Why do I love this album so stupidly much? Let me count the ways.
One. It reminds me of Ralph's. Other than their hit "Get it On", I hadn't heard T. Rex before the days when Jeff Esterby would play "Electric Warrior" in between bands in the back room at good ole' Ralph's. He played it enough that I associated it with that back room before I even realized I liked it. "Cosmic Dancer" was the song that hit me hard and made me go seeking out the album, which I found hiding on my dad's shelves in Williston.
Two. I remember one time I called up a girl and asked her out on a date, and she said yes, and I put on "Cosmic Dancer" and it seemed to fit the moment perfectly. It's not about girls or dates at all, but whatever. It worked.
Three. When I started listening to records a lot more (after Kelsi made me the record cabinet that I love), "Electric Warrior" begged to be played on it all the time. It was appropriate for every single occasion, and it felt like it was magnetically drawn to the turntable. It's been two years, and I still can't get enough of it. It's still the first album we put on when we have a gathering, and the only album we make sure to play again later in the evening in case people are around that weren't there at the beginning, since it makes everyone feel so good.
Four. This album works as a whole, start to finish. It's an amazing ride through Marc Bolan's fantasies, which is an amazing place to ride through.
Five. Some of my favorite moments of the album: the ease-in to the album with "Mambo Sun" with lyrics like "I got stars in my beard, and I feel real weird, for you!"; all of "Cosmic Dancer" - I have no idea why this song is so amazing, but it is; Girl I'm just a Jeepster for your love; the part in "Monolith" where his voice cracks out "girl now it's too late, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!"; the mellowness of "Girl"; the feeling of "Life's a Gas" that I don't think has been captured by any other song, a very specific post-break-up feeling that she doesn't know what she's missing and I'm going to show her by loving this life; the epic nonsense in "Rip-Off".
Six. Probably the best album cover ever.
Enjoy this little ditty:
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