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Home > T. Rex (band)


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Before finding teenybopper adulation as a 1970s pop group T. Rex began life as Tyrannosaurus Rex, darlings of the hippy/lighter weight end of the UK Underground scene in 1960s London. The band was founded by Marc Bolan in 1967 and gave one performance as a five piece rock band at the Roundhouse before immediately breaking up in disarray. Bolan retained the services of Steve Peregrin Took and the duo began producing eccentric pastoral and folk tinged ditties steeped in Tolkienian mythology, with spiritual homages to Gene Vincent thrown into the whimsical mix for good measure.

The combination of Bolan's guitar and cat-like wail with Steve Took's bongos and assorted percussion (which often included children's instruments such as the Pixiephone) gained them a devoted following on a thriving underground scene that included the Incredible String Band and DJ John Peel, who befriended them and ferried them to and from gigs in his mini and eventually read stories written by Bolan on two of their albums. Another key pairing was with the record producer Tony ViscontiTony Visconti is a record producer, and often an instrumentalist or singer, who has had a long and illustrious career working with some of the best known popular music artists from the late 1960s onwards, notably T. Rex, David Bowie, Thin Lizzy and Sparks who went on to produce all of their albums well into their second phase.

1 As Tyrannosaurus Rex Bolan and Took recorded the albums


2 Singles

The reverse cover of Unicorn follows a convention begun by DylanBob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman May 24, 1941, Duluth, Minnesota, USA) is widely regarded as America's greatest popular songwriter. Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams are among the few songwriters similarly revered for t with Bringing It All Back Home: the pair are pictured lurking in a Bayswater flat surrounded by influences – LPs, books and objets d'art. These range from the modish to the obscure – LambCharles Lamb ( 1775- 27 July, 1834) was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare which he produced along with his sister, Mary Lamb. Charles Lamb was the youngest child of John Lamb, a lawye's Tales from ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 ( O. May 3, 1616 ( N. has a reputation as the greatest writer the English language has ever known. Indeed, the English Renaissance has often been called "the age of Shakespe, The Bible, works of William BlakeWilliam Blake ( November 28, 1757- August 12, 1827) was an English poet, mystic, painter and printmaker, or "Author & Printer," as he signed many of his books. Early career Blake was born at 28 Broad Street, Golden Square, London, England into a middle-cl, a Muddy Waters LP, tabla drums and toy cymbals etc. The photo sums up Bolan's earnest playfulness and the duo's position as both typical within their scene and a unique proposition, and the music on Unicorn, with its melancholic grandeur, marks the high water mark for pixie-rock.

By 1969 there was a clear rift between the two halves of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bolan and his girlfriend June Child (ex-girlfriend of Syd Barrett) were living a quiet life, while Took was fully embracing the anti-commercial/community spirited/ drug taking ethics of the UK Underground scene centred around Ladbroke Grove. Took was also attracted to the most anarchistic elements such as Mick Farren/ Deviants and members of the Pink Fairies Rock 'n' Roll and Drinking Club.

By now Took was writing his own songs and wanted the duo to perform some of them. Bolan, seeing himself as the creative force behind the duo refused. Probably the final straw for Bolan was when Took 'donated' two songs to Twink's Think Pink album and ignored warnings by the management to stop seeing members of the UK Underground.

Bolan sacked Took after Unicorn, prior to their first ever US tour, although Took was contractually obliged to go through with the tour. The tour was poorly promoted and planned and because the acoustic duo were billed along side loud electric acts Took commented later that the audience often didn't even notice they'd started so in an Iggy Pop manner he stripped to the waist and whipped himself.



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