Bolan's Zip Gun

Background and production

Marc Bolan's new partner Gloria Jones and other recent American friends, such as Gloria's brother Richard and backing singer Pat Hall, had helped influence Bolan's music, and he was experimenting with soul inflections.

The album was recorded at MRI Studios in Hollywood, United States. The album was produced by Marc Bolan, having dispensed with the services of previous producer Tony Visconti.

Music and lyrics

Although the sound of the album was very stark and the lyrics very simple and direct, Bolan had tried to go beyond the rock format of the previous T. Rex sound and reflect his recent immersion in the US soul scene.

Several of the songs had a very futuristic tone, especially "Space Boss", "Think Zinc", and "Golden Belt", Bolan being a great fan of science fiction. The band on this album also featured a twin-drum sound on some tracks, notably "Solid Baby", provided by Davy Lutton and Paul Fenton.

Release

Bolan's Zip Gun was released on 16 February 1975 by record label EMI. It did not chart in the United Kingdom.

Two singles were released from the album: "Light of Love", which reached No. 22 in the UK Singles Chart, and "Zip Gun Boogie".

Bolan's Zip Gun was remastered for CD by Edsel Records in 1994 as part of their extensive T. Rex reissue campaign. A number of bonus tracks were added (see below). A companion release, entitled Precious Star (The Alternate Zip Gun), was released in 1995 which contained alternative versions, studio rough mixes, a live version and demos of the main album and bonus tracks. A combined album digipak was released in 2002.

Reception

Bolan's Zip Gun was generally poorly received by critics.

Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork wrote, "A purposeful return to the looser sound of Electric Warrior, Gun fires blanks. For all its directness, the album is mostly perfunctory, working some of the same sounds and ideas, but the results lack movement and liveliness; Bolan's mojo definitely wasn't working. Worse, he really doesn't sound invested in these songs." Whitney Strub of PopMatters wrote "Bolan's Zip Gun contains enough good moments to preclude classification as a disaster, but just barely."

Track listing

All tracks written by Marc Bolan, except as noted.

Personnel