Artist: T. Rex

Album: Electric Warrior

Here we go again, my fellow music nerds! This week I am delving deep into the heart of my music collection. I feel that we’ve become familiar with one another by now, so I wanted to give you a little insight to an album that is definitely one of my favorites of all time. You know the type of album I mean: the unmistakable “desert island” album.

Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me will tell you about my deep love for T. Rex. In my opinion, they’re one of the most UNDERRATED bands in the history of music and rock-and-roll. Since I was a young girl of 14, I remember the moment I heard “Cosmic Dancer” from the album Electric Warrior, and I was different from that moment on. It was one of those music epiphanies; that moment I knew music was something meant for not only hearing but, feeling the music physically.

 Electric Warrior is the pinnacle of glam rock at its birth and best. Here in America, “Bang a Gong” is the main single that was pushed (and still is, even today) and it’s the only T. Rex song most Americans recognize even though they can’t even name the band. “Bang a Gong”is almost the band’s only claim to popularity in this country, and that is a mistake I hope to rectify even if one additional person finds joy in its lyrics and music.

 Marc Bolan. the lead singer of T. Rex and undoubtedly a god that rocked among men, only graced this earth for a very short time and in his path he released something into the world that has yet to be duplicated. Within this 11 track album, you feel roots and meaning to the origins of raw rock-and-roll. In rock’s almost-first generation of spectacle and sound, you are transported to world unlike any you’ve experienced. Electric Warrior brings you to a place where stars and cars meet, where beauty dances with light, and where Marc roars, sings, and trills like no other.

This album becomes a habit. The groove unleashes a fun experience for listeners to enjoy alone or anywhere. You can’t help but sing and shake to songs like “Jeepster,” which will undoubtedly wake your music senses that have longed for a rattle like this. Their spunky and fun lyrics make you feel like you have always known them:

Electric Warrior also holds very personal moments of sincere, heartfelt poetry. With the desperate heaving and moaning of guitar, each track steps up to captivate the ears and take them hostage. The amazing imagery in lyrics needs no embellishment. Lyrically, this album stands alone and tall. Take a look at what’s in store for you on “Mambo Sun”: Beneath the bebop moon/ I want to croon with you / Beneath the Mambo Sun/ I got to be the one with you/ My life’s a shadowless horse/ If I can’t get across to you/ In the alligator rain /My heart’s all pain for you…

This album is one that I could rave about for an eternity and still not do it justice. Even if it is not an equally sacred experience for you, just let it do what it does best while you groove and have a blast. For any record collector, Electric Warrior is a must-have in the collection. If you don’t love this album, then shame on you, because it has been held in the highest regards among music enthusiasts! You should be quick to love it, with its saucy guitars, vocal harmonies, trumpets, tambourines, violins, uninhibited lyrics, arena rock energy, deep poetry, and attitude… This album has it all! I give it 10 burning-hot suns out of 10!

So, fellow music lovers, if you don’t already have this album, then get a copy and just listen. Remember I could have loved you good like a planet./ I could have chained your heart to a star./But it really doesn’t matter at all, No it really doesn’t matter at all, life’s a gas.