deep galactic tragedies in stereophonic sound

“T.Rex? Nah! All sound the same!”

That was the mantra in the early days of success in 1971 & 1972. Even Marc was charged directly by one music paper. He’d just released 20th Century Boy and was suitably unimpressed with the suggestion and a bit miffed.

Correctly, he pointed out that Metal Guru had been a mid-tempo pop production, while the follow-up, Children of the Revolution, was a slow track, with a string quartet dominating. The next single, Solid Gold Easy Action, was a fast thing, charging along on a military drumbeat. None were alike in any form. 20th Century Boy was a heavier rock ‘n roll piece, which was a welcome return to form.

So, what about the original charge? Similarity? Are any songs really alike?

Here’s a section on this. Musical structures are considered, dissected and evaluated. It’s easy to lay a charge like this, but where do you stop? Many songs have similar structures, but do not appear to be similar. Here goes…..

First up, the old r ‘n b, rock ‘n roll favourite, which delivers to us such pearls as Stand By Me, Duke of Earl & It Should Have Been Me. Yep, it’s usually in the key of C.

C - A minor - F - G

That’s it. Most beginners on the guitar get this. The same structure can apply in any key. Some keys sound better, depending on the song. Well, if it’s that easy to write, you say, how come more people don’t have hits?
The structure is simple, but what you do with it is not. There’s something called creative imagination and a tune. Moreover, there’s the small matter of production. Sting bought an Italian farm with Every Breath You Take.

Anyway, on with the Bolanic analysis. What tracks have this basic thread?

Cat Black (The Wizard’s Hat) offers a piano-led version. It went right back to the Napier-Bell demo days. Marc used this a lot. Here’s many more.

Teenage Dream
Dandy in the Underworld
Light of Love
Till Dawn (my favourite version)
Monolith (described by Marc as Duke of Monolith)
Disco Lady (Gloria Jones) & Ghetto Baby Blues (Hall) same song
Xmas Bop (unreleased)
Love Drunk (unreleased)
All My Love (unreleased)
Rabbit Fighter (chorus)
Belatane Walk (chorus)
Dreamy Lady (chorus)
Is It Love? (chorus)
A Beard of Stars (instrumental side two)

Listen to them. Do they sound the same? That’s the trick. The worst offender (on the ear) is Saturday Night (unreleased, thankfully). They are the same in structure. But the productions are quite distinct.

Incidentally, the first two chords, [C - A minor or as G - E minor] appear in lashings of other Bolan tracks.

Next up, we have parings of bits of songs which have similar motifs (or riffs) or whatever you wish to call them.

Let’s have an intro: Jeepster & I Love to Boogie. Identical. Same notes on the guitar. Only 5 years apart!

How about these riffs? Jewel, 29the Century Boy & Hang-Ups? All great tracks in their own right. Hang-Ups was a show-stopper on the Dandy tour in 77. Marc played blistering lengthy solos, which makes the album version bemusing, to say the least. All have that E - G motif on the bass string. So what?

In the key of G we have some nice rockabilly cheating. One Inch Rock & New York City have the same structure. The similarity ends there. The spend on the production for the latter rightly earned a chart-return in the UK for Marc in the summer of 1975. The frogs did it. ( A figure of £40,000 was banded about as the cost for Futuristic Dragon, I recollect, though I’m not certain. A staggering budget.)

Now for some unlikely pairings…….

The choruses of Lofty Skies & Baby Strange have the same drop (from F - E minor, or whatever key you wish). Mad, eh?

As the chorus of My Little Baby fades, with its C - E minor shape, you can hear the melody of the Police’s Message in a Bottle, particularly on the extended outtake, as Marc introduces a lovely lead delayed guitar. Bolan would never know of the Police! Lucky? Unlucky?

The first bars of the next two are the same. Electric Slim & the Factory Hen and Dawn Storm have the C - to the dropped notes in C which he liked. It may seem trite to mention this chord shift, but they are key to the songs. Dawn Storm fails badly with its awful repetitive chorus. (Bowie would have have worked out a musical solution for the chorus).

Chariot Choogle & Baby Strange share the same genetic code in their introductory riffs, just played differently, one in C and the other in D. Both ended up on the same side of an album.

The downward motif (C - B - Bb - A, or G - F# - F - E) appears in several tracks. Sometimes it drives the main part of the song or just becomes buried in another part. These are the culprits: Jeepster, Spaceball Ricochet, Venus Loon, Brain Police & Carsmile Smith & the Old One. Does it detract from the listening experience? Two of these are classics, Jeepster & Venus Loon. The latter should have replaced Teenage Dream.

Visions of Domino & Funky London Childhood have the same riff. That’s because they are the same song! Just different words. However, Funky London Childhood is the better production and would have made a great single, instead of the weaker London Boys. Who would relate to that title anyway in the sticks? More interesting is the fact that the riff (A - C on the second string) is the same as Queen’s Tie Your Mother Down, a heavy energetic rock track. Queen threatened at one time to be a rock band. Strange. It’s not that far removed from the Jewel riff.

Buick Mackane & Children of the Revolution have that stomping metal-type opening. Both tracks have superior versions to the original releases. There’s a fantastic version of Buick Mackane on German TV, as well as live versions from late in 1973 in Japan. The latter is outperformed by the version in the film, Born to Boogie, featuring Ringo Starr and Elton John. There’s also a lengthy studio jam floating about, where Volman & Kaylan, among others, miss their cues for the chorus, but it matters not.

Spanish Midnight & Mister Mister are two pleasant piano-led pieces, where there’s a switch from D - C in the verses. I say verse, but in the case of Spanish Midnight, there is only the verse repeated. It’s a song waiting to be finished. It sounds great, but it’s typical of Bolan to rush something and not complete it.

Mainman & Video Drama (unreleased) have the same structure, a D - E minor chord pattern, which appears in 77 as Sound & Vision on Bowie’s Low album. Bowie adds a couple more chords, though it’s Alomar who nails it.

Many get their knickers in a twist over the term, Zep Rex. Marc was referring to the feel of the track, not asserting that he was better or as good as. Anyway, Satisfaction Pony has virtually the same riff as Zepellin’s The Ocean. Staisfaction Pony may well have evolved from Hope You Enjoy the Show, an instrumental with sparse vocal chanting, which was used to open the USA tour dates in 1973. Amazingly, he also played Plateau Skull Blues on that tour, though it was never released. Odd what coke does.

There you have it. Those are the most common. Happy listening!