The album that essentially kick-started the U.K. glam rock craze, Electric Warrior completes T. Rex's transformation from hippie folk-rockers into flamboyant avatars of trashy rock & roll. There are a few vestiges of those early days remaining in the acoustic-driven ballads, but Electric Warrior spends most of its time in a swinging, hip-shaking groove powered by Marc Bolan's warm electric guitar…
Electric Warrior is the sixth album by British rock group T. Rex, and is widely considered to be one of the quintessential glam rock releases. Electric Warrior reached number thirty-two in the US; it went to number one for several weeks in the UK, becoming the biggest album of 1971. In 2003 it was ranked number 160 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album contains two of T. Rex’s most popular songs, “Get It On” and “Jeepster.” In the United States, “Get It On”‘s title was modified to “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” to distinguish it from Chase’s song “Get It On,” which was also released in late 1971. (The printing of the song title “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” on the back cover of original Reprise Records U.S. copies of Electric Warrior is obviously in a different typefont from the surrounding text, with the song’s original title retained when printing the lyrics.) “Get It On” was T. Rex’s biggest single and their only U.S. hit (#10).
Initially a British folk-rock combo called Tyrannosaurus Rex, T. Rex was the primary force in glam rock, thanks to the creative direction of guitarist/vocalist Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld). T. Rex's music borrowed the underlying sexuality of early rock & roll, adding dirty, simple grooves and fat distorted guitars, as well as an overarching folky/hippie spirituality that always came through the clearest on ballads…
Between 1995 and 1997, Edsel released eight full-length CDs of Marc Bolan's previously unreleased demos, alternate takes, unused and abandoned songs and unfinished recordings. These CDs were deleted in 2001. Since then, copies of the rare original individual releases have changed hands for foolish amounts of money and sellers on Ebay have offered to pirate the entire set! Edsel is now proud to announce the re-issue of all 8 CDs in a limited edition bound book set, with extensive brand new annotation by Mojo writer Mark Paytress, author of the acknowledged definitive Bolan biography “Bolan: The Rise and Fall of a 20th Century Sperstar”.