Electric Warrior by T.Rex; A late Cretaceous Album you Should Know

Electric Warrior

There are very few artists who can do what Marc Bolan did in 1971.
Simple as.

Upon re-inventing both himself and the band, shortening their name from Tyrannosaurus Rex to just T.Rex and renewing their sound and musical nature, Bolan managed to do what many strive to do and reach that pinnacle or point of grace wherein they are on the cusp of both the artistic and commercial apex.

It had long since been a desire to change and Electric Warrior was a confession of this.
Moving away from the acoustic flower poet vibe of Tyrannosaurus Rex and his partnership with Steve Peregrine Took (yep, he named himself after the hobbit), Bolan abandoned the dying psychedelic underground scene and opted for a distinctly glam sound.

T.Rex had upgraded slightly from their previous album, Marc's own Bass playing was replaced by bassist Steve Currie, whilst Mickey Finn and Bill legend stayed on as the signature twin percussion arrangement.

It was an unusual sound which kept a link to the old and at the same time, created a new identifiable sound for a new generation of teens to cling on to.

Why Electric Warrior doesn't get the respect it deserves

Change is a funny thing. It's always a gamble and no matter what you do, you cannot please everyone. This couldn't be more true in the case of Electric Warrior .

The adoption of new musical directions left quite a noticeable divide which left a lot of underground scene followers of Tyrannosaurus Rex alienated by their new commercial popularity and a lot of teenagers manic over the instantaneously immortal and iconic sounds Bolan was creating in studio.

With the radio audiences of the early 70s further moving towards a more prog-orientated scene, and condescending DJs listing them as nothing more than teen-fantasy, bubblegum pop a lot of the musical mastery in Electric Warrior has been missed out on or forgotten over time.

Listening to it is like looking into the mind of the then 24 year old ambitious and socially anxious Marc Bolan and like a lot of his best work, reflects an almost accidental lyrical depth.
Though full of rock classics, as was the purpose of the album, several of the songs still display not-too-subtle nods of the lyrical poetics of the previous albums, with Cosmic Dancer, Monolith and Girl all tinkering with such deeper-than-surface ideas as re-incarnation, fate and the divine.

Cosmic Dancer is the best example of this album's unintentional depth. It is Marc's explanation for the supposed change of sound in which his message is simple; He's always been Glam, just now he's only realising it.
Different contexts have been used of the song over the years which add to the deeper poetics. one of which being it's use as an almost overture to Billy Elliot.

Cosmic Dancer used in the opening credits of Billy Elliot.

In the opening credits of the movie, the first thing we see is the LP cover, designed by the now legendary art group Hipgnosis** and based on a photo taken by Kieron Murphy at a T.Rex concert at the Albert Hall, Nottingham. The soundtrack to Billy Elliot heavily features work by T.Rex which is an unusual take on the message carried by the songs in question.
If anything, it shows how tranferably relevant Bolan's writing is when used in the context of gender stereotype, breaking rules or traditions and self discovery.

That, to me, is what really makes an artist like Bolan stand out. The relevance of his work will continue to mesmerize me undoubtedly for years to come. It is only once it has stood the test of time that those who knocked him as bubblegum pop actually realise the genius of his supposedly laughable simplicity.

Although in his tragically short 29 year long lifetime Marc never succeeded to live up to his own internal artistic ambition, this driving force produced something bigger that perhaps even he had overlooked.

Get it on live in 1972.

Marc is the only person who can wear themselves on a T-Shirt without looking like an arse biscuit.

**Hipgnosis deserve more of a passing mention, but since it would be an irrelevant tangent to the main body of this essay, you can check out just how important they are via this unofficial website.

They're pretty much the Max Martin of Album covers.