BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
NEXT MEETING, MARCH 12TH 2:00 PM
NOTIFICATION: BOTH THE APRIL & MAY MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ON THE FIRST SUNDAY
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
Thanks to Jack Wilson for playing some great sounds at last month’s meeting. It is always interesting to hear releases that got very little or no airplay that should have.
This month we have scheduled as our guest speaker Larry Parker. Larry as most of you know had a big-time southeastern hit in the early 60’s with ‘Panama City Blues’ as Larry & The Loafers. He now lives in GA and is making the trip over to be with us. He wants to share some insights and memorabilia concerning the February 3, 1959 plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Be there and bring a friend.
BRC MUSIC HALL OF FAME MEMBERS RECENTLY
Recently we lost two of the club’s HOF members. Country Boy Eddie and Ed Boutwell both played big roles in the music business in our area. If you lived in the Birmingham area I am sure you saw Country Boy on TV every weekday morning as you prepared for school or work. And Ed Boutwell made sure local acts got their music recorded at his studios. Many of the guys who were in bands locally that we have had talk to us at meetings all had stories about Boutwell Studios. Thanks to them for all they did to share music to the public. You can check out their bios on our website.
NOT JUST ANOTHER ONE-HIT WONDER
Almost from the first note you could tell that “Bang A Gong (Get It On)’ was being played. T. Rex was the group and for us in the U.S. it was to be the only Top 40 song for the group but there is more to the story. I am using a article from the book, ‘One Hit Wonders’ to give you a little more insight to how popular these guys were although around here they only charted with that iconic song. Hope you enjoy.
Marc Bolan never did pick up a following in the States like he did in England. Most American rock fans have little idea of just how big a star this seminal glam rocker was in the U.K. At the height of Bolan’s powers (1971-74), his T-Rex concerts could generate a level of hysteria not seen since Beatlemania. Before Bolan’s death in 1977, he had sold 37 million records – surpassing the combined sales in England of all products issued by Jimi Hendrix and the Who.
“The people in the business think I’ve had a cold spell since ‘Bang A Gong’, whereas in reality I’ve been selling loads of records all over the world”. Bolan explained in 1974 to Rock’s Alan Betrock. “But if you’re not hot in their country, they think you’ve had it. I admit that I should have approached America differently after ‘Bang A Gong’ was a hit there. I should have come over and followed it up, but we were just to busy all over the rest of the world, we didn’t have time.”
Guitarist Marc Bolan (b. Mark Feld,July 30, 1947, London) attended the same primary school as British pop singer Helen Shapiro and Procol Harum’s Keith Reid. At 15, he was a male model. His early rock career had him sign with British Decca for a few solo singles as Toby Tyler, Marc Bowland, and finally, as Marc Bolan. Briefly, in 1967, he was a member of the protoglam-rock group John’s Children.
In 1968, drawing on percussionist Steve Peregrine-Took (b. July 28, 1949, London), his own considerable imagination, and imagery from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Bolan assembled Tyrannosaurus Rex. Starting with their debut album, My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair but Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows, the duo played acoustic instruments and dressed in flower-power threads, beads, and headbands. Bolan’s mystical lyrics spoke of unicorns, gnomes, impish forest folk, and fairies.
Gradually, Bolan added more electrical sounds to his recordings; Unicorn (1970), a half-acoustic and half-electric set produced the acts first charting “Ride A White Swan” (#76, 1971). By LP number five (A Beard of Stars, 1971), Took had taken leave. His replacement was Mickey Finn, a former rocker from & The Coloured Coat. Also added were bassist Steve Currie (b. May 21, 1947, Grimsby) and drummer Bill Legend (b. Bill Fifield May 6, 1944, Essex). Subtracted were a number of letters from the groups name: they became simply ‘T-Rex’.
“The (British) press have never been off my back, ever,” Bolan complained. “With a few exceptions I’ve never had a good review for anything.” Not that it mattered: T-Rex racked up 11 singles on the British Top 10 from 1970-73, including four number-one disks.
While T-Rex only made the U.S. Hot 100 on one other occasion, with ”Telegram Sam’ (#67, 1972), the act gathered a growing stateside following and had two best-selling albums – Electric Warrior (1971), which featured “Bang A Gong”, and The Slider (1972).
Tyrannosaurus Rex (A Beginning) (1972) and Tranx (1973) also did well.
In 1973, the Bolan-mania was captured on film by Ringo Starr, as director, in a semi-documentary, Born to Boogie. At this moment, homeland fans got fickled as they are apt to do, and his stardom waned.
“I was living in a twilight world of drugs, booze, and kinky sex,” Bolan told Rolling Stone.
In an effort to avert his descent, Bolan in 1975 left his wife and England for America. With a remodeled T. Rex band and the punk rockers the Damned in support, Bolan made a last dash effort. Dandy in the Underworld was passed over.
On September 17, 1977, Bolan perished in a car crash near Putney Common, England. Behind the wheel was girlfriend Gloria Jones, creator of the original version of Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”. Steve Peregrine-Took and Steve Currie died in 1980 and 1981 respectively.
BRC RADIO
Check out our latest radio shows or what some peole call podcasts at birminghamrecord.com. Click on ‘RADIO’ and listen to some long-lost music and even some new sounds. There is a wide variety of music now that we have 3 hosts doing shows which provides a wide-range of musical genres.
See ya,
Charlie