20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection

List Price: $10.99
Our Price: $8.00
You Save: $2.99 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of 20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection

Music Review: Bolan Knows How To Boogie
Rating: 5 Stars

And then there's the music...WOW! It's never sounded better. The first three tracks are from the late Sixties when Tyrannosaurus Rex consisted of Bolan and percussionist Steve Peregrine Took beginning with their first UK hits "Debora" (No. 34) and "One Inch Rock" (No. 28). Tracks 4-9 were all released in 1970 and feature Took's replacement Micky Finn. The new duo had their first Top Ten hit in the UK when "Ride a White Swan" reached No. 2. By 1971 T. Rex was a full guitar-bass-drums band and their first single was the UK No. 1 "Hot Love," (the first of many songs to feature backing vocalists Flo and Eddie). For the next two years T. Rextasy was in full swing and Bolan and company would hit the British Top Ten eight more times. [T. Rex would crack the U.S. Top 40 only once, when "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" hit No. 10 in 1972.]

While Bolan is closely linked with the glam rock movement, his bag full of Chuck Berry riffs and electric boogie made him one of the most influential artists of the Seventies. Kudos to the folks at Hip-O for including songs like "Ride a White Swan," "Hot Love" and "Raw Ramp" (which I previously only had on an out-of-print WB anthology on cassette). However, it would have been better if they had expanded this to a 2-CD set like some of their other releases (John Hiatt, Robert Palmer, etc.). As it is, there's a 3-year gap between 1973's "Twentieth Century Boy" and 1976's "I Love to Boogie." T. Rex hit England's Top 40 seven times during that period. This is a generous 75-minute anthology, but it wouldn't have been difficult to fill a second disc when you realize that more than a dozen UK singles from throughout Bolan's career were excluded. Don't Get me wrong, this is an excellent collection. But as a longtime fan, I can never get enough. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Description of 20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Classic Rock
• Classical
• Hard Rock & Metal
• Pop
• Rock