T. Rex’s Electric Warrior
To listen to T. Rex’s Electric Warrior is to immediately understand what rock and roll is all about. Its catchy simplicity, explicit sexuality and hip-shaking grooves have proven a potent recipe for musical immortality that has only grown more gratifying and influential with age. These tropes are elevated by the endemic glee of guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Marc Bolan as he sheds the pretenses of pseudo-psychedelic folk hippiedom to assume the throne built by Tony Visconti’s spacious glam rock production. The enduring magic of their partnership can be heard in the inspired arrangement choices that uniquely compliment the theatrical flair of Bolan’s lyrics and warmth of his electric guitar throughout. The undeniable hit “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” is exhibit A, with its iconic riff deftly undergirded by saxophone as a crunchy drum beat understatedly builds tension by teasing a cymbal crash that never comes in the song’s chorus. On “Mambo Sun,” strings form a foundational sonic partnership with the song’s mighty shuffling riff, adding weight to its already terrific treble as Bolan opines “I got to be the one with you.” They do the same on “The Motivator” and the automotive sleaze of “Jeepster,” a single that, just like the object of its affection, is pleasing to behold in its playfully absurd sexual yearning. Bolan’s fixation with sex is so preeminent, in fact, that cuts like the extraterrestrial abduction fantasy “Planet Queen” or pastoral “Girl” imbue it with an otherworldly mysticism, elevating camp to near poetry. Where this spirituality is realized, on the lushly orchestrated “Cosmic Dancer,” which swells with each line of existential choreography, or the devastating weeping depravity of “Monolith,” Electric Warrior showcases rock at its most irresistible and invigorating.
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If you like Electric Warrior, check out:
“Everlasting Light” by The Black Keys
All The Young Dudes by Mott The Hoople
New York Dolls by New York Dolls
“Cigarettes & Alcohol” by Oasis
Manipulator by Ty Segall