Date: 1969
Release: BLUE THUMB
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Tyrannosaurus Rex was an acid-dropping British duo fronted by the immortal Marc Bolan during his pre-glam folkie/hippie stage. When it came to making catchy little psychedelic-pop tunes, Tyrannosaurus Rex was a monster. In late 1960s, Bolan and percussionist Steve Peregrine Took enjoyed a small but fanatic following amongst London’s flower children and its underground press. The acoustic Bolan of Tyrannosaurus Rex was a handsome hippie poster child, not the glittering androgynous teenage dream that rocked T.Rex to the top in the early ’70s. Glam-rock fans of T.Rex beware, Tyrannosaurus Rex is an entirely different animal. No more ferocious than a butterfly, Unicorn is a finely crafted album of incredibly unique songs made under the influence of LSD.

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Date: 1968 (recording)
Release: Repertoire #4940
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If you weren’t fortunate enough to hear this music when it first appeared in the mid-Sixties, you will never know the extremes of its magic.

Tom Petty

Since the rise of Oasis and Brit-Rock in the mid 90s, critics have been handing out Beatles comparisons with the mindless frequency of meter-maids writing parking tickets. This runaway praise-inflation has reached the point where just about any new British band to cross the Atlantic is automatically heralded as either Beatles-esque or Nick Drake-ish. Fortunately there are a few free thinkers in rock journalism, a small uncompromising minority who still define themselves by the music they recommend, steadfastly refusing to serve as stooges for the record industry.

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Date: 1968 (recording) / April 19, 1999 (release)
Release: Immediate #414
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The story of Billy Nicholls is a sadly familiar one. It parallels the tragedy of Shuggie Otis, a young child prodigy who delivered an incredibly great album to his record label (1974’s Inspiration Information), and got dropped in return. It’s a life story lived by legions of gifted artists, who, through lack of commercial success, burn through their prime creative years in muted obscurity, waiting for a public embrace that always seems to comes too late, if at all. At 16, Billy Nicholls was a total unknown, a kid with more guts than talent. As the story goes, the teenaged British songwriter had the chutzpah to approach George Harrison and enlist the quiet Beatle’s help in landing him a record deal (clinched with then Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham’s new and edgy Immediate label).

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