The Beginning of Doves

by Dave ThompsonIn 1972, a clutch of incomplete demos and outtakes were unearthed from Marc Bolan's mid-'60s vault and sent into the world as the (hastily withdrawn) Hard on Love album. Two years later, Track Record released the proceedings as Beginning of Doves. The tracks comprise both sides of the 1966 "Hippy Gumbo" single, the projected follow-up "Jasper C. Debussy," and a series of largely unaccompanied demos recorded by Bolan and producer Simon Napier-Bell during one breathless session at London's Kingsway Studios in October 1966. One then leaps ahead to the following fall, for songs taped over two separate demo sessions by Bolan and his T. Rex partner Steve Peregrine-Took.