T.REX/FUTURISTIC DRAGON BLN 5004 (-76) UK

Together with "Bolan's Zip Gun" long time filler, one of those records I keep for completist reason only. But after reaquainting with BZG and actually starting to like some on it I might as well give this a second chance too. It's been the hardest for me to grasp through the years. Always liked about everything Bolan from first Tyrannosaurus Rex album up to "Tanx" and the come back with "Dandy In The Underworld", but his American mid seventies soul adventure not so much. At this time Bolan had worked on an ambitious multi-media project titled "Billy Super Duper", which was cancelled just before take off. Instead they decided to release a bunch of earlier unissued cuts, as they were or partly remade. So though the public recieved it as a newly recorded T.Rex album what they got was a collection of leftovers. That would explain the variation in arrangements and style. Songwriting is the same procedure as last year, but you can hear the cuts originally were made from varying circumstances - shifting between psych, soul, boogie and rock'n'roll. I guess the all over dense production and audio was an attempt to hide the track's differing origins thus enabling to present them as a coherent set. It's by far the least well sounding of all "original" UK T.Rex albums, partly almost muddy. Still you can discern a couple of very enjoyable numbers - "New York City" a reliable Bolan rocker, "Casual Agent" has nice string arrangements, "Chrome Sitar" and "All Alone" simply good songs...in fact the more I listen today, almost forty years later, the more I like it. Back then it couldn't compete with "The Slider", "Electric Warrior" or "Tanx", but from a later perspective compared with much of the crap poring out of radios and computors today it sounds fresh, almost like a novelty. So I hereby upgrade it - from filler to cherished item. Original releases in Europe and Australia. First US LP and CD 1987 on Relativity/Marc On Wax (88561-8252-1/2). Premiere UK had label as shown here, thin matt cover and stiff matt lyric inner. (RÄX*)