Strange
23. Chariot Choogle
24. The Groover

CD TWO

1. Venus Loon
2. Whatever Happened to the Teenage Dream
3. New York City
4. Think Zinc
5. Truck on (Tyke)
6. Broken Hearted Blues
7. Dawn Storm
8. Explosive Mouth
9. Solid Baby
10. All Alone
11. Blackjack
12. Left Hand Luke
13. Sky Church Music
14. Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit
15. Sitting Here
16. I Love To Boogie
17. Light Of Love
18. Satisfaction Pony
19. The Leopards feat Gardenia and the Mighty Slug
20. City Port
21. Pain and Love
 

...less