Ever since Marc Bolan included two snippets of 'The Children Of Rarn' on T. Rex's eponymous 1970 album, speculation has been rife about the suite that these two excerpts came from. In late 1970 there was talk that he would finally release his long-awaited concept album, and it was announced in Disc magazine that it might be broadcast on the Sounds Of The 70's radio show in early January 1971. Mickey Finn confirmed Bolan was busy writing the story, about a battle for the survival of the Earth, when it was still called Beltane, and as well as the two short pieces being used on the 'T. Rex' album, characters from the story featured in some of Bolan's other songs, such as Puretongue, The Swan King and The Lithons in 'Suneye', and Agadinmar in 'Dragon's Ear'. However, in December 1970 Bolan admitted to journalist Nick Logan that he'd put the album on hold, and he'd moved on to other projects, although nine months later, in October 1971, he did perform an impromptu acoustic version of the suite at producer Tony Visconti's flat, featuring nine songs, and linked by some spoken passages. Some years later Visconti overdubbed extra instruments and orchestration onto the 15-minute demo, fleshing out the music to sound like actual studio recordings, and this was released on the 1978 album 'Words & Music'. The raw demo recording was finally included on the deluxe re-issue of the 'T. Rex' album in 2014, and so we now have access to both versions of the suite. I've always wanted to hear this piece of music, and so I took the overdubbed version and split it into the individual tracks, giving them titles at the same time, and then selected some of his other songs which might have been included had the project ever come to fruition to add to them. As characters from '...Rarn' were included in 'Suneye' and 'Dragon's Ear' then they are obvious contenders, and the general consensus among fans is that 'The King Of The Mountain Cometh' and 'Beltane Walk' might have appeared as well. There is a demo online titled 'The Book Of Agadinmar', which includes demos of 'Evenings Of Damask' and 'Diamond Meadows', and they sounded like they belonged so I've included them as well.
The story would therefore centre around the mystical Children of Rarn, who lived on Beltane and enjoyed a utopian life, playing in the diamond meadows in the warm damask evenings. These Peaceling's lives were looked after by the Priests and the Elders, and everything was idyllic, until one day the The Elders warned that enemies were gathering. The people prayed to the god Rarn for guidance, while the Priests summoned the Tree Wizard, The Swan King, Pure Tongue and The Ancient One to help them. The Dworn invaded, and despite a valiant effort to defend themselves the battle did not go well, and so Agadinmar prayed to the god Rarn for victory over their foe, and with help from the King Of The Mountain and his army of Trolls and Lithons, they defeated their enemy. Following their triumph, the Priests changed the name of their home from "Beltane" to "Earth", and the Children Of Rarn were no longer Peacelings but had become "men". While the trolls feasted on the remains of the Dworn, the animals and the Children of Rarn left through a mystical gate, and once all the beasts had departed, the age of the dinosaurs began. For this album I've equalised the bass and treble so that the demo recordings and the other songs are a better match soncially, and I've used the raw demo versions of the spoken passages as they are much clearer. I've also segued some tracks into others so that the suite runs as one long piece of music, and while I may not have understood the story perfectly, I think I've got the gist of it from the lyrics and the spoken passages. Some fans also think that 'Ride A White Swan' would have been part of the suite, but I couldn't really see where it would have fitted in, other than slotted in after a fleeting mention of the Swan King, so I've just added the BBC session take of it to close the album, as even with 16 tracks it's still quite short. If anyone has any other insights to add then I'd love to hear them, as this legendary album has always been shrouded in mystery, so it would be great to find out more about it.
Track listing
01 The Children Of Rarn: Intro
02 Evenings Of Damask
03 Diamond Meadows
04 The Enemy Gathers
05 The Priests Of Rarn
06 The Elders Of Rarn
07 A Paeon To Rarn
08 Suneye
09 The Enemy Cometh
10 A Prayer For Victory
11 The King Of The Mountain Cometh
12 Dragon's Ear
13 Beltane Walk
14 Agadinmar's Triumph
15 The Children Of Rarn (Reprise)
16 Ride A White Swan
The folder also includes a complete transcript of the lyrics of the original 15-minute suite, and the cover is adapted from Catherine Lambert's 'Beltane' album, as it fitted the concept perfectly.
This looks like it'll be a fun listen. As you say, we'll never know what it would have sounded like if Bolan had actually finished it, but this will give us an educated guess.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the first times that I've looked for one of your uploads on SoulSeeker and it actually came up on the first try, albeit being "queued." Hopefully I'll get to listen to it by the evening.
Thanks for an always diverting site. I don't necessarily download a lot but I read every entry with interest.
Nice. I've always wanted to try this one but never quite knew how to tackle it. Good choices on the additional songs. Can't think of any to add. There are plenty of Tolkienesque songs but none that would add to the story. His wife June would read Tolkien to him during this period. Marc seemed to lack the attention span to finish his more ambitious projects like this one and his mid-70s sci-fi space opera "Billy Super Duper". He was best when he focused on three minute songs. Cover looks nice as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this. I loved his magical songs before he changed into his sex god period. I had managed to find once, a cassette copy of words and music, and regretted that he never finished it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that he was dyslexic. He probably had ADD as well, considering how he bounced around with projects.
ReplyDeleteI like what you've done here as I've always loved Marc's "aerie fairie nonsense" phase as much as his electric rock idol one. His melodies to me have always been exquisite and fragile. I might accuse you of being a bit naughty by purloining the cover of Catherine Lambert's Beltane album! But, that said, if I forgive you for that, you could easily borrow some of her song treatments on that album and insert them into your concept to flesh it out a little more? Just a thought!
ReplyDeleteI found the cover online, and with no writing on it just assumed it was a fan-drawn picture, so thanks for letting me know. I'll give her a credit.
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