My People Were Fair – TYRANNOSAURUS REX****

Debora/Hot Rod Mama/Scenesof/Child Star/Strange Orchestras/Chateau In Virginia Waters/Dwarfish Trumpet Blues/Mustang Ford/Afghan Woman/Knight/Graceful Fat Sheba/Weilder Of Words/Frowning Atahualpa

Before he became a glam rock teen idol Marc Bolan released several psychedelic folk albums. My People Were Fair includes the single Debora which peaked at No. 7 in 1972. (UK:15)

"Bolan's busy and brittle debut, as he warbles his childish ditties in his weird voice, works far better than it should."

"Fun and quirky, with some strange high pitched singing. The songs are short and catchy, standouts being Child Star, Dwarfish Trumpet and Weilder Of Words. It sounds like the guys are having a good time making this album."

"I'm completely in love with this record, though when I was listening to this the first time, I turned down the sound so my neighbours wouldn't think I'm insane, listening to some special kind of music for madmen. I soon got into Bolan's voice, and now think that his bleating is damn perfect."

"The songwriting is wonderful, and Bolan's outstanding vocals combined with the sparse, and quite original, acoustic arrangements create a really unique atmosphere. I absolutely love it when they go off on two or three chords and he just starts wailing random sounds. Really great stuff. A couple of the songs are a little weak, but overall this is a very enjoyable listen."

"Trippy, psychedelic, folk, weird, but, above all, very interesting and creative album." "It really is a 'magical' album, it works like a spell: it transports you, it whirls your head around and fills you with its swirling inflections, and it all seems like one mystical, marvellous, lyrical poem."

"This is the template for the Bolan sound. Marc's high speed strumming, various, exotic percussion, and that voice. This music is difficult for many to take seriously, but Marc was genuinely as strange as his music would suggest. This gives an authenticity and charm to songs that would otherwise come across as self-indulgent and contrived. No one else could have pulled off these bizarre arrangements and abundant jibber-jabber as convincingly or with so much style."