First released in 1975, Bolan’s Zip Gun was produced by Marc Bolan, without Tony Visconti for the first time. Originally issued as a UK-only release, the album features the hit singles “Light Of Love” and “Zip Gun Boogie”. The tracks have a futuristic tone, reflecting Bolan’s love of science fiction but also incorporate elements of American soul music.
These versions are taken from Marc’s own tapes. All royalties go to the ‘Light of Love Foundation’ for the Marc Bolan School of Music & Film. ℗ 2019 Easy Action Recordings Ltd © 2019 Easy Action Recordings Ltd. 700 copies pressed on cream vinyl. Rare and unheard versions of these songs remastered from Marc’s own personal copies, recently repatriated with the estate. Presented in high quality reverse board 3 mm spined sleeve with photo from Peter Sanders
T. Rex - Gold brings together the Greatest Hits of Marc Bolan & T. Rex on 2LPs.
2x 180G Heavyweight LPs with Original Artwork housing the Very Best of Marc Bolan & T. Rex.
24 Classic Tracks including Get It On, Metal Guru, Hot Love, Children Of The Revolution,
Ride A White Swan, Telegram Sam, 20th Century Boy, & Cosmic Dancer.
One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.
There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t Feelin’ Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.
Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ’60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album Bitches Brew.
But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.
Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I’m Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie’s science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of “He Was A Big Freak.”
