Prior to the phenomenon that was Glam Rock which hit the airways in the very early 70’s, Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrin-Took were the nucleus of Tyrannosaurus Rex. A 60’s flower power, psychedelic, slightly shambolic combo who managed somehow, to record 4 LP’s, Unicorn was the ‘coming out’ of the band after their earlier, more underground offerings, and it also saw Bolan starting to experiment electronically and Took with a drum kit following their earlier, more acoustic offerings. Listening almost 50 years later, and remembering Bolan more for his massive presence during the glam rock period (with Micky Finn after Took was asked to leave following some rather bizarre behaviour on their American appearances), you can definitely sense where he was going with this music. Much of this rather rambling out-pouring formed the basis for his later hit singles. Outselling Hendrix and The Who in those days it is difficult to put into words how much of a star this guy was.
However, whilst Unicorn certainly had the seeds of his future mega-stardom, glam rock it certainly isn’t. Bolan was heavily inspired by the romance of Tolkien’s imagery and the hippy influenced, acoustic laden bedsit folk/rock (have I just invented that term) offering on show here, this LP is captivating in many ways. Bolan’s melancholic vocals almost provide backing vocals of their own, such is the drawn out nature of his output. It remains a VERY unique vocal style, and even in later years when he was full of pouting glitter, he didn’t lose the ability to make the most of what were fairly simple lyrics (simple in style and construction, perhaps not in imagery)
Is it a great LP? Well, it warrants a listen that is for sure. It definitely offers a pathway towards the shallowness of the glam rock scene which was just around the corner but at the same time capturing the ‘Hippiness’ and folkie imagery of the 60’s music scene. Shortly afterwards, as Marc Bolan morphed into T. Rex and launched himself, full frontal, into some marketing gurus wet dream that was to become glam-rock, it is easy to dismiss his earlier career. And whilst commercially the two periods were on different planets, it would be interesting to know, at what point was he the happiest….?
