Tyrannosaurus Rex: My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair... But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows 1968 (2CD Deluxe Edition) 2015

After leaving John's Children in 1967, Marc Bolan forms the acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist Steve Peregrin Took. The duo signs a recording deal with producer Tony Visconti, for

release on EMI's Regal Zonophone label. Following a poorly received US tour, Steve Took leaves and is replaced by Mickey Finn. After a while Tony Visconti shifts label outlet for his productions from Regal Zonophone to Fly Records in UK. After much urging from his producer, Marc Bolan abbreviates his group name to T. Rex and expands to a quartet with the addition of Steve Currie on bass and Bill Legend on drums.  
                                

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).
By Greg Prato
                        

Until he joined John's Children, in March, 1967, Marc Bolan had never even owned an electric guitar. And once he quit the band, it is said, he abandoned it as quickly as everything else which that band represented -- freakbeat pop, adrenalined psych, electric soup. In fact, Bolan never lost sight of his

electric destiny, even as Tyrannosaurus Rex sawed away on their acoustic toys, a point which producer Tony Visconti cottoned onto the first time he ever saw the duo play, "Marc sitting crosslegged on stage playing his strange little songs in a wobbly voice, while Steve Took was banging on his bongos." Visconti himself was a novice producer, "holding out for something really different and unusual. I thought Marc was perhaps that." He was, and the album which he and Took delivered emphasized all the qualities which Visconti had spotted that night at the UFO club. My People Were Fair approaches the listener from a totally unique angle.
                            

MARC BOLAN

Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T.

Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 as a member of T. Rex. Marc Bolan, best-known as the frizzy-haired leader of T. Rex, died September 16th in a car crash. Police said Bolan, 29, was killed when a car driven by his girlfriend, singer Gloria Jones, struck a tree in southwest London. Jones was hospitalized for injuries. Bowie, Rod Stewart and Steve Harley (Cockney Rebel) were among the musicians who attended Bolan’s funeral September 20th at Golders Green Crematorium.
 

STEVE PEREGRIN TOOK

Steve Peregrin Took (born Stephen Ross Porter; 28 July 1949 – 27 October 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc

Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on his own singer-songwriting activities, either as a solo artist or as a frontman for several bands. Steve Took died on Monday 27 October 1980 at 14 Clydesdale House, 255 Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, London, aged 31, in the maisonette he shared with Billiet and her young daughter. As a consequence of intervention by Best, now once again Took's manager, royalty cheques for the Tyrannosaurus Rex 'Blue Thumb' American releases had been arriving periodically and Took had received one that week. The day prior to his death, Took purchased morphine and hallucinogenic mushrooms for himself and Billiet, and the evening before Took died, they both injected themselves with the morphine.

DISCOGRAPHY

                

My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968)
Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968)
Unicorn (1969)
A Beard of Stars (1970)
               

Tyrannosaurus Rex - My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair... But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows
Label: A&M Records – 535 388-7, Universal Music Catalogue – 535 388-7
Series: Deluxe Edition
Format: CD, Stereo, Mono, Deluxe Edition, Remastered
Country: Europe
Released: 2015
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock

CD 1.

                           

01. Hot Rod Mama    3:11
02. Scenescof    1:40
03. Child Star    2:51
04. Strange Orchestras    1:48
05. Chateau In Virginia Waters    2:40
06. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues    2:46
07. Mustang Ford    3:01
08. Afghan Woman    2:00
09. Knight    2:41
10. Graceful Fat Sheba    1:29
11. Weilder Of Words    3:19
12. Frowning Atahualpa (My Inca Love)    5:55
13. Highways    1:50
14. Scenescof    1:40
15. Child Star    2:30
16. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues    2:28
17. Pictures Of Purple People    2:09
18. Hot Rod Mama    2:42
19. Knight     2:26
20. Afghan Woman    1:51
21. Frowning Atahuallpa     4:35
22. Strange Orchestras    1:42
23. Deborah     3:16
24. Mustang Ford     2:48

MP3 @ 320 Size: 149 MB
Flac  Size: 239 MB

CD 2.

                          

01. Highways (Take 4)    2:03
02. Child Star (Take 2)    2:41
03. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues (Take 2)    2:41
04. Chateau In Virginia Waters (Take 3)    2:45
05. Mark Bolan Interview (About Dwarfish Trumpet Blues)    0:48
06. Hot Rod Mama     3:11
07. Scenescof     1:41
08. Child Star     2:49
09. Strange Orchestras     1:44
10. Chateau In Virginia Waters     2:37
11. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues     2:46
12. Mustang Ford     2:57
13. Afghan Woman     1:56
14. Knight     2:36
15. Graceful Fat Sheba     1:27
16. Weilder Of Words     3:18
17. Frowning Atahuallpa ( My Inca Love )     5:54
18. Deborah    3:05
19. Puckish Pan     3:39
20. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues     2:51
21. Knight    2:42
22. Scenescof    1:51
23. Knight (With Bass Guitar)    2:48
24. Lunacy's Back     2:30
25. Marc Bolan Interview (With Deborah) (Narrator [Children's Story] – John Peel)0:57

MP3 @ 320 Size: 152 MB
Flac  Size: 369 MB