Futuristic Dragon Album: 1976

Bolan's Futuristic Dragon Unleashed

Released as a vinyl LP and Tape Cassette in the UK by T. Rex / EMI (catalogue: BLN 5004 / TCBLN 5004) on January 30,1976.

The album was preceded by two successful singles that went into the UK chart, "New York City" and "Dreamy Lady". The album saw Marc Bolan continuing to experiment, blending rock with soul music and disco elements on certain tracks. Derided by critics upon release, the album has since been reappraised by major British and US music media.

Content, music and sleeve

The album features some unusually dense production, especially on "Chrome Sitar" and "Calling All Destroyers", which contained unusual musical embellishments such as the sitar and other sonic sound effects.

The album includes a nod to a new genre disco on the track "Dreamy Lady", which was released as a single under the moniker of "T Rex Disco Party". Futuristic Dragon also contains tracks heavily influenced by American soul music, which Bolan had been experimenting with since 1973. "All Alone", "Ride My Wheels", and "Dawn Storm" all feature predominantly soul-based rhythms and instrumentation.

The sleeve illustration was conceived by artist George Underwood, who had first worked on the1968 Tyrannosaurus Rex album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair....

Release

Preceded by the release of two UK Top-40-hit singles from the album, "New York City" which went at number 15 and "Dreamy Lady" which reached the top 30, Futuristic Dragon was released on 30 January 1976. It reached number 50 in the UK Albums Chart. In the US, Futuristic Dragon wasn't issued domestically before 1987.

Futuristic Dragon was remastered for CD by Edsel Records in 1994. A number of bonus tracks were added including b-sides. A companion release, entitled Dazzling Raiment (The Alternate Futuristic Dragon), was released in 1997 and contained alternative versions, studio rough mixes and solo recordings of the main album. A combined album digipak was released in 2002.

Critical reception

Initial reviews were universally negative. However, retrospective reviews have been more favourable. Pop Matters wrote: "The album defies expectation, presenting a surprisingly consistent set of tunes dovetailing with the burgeoning disco scene without entirely partaking of it", adding that the record was "full of lush orchestration and soul-style backing vocals". Pitchfork wrote "Futuristic Dragon has enough winning moments to suggest an upturn [...] the album wins your sympathies: It's good enough to make you wish it were better." Alexis Petridis praised it in the Guardian, saying: it "was packed with fantastic songs – the gorgeous Dawn Storm was by far the most successful of his attempts to meld his sound with soul music – and had it been released as the follow up to Tanx, it might have arrested his commercial slide".

Personnel

Marc Bolan – vocals, guitars, moog

Gloria Jones – backing vocals, clavinet

Steve Currie – bass guitar

Davy Lutton – drums

Dino Dines – keyboards

Jimmie Haskell – string instruments

Technical

George Underwood – cover artwork

Track Listing Vinyl LP (1976)

Side A

Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)

Jupiter Liar

Chrome Sitar

All Alone

New York City

My Little Baby

Calling All Destroyers

Side B

Theme For A Dragon (Instrumental)

Sensation Boulevard

Ride My Wheels

Dreamy Lady

Dawn Storm

Casual Agent

Track Listing Tape Cassette (1976)

A1 Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)

A2 Jupiter Liar

A3 Theme For A Dragon (Instrumental)

A4 Ride My Wheels

A5 Chrome Sitar

A6 All Alone

A7 New York City

B1 Sensation Boulevard

B2 Dreamy Lady

B3 Dawn Storm

B4 My Little Baby

B5 Calling All Destroyers

B6 Casual Agent

UK Chart Performance

Peak position: 50

1 week – February 21, 1976

UK Variants

LP, Album, Stereo – T. Rex BLN 5004, T. Rex 0C 062 ○ 97328 – UK – 1976

LP, Album, Test Pressing, White Label – T. Rex BLN 5004 – UK – 1976

LP, Album, Repress, Stereo – T. Rex BLN 5004, T. Rex 0C 062 ◦ 97328 – UK – 1976

Cassette, Album, Stereo – EMI TC-BLN 5004, EMI 0C 244 ○ 97328 – UK – 1976

Cassette, Album, Stereo, H – EMI TC-BLN 5004, EMI 0C 244 o 97328 – UK – 1976

Worldwide Variants (Vinyl LP Only – Alphabetical by Country)

Argentina – 1976 – LP, Album – Vaivén 8012

Argentina – 1976 – LP, Album – Vaivén 8012, T. Rex BLN 5004 A

Australia – 1976 – LP, Album – EMI BLN 5004

Germany – 1976 – LP, Album – Ariola 27 134 OT

Japan – 1976 – LP, Album – EMI EMS-80445

Japan – 1976 – LP, Album, Promo – EMI EMS-80445

South Africa – 1976 – LP, Album, Stereo – T. Rex BLNJ(D) 5004, T. Rex BLNJ (D) 5004

Spain – 1976 – LP, Album – EMI 1 J 064-97328, EMI 1 J 064-97.328

1983 Reissue LP and Tape Cassette

1994 Remaster CD Reissue Bonus Tracks

Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)

Chrome Sitar

All Alone

New York City

My Little Baby

Sensation Boulevard

Dreamy Lady

Dawn Storm

Casual Agent

London Boys

Life's an Elevator

Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)

All Alone

Dreamy Lady

Bonus Tracks

Casual Agent

London Boys

Laser Love

Life's an Elevator

1997 Dazzling Raiment (The Alternate Futuristic Dragon)

Track Listing

Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)

Chrome Sitar

All Alone

New York City

My Little Baby

Sensation Boulevard

Dreamy Lady

Dawn Storm

Casual Agent

Extended Play

London Boys

Life's An Elevator

Bonus Out-takes

Futuristic Dragon (Introduction)

All Alone

Dreamy Lady

Casual Agent

Casual Agent

Solo Recordings

All Alone

Dreamy Lady

London Boys

Life's An Elevator

2002 CD Reissue Bonus Tracks

T.Rex’s Futuristic Dragon was released as a 2-CD set album in the UK by Edsel Records (catalog number EDCD 551) on January 30, 2002, comprising Futuristic Dragon (Extended Play) and The Alternative Futuristic Dragon ("Dazzling Raiment"), both previously available individually.

Do you have Futuristic Dragon in your vinyl collection? Ready for the dragon? Share in the comments!

Sources

Information is drawn from my personal knowledge and supplemented by web sources, including Discogs, 45cat, AllMusic, Rate Your Music, Wikipedia and BBC Official Charts