Before T. Rex assaulted the world with their glam rock party in the early '70s, there was the folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex. Although both bands were fronted by flamboyant singer/guitarist/songwriter Marc Bolan, the earlier outfit was the polar opposite of the style of music that would later become synonymous with Bolan. Tyrannosaurus Rex originally formed in September of 1967 as a duo after Bolan split from his previous band, John's Children. Joining Bolan in the band was percussionist/bongo player Steve Peregrin Took, a gentleman that Bolan named after a character in The Lord of the Rings novel series. Bolan was so infatuated with Rings that most of the subject matter in Tyrannosaurus Rex songs came directly from the books as well.

The same month that the duo began, a fledgling producer by the name of Tony Visconti caught a show of their's at the UFO club in England, signing them right away to a subsidiary of EMI Records (in the U.S., Tyrannosaurus Rex's albums would issued via A&M) and producing their subsequent albums. The band enjoyed success straight away, with their debut single, "Debora," hitting the U.K. Top 40 as their debut full-length, My People Were Fair & Had Sky In Their Hair...But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on their Brows, hit number 15 on the U.K. charts in July of 1968. The next year saw several further releases, such as the albums Prophets Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages and Unicorn plus the singles "One Inch Rock" and "King of the Rumbling Spires," but Took would leave the band in October of 1969.

Undeterred since he was the main focal point of Tyrannosaurus Rex all along, Bolan recruited another percussionist, Mickey Finn, to take Took's place, issuing the new lineup's first album together in March of 1970, A Beard of Stars. By this time, Tyrannosaurus Rex's sound had begun to change; Bolan was now penning more succinct songs and had picked up the electric guitar (resulting in the group shortening their name to T. Rex later in the year), became a conventional rock quartet by adding a bassist and drummer, and helped touch off the glam rock movement (along with another former folk artist that had also recently rediscovered his desire to rock, David Bowie). Bolan and T. Rex went on to achieve massive success with a string of Top Ten singles and hit albums. But the hope of a reunion of the original Tyrannosaurus Rex lineup ever taking place became an impossibility on September 16, 1977, when Bolan died tragically in a car accident.
~ All Music

Track List:

Tyrannosaurus Rex - My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars (1968)
01. Hot Rod Mama [0:03:07.29]
02. Scenescof [0:01:38.31]
03. Child Star [0:02:48.58]
04. Strange Orchestras [0:01:44.23]
05. Chateau In Virginia Waters [0:02:35.53]
06. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues [0:02:44.61]
07. Mustang Ford [0:02:56.19]
08. Afghan Woman [0:01:55.54]
09. Knight [0:02:35.20]
10. Graceful Fat Sheba [0:01:25.67]
11. Weilder Of Words [0:03:16.56]
12. Frowning Atahuallpa (My Inca Love) [0:05:53.01]

Personnel:
Marc Bolan - vocals and guitars
Steve Peregrin Took - backing vocals, drums, pixiphone and percussionjockey John Peel, who read a children's story written by Bolan for the album's closing track, "Frowning Atahuallpa (My Inca Love)", which also included a lengthy Hare Krishna chant.

T.Rex - Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow (1974)
13. Venus Loon [0:03:00.24]
14. Sound Pit [0:02:50.00]
15. Explosive Mouth [0:02:25.55]
16. Galaxy [0:01:48.27]
17. Change [0:02:47.39]
18. Nameless Wildness [0:03:06.23]
19. Teenage Dream (Unedited Version) [0:05:45.27]
20. Liquid Gang [0:03:17.24]
21. Carsmile Smith And The Old One [0:03:15.67]
22. You've Got To Jive To Stay Alive - Spanish Midnight [0:02:35.15]
23. Interstellar Soul [0:03:26.29]
24. Painless Persuasion V. The Meathawk Immaculate [0:03:25.61]
25. The Avengers (Superbad) [0:04:28.59]
26. The Leopards Featuring Gardenia And The Mighty Slug [0:03:35.69]

Personnel:
Marc Bolan - vocals, guitar
Bill Legend - drums
Steve Currie - bass
Danny Thompson - double bass
B.J. Cole - steel guitar
Jack Green
Lonnie Jordan - keyboards
Big Richard, The Gloria Jones, Sister Pat Hall - backing vocals
The Cosmic Choir - choir