Essential Collection (25th Anniversary Edition)

There have been many T. Rex compilations with the title The Essential Collection released since Marc Bolan's heyday of the mid-'70s -- not all of them essential and several of them from Universal alone. (The 2000 edition of The Essential Collection featured the same number of tracks as this, and an overlapping track listing.) Still, this Essential Collection is among the best of all T. Rex compilations since it includes all of the group's Top 40 hits (no small feat) and since it equitably surveys the career of Bolan and co., from their first hit ("Ride a White Swan") to their last ("I Love to Boogie"). It also features a trio of singles from Bolan's pre-glam Tyrannosaurus Rex project -- "Debora," "One Inch Rock," and "King of the Rumbling Spires" -- and a clutch of enlightening album tracks, including "Cosmic Dancer," probably the most beautiful moment in the T. Rex catalog. ~ John Bush