13 March : A Beard of Stars

In March 1970, stardom-hungry hustler Marc Bolan hadn’t yet become the teenybop-idol Marc we all remember. He was still singing somewhat fey songs in a distinctive vibrato, and the vehicle was still Tyrannosaurus Rex, comprising Bolan and Mickey Finn, rather than T Rex.

I remember a friend saying that in her crowd at the time you were either a fan of Tyrannosaurus Rex or the Incredible String Band, but not both. A Beard of Stars lacks the lysergic folkiness of the Incredibles, but there is a sense that they’re paddling in adjacent ponds. It’s really only on the final track, Elemental Child, that we hear what was about to become the poptastic TRex sound: it’s still out there in fairyland, but the guitar riff is a direct precurser of the new direction.

To old fans of Rex, wrote Melody Maker reviewer Chris Welch, ‘Elemental Child’ will come as a considerable surprise. It features Marc’s untutored but energetic and groovy heavy rock guitar work. Steady on, Chris, we’re not talking Tony Iommi here, but you can hear Ride a White Swan being born

It’s a bit of a marmite record. If you like Tyrannosaurus Rex you’ll like this record, but I’m going to disagree with my friend Liz: I’m not big on either early Rex or the Incredibles. You might think differently.

All on Spotify. Also a YouTube playlist (below)