Futuristic Dragon

Futuristic Dragon is the eleventh studio album by English glam rock act T. Rex, released worldwide except North America on 30 January 1976 by EMI Records. The album was preceded by the singles "New York City" and "Dreamy Lady".

Futuristic Dragon
Studio album by
T. Rex
Released30 January 1976
RecordedMRI Studios, Hollywood and Paragon Studios, Chicago, United States; Scorpio Sound, London, England
GenreGlam rock, blue-eyed soul
Length40:22
LabelEMI
ProducerMarc Bolan
T. Rex chronology
Bolan's Zip Gun
(1975)		 Futuristic Dragon
(1976)		 Dandy in the Underworld
(1977)
Singles from Futuristic Dragon
  1. "New York City"
    Released: 12 July 1975
  2. "Dreamy Lady"
    Released: 26 September 1975

In the US, it wasn't issued domestically before year 1987.

Content, music and sleeve

The album features some unusually dense production from singer and songwriter Marc Bolan, 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 with Bolan on the 1968 Tyrannosaurus Rex album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows.

Release

Preceded by the release of two UK Top-40-hit singles from the album, "New York City" (No. 15) and "Dreamy Lady" (No. 30),[1] Futuristic Dragon was released on 30 January 1976. It reached number 50 in the UK Albums Chart; T. Rex's first album to register in the chart since Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow in 1974.[1]

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
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Pitchfork6.7/10[3]
PopMatters7/10[4]

In a retrospective review of the album, PopMatters 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".[4] Pitchfork wrote "Futuristic Dragon has enough winning moments to suggest an upturn [...] [the album] blows smoke on its second half, with songs like 'Sensation Boulevard' and the schlock-disco 'Ride My Wheels' derailing the first half's chugging momentum. Nevertheless, the album wins your sympathies: It's good enough to make you wish it were better."[3] 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 followup to Tanx, it might have arrested his commercial slide".[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Marc Bolan.

No.TitleLength
1."Futuristic Dragon" (Introduction)1:52
2."Jupiter Liar"3:40
3."Chrome Sitar"3:13
4."All Alone"2:48
5."New York City"3:55
6."My Little Baby"3:06
7."Calling All Destroyers"3:53
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Theme for a Dragon"2:00
2."Sensation Boulevard"3:48
3."Ride My Wheels"2:25
4."Dreamy Lady"2:51
5."Dawn Storm"3:42
6."Casual Agent"2:53
1994 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."London Boys"2:19
15."Laser Love"3:35
16."Life's an Elevator"2:24
Dazzling Raiment (The Alternate Futuristic Dragon)
No.TitleLength
1."Futuristic Dragon" (Introduction)1:46
2."Chrome Sitar"3:16
3."All Alone"2:50
4."New York City"3:57
5."My Little Baby"3:51
6."Sensation Boulevard"3:48
7."Dreamy Lady"2:50
8."Dawn Storm"3:31
9."Casual Agent"2:54
10."London Boys"2:20
11."Life's an Elevator"2:25
12."Futuristic Dragon" (Introduction)1:52
13."All Alone"3:51
14."Dreamy Lady"2:31
15."Casual Agent"4:05
16."Casual Agent"4:04
17."All Alone" (solo recording)2:46
18."Dreamy Lady" (solo recording)2:19
19."London Boys" (solo recording)1:55
20."Life's an Elevator" (solo recording)2:01

Personnel
Technical

References
  1. "T. Rex - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  2. Thompson, Dave. "Futuristic Dragon – T. Rex Review ". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  3. Deusner, Stephen M. (5 February 2006). "T. Rex: Tanx / Zip Gun / Futuristic Dragon / Work in Progress reviews". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  4. Strub, Whitney (22 January 2006). "T. Rex: Tanx / Bolan's Zip Gun / Futuristic Dragon / Work in Progress | PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  5. Petridis, Alexis (11 December 2014). "T Rex: The Vinyl Collection review – proof that Bolan's genius went beyond the hits". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
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