Jim Morrison once waxed on wax about how “the future is uncertain and the end is always near.” Well if that’s the true-be-all-end-all-whatsit statement folks, then it’s a good thing that music is always near to help with the confusion. No matter what the mood or attitude of the homosapien: mad, glad, depressed, morose, lively, ebullient, ragtag, etc., music is always a welcome addition regardless of what’s going on or what’s going down. This year’s crop of sonic comestibles should take care of anyone feeling hi-fi or lo-hi; either way, all of them are welcome additions under the tree or near the menorah or whatever your late year holiday preference may be. Human beings have so many choices to choose from these days, and here’s some more below.

Check out our 2022 Holiday Gift Guide for Music.

Ghostbusters #16
Written by Erik Burnham
Art by Dan Schoening
Colors by Luis Antonio DelGado
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Edits by Tom Waltz
Covers by Dan Schoening, Tristan Jones, and Roberto Goiriz
IDW Publishing
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Ghostbusters #16 is the latest installment in the Ghostbusters 30th anniversary storyline “Mass Hysteria,” and let me give you a little advice — bring a scorecard!

Writer Erik Burnham brings everyone — and I mean EVERYONE — in the Ghostbusters universe for the epic chapter of “Mass Hysteria.” Just about everyone from the Ghostbusters films and even the expanded universe turn up for this huge fight with Gozer’s sister, Tiamat.

Today marks the birthday of the late Marc Bolan, glam child who took that rock genre and amped it up several notches with his main musical ensemble, T-Rex.

The British-born Bolan fused together the sounds of the early Elvis-Sun-Records era coupled with some Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent, and electrified up with glam arrangements to become one of the genre’s forerunners. He had spectacular success in England during the early 1970s on par with The Beatles, in fact, even being immortalized on film about the whole escapade in the motion picture Born to Boogie directed by none other than the drummer for The Beatles, Ringo Starr.

With his wild, curly, large Adonis-style long hair, glitter affixed to his face, and a kind of star spangled multicolored fashion sense alongside the great rock and roll on amphetamines sounds, Bolan and T-Rex became a sensation in what seemed like overnight. In truth, Bolan had been kicking around in musical groups for a while prior to the success of T-Rex, some much quieter and more baroque sounding, almost like pagan style sounds which was the norm during that British folk rock era which was during the windup of the 1960s. With songs like the jaunty, fried blues “Jeepster,” the dreamy “Ride A White Swan,” “Telegram Sam,” the chrome fetishistic “Metal Guru,” and the grooving on a neon stick “Get it On (Bang a Gong), Marc Bolan and T-Rex were the most popular band in England by far, untouchable really during their heyday. Many of the aforementioned songs were number one smashes in England for Bolan and T-Rex when first released, and the band enjoyed success in America as well, although more limited than the frenzy of T-Rexmania on the other side of the pond. “Bang a Gong” became a hit, but Bolan remained, and still remains, more of a cult figure here stateside.

The Slider, by T. Rex, led by the frizzy-haired musical wonder to behold Marc Bolan, is now available on MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.

The follow up to their breakthrough release Electric Warrior, The Slider takes those sonically delicious cues and turns the heat up, fully crystallizing and realizing the T. Rex sounds, at once glam, hard rock, sprinkles of metal and early punk, all led and commandeered by the gargantuan presence of Bolan on razor-sharp guitar riffs and leads and vocals. This record is like early Sun rock and roll recordings from the 1950s amped way up, up so much the VU meter arrows went into the red and beyond. “Metal Guru,” “Baby Strange,” “Chariot Choogie,” and especially, undoubtedly “Buick Mackane” and the title track, are at equal parts emotional, rocking, intense, and amazingly spellbinding. Immense props for The Slider, check it for yourself and get ready to be blown away.

Also available in the sale for only $5 each are other T. Rex albums: Electric Warrior, Dandy In The Underworld, Bolan’s Zip Gun, Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow.

Browse all 1,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

This month the classic T. Rex album Electric Warrior is available for $5 as part of Amazon.com’s 1,000 MP3 albums for $5.

Over 40 years old, glam rock icon Marc Bolan‘s songwriting still sounds great. Electric Warrior features the huge tracks “Jeepster” (which appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Deathproof) and “Get It On.”

Also available in the sale for only $5 each are other T. Rex albums: The Slider, Dandy In The Underworld, Bolan’s Zip Gun, Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow.

Browse all 1,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each, as well as several albums on sale this week for only $2.99 each.