T. Rex - "Thunderwing" and "The Groover"

 

"Thunderwing" (1972)

SIDE A

1. There was a Time

2. Thunderwing

3. Lady

4. Raw Ramp / Electric Boogie

5. Hot Love

SIDE B

1. Sunken Rags

2. King of the Mountain Cometh

3. Woodland Rock

4. Cadillac

5. Planet Queen (acoustic)

"The Groover" (1974)

SIDE A

1. The Groover

2. Free Angel

3. Truck On (Tyke)

4. Jitterbug Love

5. Midnight

6. Solid Gold Easy Action

SIDE B

1. 20th Century Boy

2. Darling

3. Sitting Here

4. Satisfaction Pony

5. Children of the Revolution

All tracks are B-sides and outtakes from various albums compiled into two imagined albums.

T. Rex - "Billy Super Duper"

 

At the time of his death in 1977, Marc Bolan was working on several new songs. But there’s no way of knowing whether any of them would have ended up on his next T. Rex album. He apparently left behind no notes, although there are references to the working title of Jack Daniels.

Over the years, there have been attempts, both official and unofficial (see Uncle Dan’s version), to create an album from leftover tracks. The primary version was a 1982 release titled Billy Super Duper that included seven songs recorded in 1977, one from 1976, two from 1975 and one from way back in 1972, and some of the tracks featured new overdubs to make them more fleshed-out tunes. Beyond that, there have been gobs of posthumously released albums with demos, alternate takes and pretty much every note Bolan ever recorded. The truth is, Bolin recorded so many demos between 1975-77, there’s no telling what he might have released had he lived longer.

SIDE A

1. 21^st Century Stance

2. Billy Super Duper

3. Shy Boy

4. Mellow Love

5. Endless Sleep

6. Brain Police

7. Write Me a Song

 

SIDE B

1. 20^th Century Baby

2. Hot George

3. Foxy Boy

4. Love Drunk

5. Depth Charge

6. Messing with the Mystic

7. Sing Me a Song

Looking over some of the last songs he recorded, I was struck by how several titles were similar and wondered if I couldn’t arrange a track list that created a concept album with the two sides of the album kind of mirroring each other. Bolan had attempted to create a concept album in 1975 titled Billy Super Duper, but apparently discarded the concept because his last two albums in 1976 and 1977 didn’t include any reference to it.

For this, I took 10 of the 12 songs featured on the 1982 Billy Super Duper release. It appears that at least seven of them were recorded in 1977 before the overdubs were done. I also included “Endless Sleep,” which Bolan performed on his 1977 TV series. I then added two tracks that are probably from 1976: “Write Me a Song” and the very similar “Sing Me a Song.” And finally, I included “Messing with the Mystic.” Although it’s a demo, the sound quality is pretty good, although not great. But I felt that title-wise it kind of matched up with "Brain Police."

So we end up with "21st Century Stance" paired with "20th Century Baby," "Billy Super Duper" matched with "Hot George," "Shy Boy" mirroring "Foxy Boy," and so on.

The result is a nice 14-track album, with Side A clocking in at just under 20 minutes and Side B at about 18½ minutes. It’s the kind of album where at first glance and listen, there is a concept, but on closer examination, there really isn’t.

Besides the 1982 Billy Super Duper, my source for these tracks was Marc Bolan & T. Rex Unchained: Unreleased Recordings 1972 -1977.

In deciding on an album title, I felt that calling it Jack Daniels would have been just asking for a lawsuit and a title his record company likely would have rejected (plus I didn't think it had anything to do with the "concept" I'm attempting). So, I went with Billy Super Duper. For cover art, I found this image online and redid the wording.

I tried to put together a YouTube playlist for this album, as I've done for other blog entries this year, but unfortunately, some songs can't be found there. Oh well.

 

"Wam Bam: Glam Rock, 1971-75" compilation

A couple of years ago I was reading about old glam rock hits, and I realized there were a lot that many people considered important to the genre, but that I'd never heard. That led me to search for a good, comprehensive compilation, but I was surprised that there really isn't one.

This may be due to key tracks being on different record labels. Or it could be that glam rock is more closely defined by what it looks like than it sounds like. Indeed, the fashion of its stars was often far more outrageous than the music.

And what songs are considered "glam rock" by one person are often categorized as "bubble gum," "power pop," or any number of other sub-genres by another. So this imagined five-CD box set includes tracks that I gathered from a number of "top glam rock songs" lists I found online. Some you'll undoubtedly agree with, others you may not.

DISC 1 - SHINING
1. Hot Love - T. Rex
2. Co-Co - The Sweet
3. Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T. Rex
4. Coz I Luv You - Slade
5. Funny, Funny - The Sweet
6. Jeepster - T. Rex
7. Alexander Graham Bell - The Sweet
8. John, I'm Only Dancing - David Bowie
9. All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople
10. Stay With Me - The Faces
11. Clap Your Hands and Stamp Your Feet - Bonnie St. Claire & Unit Gloria
12. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to be a Long, Long Time) - Elton John
13. Standing in the Road - Blackfoot Sue
14. School's Out - Alice Cooper
15. Changes - David Bowie
16. Telegram Sam - T. Rex
17. Little Willy - The Sweet
18. Rock and Roll (Parts 1 & 2) - Gary Glitter
19. Virginia Plain - Roxy Music
20. Mama Weer All Crazee Now - Slade
21. Starman - David Bowie
22. Children of the Revolution - T. Rex
23. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
24. Elected - Alice Cooper
25. Son of My Father - Chicory Tip
26. Wig-Wam Bam - The Sweet
27. 10538 Overature - Electric Light Orchestra

DISC 2 - SPARKLING
1. The Jean Genie - David Bowie
2. Metal Guru - T. Rex
3. Poppa Joe - The Sweet
4. Crocodile Rock - Elton John
5. Gudbuy T'Jane - Slade
6. Suffragette City - David Bowie
7. Solid Gold, Easy Action - T. Rex
8. Ballroom Blitz - The Sweet
9. Cum on Feel the Noize - Slade
10. I'm the Leader of the Gang (I am) - Gary Glitter
11. See My Baby Jive - Wizzard
12. 20th Century Boy - T. Rex
13. Do You Wanna Dance - Barry Blue
14. Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
15. Tiger Feet - Mud
16. Dancin' (On a Saturday Night) - Barry Blue
17. 48 Crash - Suzi Quatro
18. Block Buster! - The Sweet
19. Rock On - David Essex
20. Street Life - Roxy Music
21. Dynamite - Mud
22. The Groover - T. Rex
23. Angel Fingers (A Teenage Ballad) - Wizzard
24. Can the Can - Suzi Quatro
25. Hellraiser - The Sweet
26. Life on Mars? - David Bowie
27. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) - Elton John
28. Do You Wanna Touch Me There (Oh Yeah) - Gary Glitter

DISC 3 - GLITTERING
1. My Coo Ca Choo - Alvin Stardust
2. Skweeze Me Pleeze Me - Slade
3. Looking for a Kiss - New York Dolls
4. Truck On (Tyke) - T. Rex
5. Wired Up - Hector
6. All the Way from Memphis - Mott the Hoople
7. No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper
8. All Because of You - Geordie
9. Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
10. This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us - Sparks
11. Do the Strand - Roxy Music
12. Teenage Rampage - The Sweet
13. Killer Queen - Queen
14. Jealous Mind - Alvin Stardust
15. Angel Face - The Glitter Band
16. Devil Gate Drive - Suzi Quatro
17. The "In" Crowd - Bryan Ferry
18. Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
19. Seven Deadly Finns - Brian Eno
20. Teenage Dream - Marc Bolan & T. Rex
21. Horror Movie - Skyhooks
22. Summerlove Sensation - Bay City Rollers
23. Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth - Sparks
24. Sugar Baby Love - The Rubettes
25. Magic - Pilot
26. Needle in the Camel's Eye - Brian Eno
27. Light of Love - T. Rex

DISC 4 - FADING
1. Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
2. Dance with the Devil - Cozy Powell
3. Seven Seas of Rhye - Queen
4. The Six Teens - Sweet
5. The Bitch is Back - Elton John
6. You You You - Alvin Stardust
7. Rebels Rule - Iron Virgin
8. Va Va Va Voom - Brett Smiley
9. Action - Sweet
10. Once Bitten, Twice Shy - Ian Hunter
11. Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
12. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
13. January - Pilot
14. Give Me a Little Love - Bay City Rollers
15. Nothing to Do with Us - Jet
16. All My Friends Are Getting Married - Skyhooks
17. New York Groove - Hello
18. Get Down and Get With It - Slade
19. Love is the Drug - Roxy Music
20. New York City - T. Rex
21. Glass of Champagne - Sailor
22. Bye Bye Baby - Bay City Roller
23. Fox on the Run - Sweet
24. Sky High - Jigsaw
25. The Tears I Cried - The Glitter Band
26. Roxy Roller - Sweeney Todd
27. I Love Rock n Roll - The Arrows
28. Rock and Roll All Nite - Kiss

The general consensus seems to be that glam rock began when Marc Bolan appeared on "Top of the Pops" in 1971 in glitter makeup. And the genre seems to have pretty much run its course by 1976 and the punk explosion. So I included only songs from 1971 through 1975. The songs are presented here in mostly chronological order. And what a collection it is -- it's really all over the place musically.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that it remained a British phenomenon that never seemed to catch on elsewhere in the world—although the styles would greatly influence later musicians, most notably the L.A. metal scene in the 1980s.

I found the glitter background and a sparkly guitar online and used them for this box set cover and added titles.