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Spaceball: The American Radio Sessions
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Track Listings
Disc: 1
1 | Spaceball Ricochet |
2 | Jeepster |
3 | Cosmic Dancer |
4 | Mainman |
5 | Ballrooms of Mars |
6 | Mystic Lady |
7 | Girl |
8 | Baby Strange * Tracks 1-8 K.Day Radio Los Angeles . 15th February 1972 |
9 | KLOS Jingle #1 |
10 | Interview |
11 | Spaceball Ricochet |
12 | Interview |
13 | Left Hand Luke |
14 | Interview |
15 | The Slider |
16 | Interview * Tracks 10-16 WBCN Radio. Boston, 11th September 1972 Total Disc Running Time 58.48 |
Disc: 2
1 | Reprise Records Advert T.Rex album #1 |
2 | Interview |
3 | Cosmic Dancer |
4 | Planet Queen |
5 | Elemental Child |
6 | Jewel |
7 | Hot Love * Tracks 2-7 WBAI Radio New York, 8th April 1971 |
8 | KLOS Jingle #2 |
9 | Cosmic Dancer |
10 | Honey Don't |
11 | Planet Queen |
12 | Get It On Blues * Tracks 9-12 WPLJ Radio, New York. 15th April 1971 |
13 | WGLD Radio Jingle |
14 | Life's A Gas (edit at 3.22) |
15 | Spaceball Ricochet |
16 | Sunken Rags |
17 | Everybody's Loose (Mainman) / Talking * Tracks 13-17 WGLD Radio, Chicago 11th December 1971 |
18 | Reprise Records Advert T.Rex album #2 |
Product description
Product Description
The complete American radio recordings from Marc Bolan & T.Rex early 70's trips to try and break America, featuring acoustic versions of many T.Rex hits. Original interviews and jingles have been added to this collection along with a complete, up until now, 'lost' radio session in Chicago. All the pictures in this package were taken on the road on the promotional tour of the USA. All the tracks on this collection have all been re-mastered.
Review
Subtitled The American Radio Sessions, this double-disc set collects largely acoustic versions of classic T. Rex songs performed in 1971 and 1972, when the original glam rock pixie was trying to bust his way into America. Both the poor recording quality and mostly minimal arrangements (without the space dust production of Tony Visconti) make it far from essential, although it does shed some light on Marc Bolan’s creative processes at his artistic and commercial peak.
At that time, T. Rex were the most popular group in the UK since The Beatles, riding a wave of ‘T. Rexstasy’ and shifting millions of singles. Because so many of Bolan’s role models were American (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Dylan etc), the assumption was that ‘Bolan boogie’ would be a hit stateside. But, as Andrew Gardner’s sleeve notes – though laden with typos and incomplete sentences – correctly point out:
“In many respects, Bolan was far too English to win America. Although he’d plundered the American archives for his inspirations musically. He’s added such a unique twist to them, that by the time he took his unique brand of ‘Cosmic Rock n’ Roll’ back to them, it went over their heads.”
It’s best to start with disc two, which inexplicably features the earliest interviews and on-air sessions at WBAI Radio, New York, in April 1971. Disappointingly, this is the only part featuring the full electric T. Rex line-up with Steve Currie (bass), Bill Legend (drums) and Bolan’s photogenic sidekick Mickey Finn on congas. The influence of Jimi Hendrix on Bolan’s wah-wah guitar is obvious on a loose, extended version of Elemental Child, and there’s a banging, 12-minute take on Jewel, which almost morphs into Jeepster.
The cover of Honey Don’t (by US rockabilly icon Carl Perkins) is another revealing obscurity, as is Get It On Blues. Unfortunately, the sound quality is badly muffled in the sessions done at Chicago’s WGLD Radio on 11 Dec, 1971, which features the wonderful b side Sunken Rags.
Disc one is basically just Bolan accompanying his own inimitable hippy whinny on acoustic guitar, doing songs largely from his overrated The Slider album, interspersed with pointless interviews and the odd jingle. The otherworldly, faux-posh speaking voice that this son of a Hackney truck driver adopted has its own entertainment value, but this is one for collectors and T.Rex obsessives only. --Jon Lusk
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product details
- Is discontinued by manufacturer : No
- Product Dimensions : 13.79 x 13.41 x 0.89 cm; 87.88 Grams
- Manufacturer : Applebush
- Item model number : CPSSPCD005
- Original Release Date : 2010
- Label : Applebush
- ASIN : B002USLYPK
- Country of origin : Portugal
- Number of discs : 2
- Best Sellers Rank: 211,327 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- 976 in Glam Rock
- 6,115 in Hard Rock
- 28,826 in Alternative & Indie
- Customer reviews:
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Will buy anything and listen to anything the great man did.
His stuff ranges from the indifferent (Zip Gun) to the superb (Slider) but it all deserves a listen.
This album is no exception.
If you're a Bolan fan you need to hear it all.
A number of the songs on CD 1 (ie from K Day Radio in Los Angeles)have previously seen the light of day, having been featured on the 1985 Marc On Wax album "Till Dawn" but sound fresher and sharper on the CD format.
The songs Marc performs are, in the main, a mix of "Electric Warrior", "Slider" and "T.Rex" (brown album) tracks and Marc belts out some acknowledged T.Rex classics with great gusto (& as was often the case with Marc, with a little bit of improv / alteration to the recorded,album versions of the songs).
I have seen a review of this album on the BBC website which suggested that this was a collection for the die hard (which it may be) and that the sound quality was poor (which I would contest - these are radio recordings from the 70's, so they might not all be of the highest quality but they are far from all being terrible).
This collection also offers an insight into the way Marc tried to break America and how he showcased his material to do so (along side the acoustic versions on CD2, there are some electric "band" versions" of the songs - Hot Love for example).
Possibly not for the casual fan of Marc and his music but certainly a worthwhile addition to the collection for the committed Bolan follower.