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T.Rex : from The Underground

Some bands may for years be limited to a small but devoted audience, then suddenly reach the heights of charts. This is the case with T.Rex. Their new single 'Ride a White Swan' made them famous in Great Britain. No doubt that they will soon be as famous here, in France.

If, by chance, you usually listen to (radio) Luxemburg in English, between 7 pm and 3 am during Kid Jensen or Paul Burnet's shows, then  you must have heard 'Ride a White Swan', the new single from T.Rex.

T.Rex was previously know as Tyrannosaurus Rex, genius for a few, oscure and abstruse for many. At the beginning Tyrannosaurus Rex were Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrine Took. They often played at the Covent Garden's Middle Club. John Peel, was hardly the only DJ to play their records on his show Top Gears. Their first album 'My People were fair..', released a couple of years ago, more or less at the same time as Pink Floyd's first LP, sold well.

At the end of 1969 when Steve Took split the band's fans were anxious for a few weeks. They cheered when they heard Marc had met Micky Finn in a vegetarian restaurant. But those who saw them, a few weeks later, at Hyde Park, saw that a change had came. There is a time when, after having recordred 4 to 5 LPs and played in front of mainly Underground crwds, isn't enough anymore. A hit is needed to get national, or even international, audience. Now their arrengments are more 'rock', that's why they meet success, obviously. 'For me, Eric Clapton is responsible for today's music progression, and Jimy Hendrix even more' says Marc Bolan. Their new single contrasts with the softness of their previous music, though 'One Inch Rock', one of their first singles, they already already proved that they knew how to rock!

This does not mean that Marc has dropped his acoustic guitar for ever. But it proves wrong those who took Tyrannosaurus Rex for nothing else than a folk duo.

'We were not confortable with the musical arrangments that most of artistic directors dictate to artists so far'. Today Micky Finn plays drums, and  Tony Visconti, their producer, sometimes plays bass.

'Ride a White Swan' success means much to them. 'I've always loved many aspects of pop music : from The Beach Boys to Tamla Motown or classical rock. That's why this single has 3 songs and we covered Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues'. With 'Ride a White Swan' we tried to get the sound of Rick Nelson and his previous guitarist James Burton. If the audience had blamed us for getting electric we would have stopped, though we were really keen on this move; today I feel a true guitarist.

Live, T.Rex usually plays for 2 hours : 'People must get good value for their money; we don't want ticket prices more tahn 10 shillings (7 francs). We avoid impresarii as much as we can. That's the only way to keep prices low'

Marc Bolan writes a lot of tales: 'they are usually short, horrible and fantastic.... If I ever stop writing music I'll probably be a writer then. I love movies too. I'd like to work with Fellini. After seeing 'Satyricon' I wrote a 3 hours long piece of music inspired by this masterpiece.'

Project-wise, T.Rex hope to release a single with a poster, and a 'hot' track on b side, 5 mini songs of 2 minutes each. Also 2 new albums are coming : one 'rock' in december, and an other one, based on a sci-fi tale, 'The Children Of Rarn'. They also plan a tour with a string quatuor.

Latest news : the duo is now a trio : they've just recruited a 23 years old bassist : Steve Currie. We hope to see them soon in France.

Jacques Barsamian.

next : Pop Music #46