T. Rex

T. Rex is a 1970 album by Marc Bolan's band T. Rex, the first under that name and the fifth since their debut as Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1968. It was released on 18 December by record labels Fly and Reprise. The album continued the shift begun by its predecessor from the band's previous folk style to a minimal rock sound, with an even balance of electric and acoustic material. Content and music Although the album was credited to T. Rex, all the recordings (as well as the cover shot) were done when they still were Tyrannosaurus Rex, with the two-man lineup of singer/songwriter/guitarist Marc Bolan and percussionist Mickey Finn, although producer Tony Visconti played bass and recorder on a couple of tracks. Bolan had considered calling the album The Wizard or The Children of Rarn, before opting for a self-titled album. Bolan wanted to be pictured with his electric guitar to suit the new electric image he was trying to create. The album continued in the vein of the duo's previous album A Beard of Stars, with an even further emphasis on an electric rock sound and the addition of strings, scored by Visconti, on several tracks. Certain tracks like "The Time of Love is Now", "Suneye" and "Root of Star", were stylistically closer to the folk music of Tyrannosaurus Rex. AllMusic wrote that "The tone of the album is a bit more pastoral" than on the previous album but electric guitars are fully integrated in tracks like "Jewel", "Childe", "Beltane Walk", "Diamond Meadows", "Is It Love", and "Summer Deep", predating the style of the follow-up. Lyrics were inspired in part by Tolkien, including poetry about wizards, Druids, and a "Liquid Poetess in a buckskin dress". Journalist Tom Everett observed that Bolan was "clearly infatuated with mysticism, as well as the pure sounds of the English language", although it would be the final time this subject matter would dominate his work. Elsewhere, "The Visit" details a UFO abduction while "Diamond Meadows" and "Suneye" are more conventional love songs that presage future ballads. The album contained electric reworkings of two old Tyrannosaurus Rex songs, one of which, "The Wizard", was originally recorded as the A side of Bolan's (solo) first single back in 1965. The second was an electric version of the second Tyrannosaurus Rex single, "One Inch Rock", with an intro of scat-singing by Bolan and Finn, which the duo had been incorporating into live acoustic versions for some months prior to the album sessions.