Finishing up the week of Session Specials with T. Rex and Marc Bolan recorded live in session at The BBC on August 3, 1971 for the Bob Harris Show.
T Rex started from rather psych-folkish beginnings but quickly morphed into one of the premier Glam bands in the early 1970's. No one on the planet had a voice quite like Marc Bolan's - it was completely distinctive and you either loved it or hated it. And maybe for that reason T Rex didn't achieve the enormous popularity in the States that they did in the UK and throughout Europe and Japan. Although a staple in the diet of most FM stations at the time, with a string of hits of which Jeepster (the second track on tonight's lineup) was one, Bolan wasn't taken all that seriously over here. Being relegated to Teeny-Bop status, which was something of a false pigeonhole.
Tonight's track lineup goes like this:
T-Rex at The BBC - Recorded August 3, 1971
1. Cadillac
2. Jeepster
3. Life's A Gas
T Rex didn't last all that long, as band's go. The Glam movement came and went within a few years and Bolan was somewhat left behind and his career was dwindling. His tragic early death as the result of a car accident in 1977 at the age of 29 robbed the musical world of a great and innovative talent. What he might have gone on to do is anyone's guess. Whatever it would have been it would most definitely have been unconventional - that was a given.
But we'll just never know.
Hopefully we'll do more sessions in the coming weeks. Of course, that all depends on if you can chip in to keep Newstalgia afloat. That would be more than appreciated.
[gordon-donate]
