T Rex. My People Were Fair. Regal Zonophone. 1968. Excellent Early First Press

	£		96
	$		127

1968. STEREO SLRZ 1003.

MATRIX SIDE ONE  YCARX 43 - 1G     MATRIX SIDE TWO  YCARX 44 - 1 G

My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows is the 1968 debut album by Tyrannosaurus Rex, who had only that year changed their name, but possibly not their style, from John’s Children. Only a matter of a few years would see them change their name again and lose this early psychedelic, mystical aura to become T Rex!

This LP is in Excellent Plus Condition and is a very, very rare and very, very early original FIRST PRESSING, on the REGAL ZONOPHONE LABEL, which was to die with the name of the group, when it chanegd to T Rex. Pressed at the famous EMI Hayes Pressing Plant, this is possibly one of the first vinyl records off the press, with unique Mother & Stamper Codes, unique to EMI, which allow us to trace the provenance of a record.

These are the Stamper details on this wonderfully lacquered, heavy vinyl record, which is in excellent condition. This LP was bought and onwed by myself and played around three or four times. I found the music too avante garde and I was too young to fully appreciate it and so left it stored from 1968 until now! Its condition is amazing, with just the hint of a little surface hair-lines or more likely sleeve lines, being the paper movement of the inner coming on and off. It retains its lustre, as you can see from the wonderful dark mirror like sheen. The cover itself is in excellent good condition, with a laminated front and just an aged but fully intact and unblemished rear, which was not laminated. The spine has a tiny little mark dead centre, but otherwise this Garrod & Lofthouse sleeve and the superb heavy vinyl disc would not suggest that it is over 44 years old! It also has the original and Mint Condition song sheet, which I looked at once!

1968 Stereo SLRZ 1003.

Side 1. YCARX 43 – 1G . Side 2. YCARX  44 – 1G.

There are further Stamper marks at 3.00 o’clock of ‘G’ which would equal ‘1’ and 6.00 o’clock of A1. This information, using the EMI coding for Stamping, would suggest that 1G is the No 1 Stamper and First press and 1 & A1 would suggest, possibly, one of the very first records off the press! It is quite possible that, like many pressings, a ‘first batch’ was produced and many would have been distributed to the group and colleagues and then out to the shops as a first release.

This is my own record and owned by me since 1968. I am selling it and another original and rare Tyrannosaurs Rex LP: Prophets Seers & Sages: The Angel of The Ages. See other details and its full listing. I was a sound engineer myself and producer for a number of years, working at different studios in London.       

 The album reached number 15 in the charts upon initial release. Not to be confused with the later re-release and pairing withProphets Seers & Sages: The Angels of The Ages, in 1972, which reached No 1. The record features Marc on vocals and guitars, and Steve Peregrine Took on backing vocals, drums, pixiphone and percussion. It also features DJ John Peel, who reads a Bolan-penned fairytale for the album's closing track.

The album was recorded at Advision Studios in London in early 1968. Advision was the first studio in the U.K. with eight-channel recording equipment. This Advision eight-channel machine was a model 280 made by Scully Recording Instruments. It allowed for far greater recording flexibility than the standard 4-track recorders of the era and was recorded in full stereo, unlike recordings by other groups that were still recording in mono and having to have their masters edited to convert to stereo.

Recordings of the songs "Mustang Ford" (single release, titled "Go Go Girl") and "Hot Rod Mama" (live) by John's Children exist. This album was paired with Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968) and released in 1972 as the double album Tyrannosaurus Rex: A Beginning, following the success of T-Rex's Electric Warrior (1971) and The Slider (1972). In 1985 it was re-released on Sierra Records (Replay series) FEDB 5013.

It is now a rare example of an iconic group's first foray into the real music world and the label Regal Zonophone was an EMI amalgamation from the 1930’s of the Regal label and the Zonophone label, but was reaching its own end, too.  

Track listing

All tracks written by Marc Bolan

Side One

No.

Title

Length

1.

"Hot Rod Mama"  

3:09

2.

"Scenescof"  

1:41

3.

"Child Star"  

2:52

4.

"Strange Orchestras"  

1:47

5.

"Chateau in Virginia Waters"  

2:38

6.

"Dwarfish Trumpet Blues"  

2:47

Side Two

No.

Title

Length

1.

"Mustang Ford"  

2:56

2.

"Afghan Woman"  

1:59

3.

"Knight"  

2:38

4.

"Graceful Fat Sheba"  

1:28

5.

"Wielder of Words"  

3:19

6.

"Frowning Atahuallpa (My Inca Love)"  

5:55

Grading of Records is difficult and subjective, but I have used my visual and audio senses to honestly grade this and base its grading on the Record Collector's Guide, as follows:

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler."

As well as the above grades, Near Mint is often used as well; this is really for a record that appears new but is known to have been played because the label has light spindle marks or because it has come from a previous owner and is assumed to have been played by them. For records which appear to fall between the accepted grades, + and - are also often added to the grading.

In addition to the basic grading, any individual faults should be noted separately such as if an otherwise Excellent cover has a name written on it, or a 7" single is missing its original centre etc.

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