Best of T.Rex
Unchained. (CD, 95. A budget compi of the ‘Unchained’ series of
unissued recordings from 72-77).
These are the songs Marc didn’t want you to hear.
The fact is that in the UK at least after 1972 Bolan had control over
his output. If these songs were not
released it is only Boley to blame.
There is no golden rule that says that if you write something you must
like it … and there is no law that an artist must recognise a proto-classic. Sometimes you are left wondering how
anything as brilliant as song ‘A’ could have been abandoned, other times you
will be just wondering … why is anyone bothering with this rubbish?
These are not alternate versions* or a string of Work-in-Progress
recordings of one song, just one version of a song from any stage of
production. I would like to think we
get the most well developed recording on this compilation but we aren’t
told. In some cases though, no we
don’t. Some are finished pieces, others
the first demo to tape in any form, all topped off with some (unedited) warm up
studio jams. Therefore the recording
and playing quality can vary widely.
You do get a page of notes that tells you the selections are presented
chronologically, but no indication of recording date to help compare it with
Marc’s official output from the time.
It is my belief that this sort of release benefits enormously from
‘recording log’ type info, the who where when stuff.
The packaging design retains the look of the series, which is crude and
distinctive more than attractive, the rear cover has a ghastly vari-size spray
stencil font that is difficult to get the sense from. Accompanying notes give an overview of the series without telling
you anything very much about the songs.
CDs in the series proper improve on this marginally.
If you have ever wondered what the unreleased Bolan archives are about,
the ‘Best of Unchained’ is a quick and easy way to find out. It isn’t the best tracks of the series by a
long way, in fact the whole series could be usefully distilled into two discs,
and this isn’t either of them. However,
twenty-seven tracks make for good value for the curious.
Track list
in running
order:
Over the Flats, Children of the World, Shame on You, Would I be the One,
Just Like Me, Spaceball Boot, I Wanna Go, Saturday Night, Down Home Lady, All
my Love, Sure Enough, I’m Coming to Rock’n’Roll, Yesterday, Jet Tambourine,
Lock Into Your Love, Love For Me, Sanctified, Magical Moon*, Pale Horse Riding,
Brain Police, Savage Beethoven, Ain’t That a Shame, Christmas Bop, Freeway,
Mellow Love, 20th Century Baby, Classic Rap.
*A reggaeish full band re-recording of ‘(By the Light of a) Magical
Moon’.