A BEARD OF STARS

12 ? Best Song: I can't tell, in a good way

I'm certainly appreciative of his passing from generic hippie folk to psychedelic hippie folk rock. It's a change that adds immeasurable depth! What am I blabbering on about, you ask? Well, this is the man's fourth album, proper (as opposed to all those scantily clad, sexually explicit 'improper' albums he released under the subtle moniker: T.sex) and it's a culmination of all that psyche rock bubblebobble and the swarming folkiedolkie movement. But let's stop for a second to discuss the album title. How exactly does one grow a beard of stars? Is it something you make in Sunday school arts and crafts? I'd think God would have a might beard of stars. Apparently everybody's doing the 'Woodland Bop'. It's the first truly metamorphosed song. The tunes are of the same basic ideal ? intricate, but simplistic drug-folk, but now there are sharp, distorted electric guitars punctuating the album like Hendrix's hands into a groupie's pants.

This might just be the quintessential Bolan record to obtain if you get any. Not because the material's quality is so high (it's pretty damn high), but because this showcases fully both sides of his ever balancing music. It's the midst of the scale, where later in Electric Warrior he'd excommunicate it completely. At this point the high pitched goat bleat is still in full order, trimmed back only for a more polished and smoothly flowing sound. He's getting better and better and expressing himself in vocals, and the songwriting is becoming more unpredictable.

Along with the electric rocking comes the ever sincere, ever annoying, but aptly utilized congo drumming, which slickens 'Pavilions of Sun'. I don't care for the record as much as Unicorn(though they don't sound much alike), but the consistency is rather striking. It's an excellent album with one foot in the past and one in the future, much more than a transition to me.

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