T. Rex- Electric Warrior!
1. Mambo Sun
Sir Jon (afterwards SJ): this song is so striking
the "ahhhhhssss" in the background just get me
just funky, kinda simple, great guitar.
The Josh (afterwards TJ): what a lumbering beat
perfect kickoff to the album
and great lyrics
El Chriz (afterwards EC): It's a slowed down version of Born To Be Wild
TJ: beneath the big ballooon a howl and a croooon for yoooou
EC: great album opener.
SJ: I love the croooon for you
I've got wide knees for you
they have great innuendos for sex
awesome lyrics
TJ: yea completely
just oozing songs
SJ: and maybe born to be wild, but much better
TJ: yea, much better
EC: It has that driving sound of Born To Be Wild... a 60s vibe...
SJ: no, I get what you are going at
but yeah, mambo sun is one of my faves on the album, funky
TJ: very funky
great percussion
2. Cosmic Dancer
TJ: this track has some of the best lyrics on the album
and when the drums and strings kick in
wowee
EC: As I was confiding to Jon earlier, this is a hard album for me to really ramble on about. It's pretty new to me and I don't know much about it's history.
But every song on this sucker is amazing.
EC: Electric Warrior is without a doubt an unsung classic. People into glam rock embrace this stuff, but most kids getting down with the 70s...
wearing their Pink Floyd shirts and grooving to the pink lava lamp they bought at The Blue Turtle head shop...probably don't know shit about T.Rex. This album needs more recognition.
I am a perfect example of that. Why did it take me 30 years to listen to this?
TJ: and Marc Bolan was great buddies with Ringo
EC: Who didn't like Ringo?
Did Ringo have enemies?
Other than that guy that tried cutting off his fingers in Help!?
TJ: true, but Ringo and Bolan went around together a lot, and Ringo is in T.Rex's weird little film thing they did
SJ: on cosmic dancer I can them in ziggy makeup just twisting and jiving
great great lyrics and what a transition from mambo sun
danced myself right out the womb, wow!
great drums on this, nice lil snares
3. Jeepster
EC: First of all, great fucking title.
can we use the f-word?
Can't remember if we banned it
TJ: oh hell yes, and i have no idea what it means "girl i'm just a jeepster for your love"
no we love the f-word
EC: So, a Jeepster…
TJ: i bet that marc bolan got so much tang
EC: is that an explorer? A rugged, backwoods safari kind of guy?
Who will drive to the depths of hell to get the good stuff?
And has Jeep ever used this song in a commercial?
TJ: if they haven't they're morons
EC: Because they should be knocking on Bolan's door for the rights to this song.
TJ: i know 20th century boy was in a car commercial
and a song from The Slider was in a coke commercial
so i'm sure he'd give the rights
and great handclaps in there at the end
EC: Was Electric Warrior their first big splash?
TJ: as far as I know, yea
SJ: jeepster is so so stud, joshs' favorite line of I'm a vampire for your love, adn I'm gonna suck ya!
I think there is a good lil r&b vibe here
and yes, what the hell is a jeepster?
not that it matters, b/c I almost want to do the sex twist to this
TJ: yea i looked it up and all they talked about is the Jeep Jeepster car
SJ: syrupy sweet vocals by bolan on jeepster
EC: Do you know where Jeep took it's name from?
SJ: uh yeah, something in ww2 right?
EC: named after the character in Popeye
TJ: there’s a popeye character named jeep?
SJ: are you sure about this el chriz? I’ve heard differently.
4. Monolith
EC: One of my favorite songs from this album.
TJ: the background vocals are great
these songs are martian like to me, like they're very floating out in the cosmos
EC: This whole song is fantastic.
And crap, Josh...
I was about to write about how Sci-Fi this song feels
TJ: it really is
EC: I have a stack of Heavy Metal comics from the 70s...
this song reminds me of those.
SJ: onto monolith, the background vocals do send you off
TJ: wow yea
and the way he hits the hi hat when he hits the snare too
SJ: the guitar effects are very psychedelic as well, they fit perfectly
TJ: makes a nice splash sound
SJ: very true, I'm listening to it right now, awesomeness
5. Lean Woman Blues
TJ: dirty
dirty
dirty
blues
like you could lather a woman in syrup and gyrate to this
SJ: yeah, get me a friggin bottle of jack and let me pour it all over ya baby!
1,2 buckle my shoe!!!!
this is down in the gutter kinda blues!
TJ: totally, just filthy blues
it's so slow and sloppy
i love it
SJ: I'm making a scrunched up face while grinding to it, uh!
TJ: and great solo
SJ: they can pop back and forth between things so well
good point
EC: very original sound though.
TJ: very very original
bowie loved t.rex, he ended up using tony visconti because of them as i understand
SJ: that makes total sense, you can hear some things from trex with bowie
6. Get It On
EC: Classic
TJ: overplayed, but who the fuck cares, this is one of the greatest rock songs ever
it is the epitome of rock n roll
SJ: and wow, okay, I've been waiting for this, but yeah, this is like top ten song of all time
TJ: "you're durty sweet and you're my gurl"
SJ: absolutely, its got everything
EC: And, as Josh and I have discussed, The Stones totally rip off this song with "It's Only Rock and Roll (But I like It)"
SJ: great girl lyrics
so true
and its got back up singers
horns,
great guitar
and the "ohs" and "ahs"
TJ: Get It On Bang A Gong Get It On
anyone can feel cool singing that
SJ: perfect, and if I made a video of this, I would have a dark room with bolan playing and singing and then when the chorus came on a spotlight would show a curvy stripper on a pole on a stage behind him going at it, possibly on a car
and then the spotlight would stop and go back to him
and then when chorus comes back, there comes our stripper
TJ: I like it!
SJ: my dream video of get it on!
EC: oh man, this would be a great stripper song
TJ: completely
EC: Get It On, Shake That Thong, Get IT On
TJ: you can gyrate like a sumbitch to this
SJ: I know, how do you not have them doing it all the time to this?
EC: This sax solo…
TJ: cuz they dance to stuff like lil jon and horrible korn
at least in tennessee strip clubs, that's all they dance to
EC: brief but cool. not enough sax in rock and roll
TJ: fits so well, the sax, and sax is hard to pull off
SJ: hard to pull off well, it can be very cheesy
TAKE ME!
7. Planet Queen
TJ: like a cousin to Mambo Sun
the breakdown in this song is fantastic
"well it's alriiiiighttttt"
Bolan worshipped him some bongos
SJ: good point, this does have a similar groove, and I just love background singing
EC: Something has to be said with the way each melody seems to borrow from the previous song... but become completely it's own
It's what makes this album flawless and unified.
TJ: on that Born To Boogie DVD concert film thing, he has a bongo player on stage who just goes nuts, some hippie
SJ: the production is beautiful, they flow to each other and then become their own
TJ: the production is amazing
EC: who produced again?
SJ: the bongos do their own thing while the drums fit in there as well
TJ: I read Tony Visconti saying that they started adding strings and weird horns and stuff to T.Rex songs because of Eleanor Rigby
that after they did that song with just strings and singing, everyone started using strings
Tony Visconti is the producer.
SJ: Then to bowie oh yeah!
8. Girl
TJ: nice acoustic strumming
SJ: lil acoustic pleader
this is a good transition and place holder between planet queen and motivator
EC: Seriously, how many albums have such a flawless flow?
This sucker is sequenced to perfection.
SJ: you don't really have a song that you are like "this is out of place"
TJ: just guitar and horn, wow.
EC: Even my "favorite" albums have filler tracks
SJ: yeah, usually. but this while simple, and full of little "doo doos" is very enjoyable
EC: again, little trumpet in there...
nice!
This really makes me want to have record player and vinyl collection.
SJ: very true, that is a cool thought, but I love my remasters!
9. The Motivator
SJ; love the guitar in this, and the choral singing
"love your broken crown"
and what is more motivating indeed than a hot chick?
so true.
EC: How does Bolan's other work stand up to this?
TJ: great bongoes in this one again
The Slider is fantastic
but other than that i think it's hit or miss.
SJ: yeah, doesn't t. rex the album have a few good ones, but otherwise up and down?
I'm trying to remember.
TJ: and small sidenote, what a kickass album cover for Electric Warrior
not to mention album title.
EC: yeah, I agree on both counts
the simplistic art and title really sells this sucker.
SJ: oh man, if I was younger(hint, hint josh) I would have a huge ass poster of this up.
and yeah, electric warrior describes bolan!!!
TJ: i totally want a poster of that, framed tho
i'm past putting posters up.
SJ: you would just see this in a store and be like, god, that kicks ass.
EC: Jon, you have a huge ass basement and no good excuses.
TJ: if they're framed, most def, SNAP, you just got served a slice of life Sir Jon, courtesy of El Chriz.
SJ: Oh, that hurts, humble pie, please!
10. Life’s A Gas
SJ: great, great song.
TJ: fantastic.
SJ: and the solo in this rocks my cock!
and what a great message, and you know life was a gas for him.
TJ: i love the kind of sleepy lumbering of this song.
SJ: yeah, he is just like fuck it, I can take my time.
TJ: oh the soloing is amazing in this. Too short tho.
11. Rip Off
EC; what a scorcher!
TJ: what an album closer.
SJ: seriously, leaves you wanting more!
EC: Another song that Mick decided to steal ("Shattered")
SJ: the drums are powerful here!!!
maybe
that's more of a stretch.
EC: yeah, that could be a stretch.
SJ; but the stones were renowned pirates, ry cooder anyone?
TJ: mmmm hmmm, gram parsons anybody? Man, this song is flaming!
SJ: his scatting and juking here on this song is awesome
TJ: they’re on fire.
SJ: I know, sounds almost iggy-ish here
TJ: yea, it really does, and great use of horns in here too.
SJ: production, so great!
TJ: yea and just how it all fades out with the soloing and the strings
SJ: great conclusion to a great album
TJ: completely
EC: brilliant ending!
SJ: this album is put together really well, I think the only thing I could say is that as great as get it on is, i feel sometimes that it is kinda out of place.
TJ: everything about this album screams rock n roll
SJ: maybe that is because I've heard it so often on classic rock radio and such
TJ: Bolan was just extremely badass
oh i hear ya on that
Get It On is wildly overplayed
SJ: oh, bolan is a monster, he is an electric warrior!
EC: What’s next, Josh? Sir Jon picked this one.
SJ: yes, josh, what’s next?
TJ: next will be The Kinks
(drumroll pleeeeease)
SJ: drumrolling the desk!
TJ: ARTHUR!!!!