Not much music that Steve Peregrine Took made outside of Tyrannosaurus Rex has been available to let listeners judge just how much of a talent he was in his own right. This seven-song compilation (credited to Steve Peregrine Took & Shagrat) is on the brief side, but does at least show two different sides of the musician as he sounded shortly after parting company with Marc Bolan. The first four songs are from a 1971 home demo, and have a folky unplugged feel, featuring nothing but Took's voice and acoustic guitar, Larry Wallis' bass, and Dave Bidwell's tambourine. These are slight but pleasant eccentric British acid-folk tunes, Took's vocals sounding a little like Dave Davies' on songs that manage both forcefulness and wistfulness. They're a little meandering and melodically simple, but no more so than the songs on which Took played as part of Tyrannosaurus Rex, and he's got a more conventionally accessible (though far less distinctive) voice than Bolan's. The last three tracks (cut in a studio in April 1970), on the other hand, sound almost like the work of a different artist. The sound (with Wallis on lead guitar) is fully electric with bass and drums, bridging the gap between psychedelia and early-'70s metalish hard rock; the throaty, low, uncouth vocals are so unlike those on the 1971 folky tracks that it's hard to believe it's the same singer. These seem more like recordings of the Pink Fairies (the group Wallis subsequently joined) than solo Took outings, and suffer from a lack of focus, though they're trying hard to project a menacing air. The fidelity on the tracks is okay, but not great, and takes a severe downturn for the final number, "Steel Abortion," which sounds as if it was lifted from an acetate. Perhaps it's not fair to judge Took's talent as a solo artist on the basis of the scraps compiled for this disc. But unfortunately we don't have much else, and what survives here is more a glimmer of some interesting traits than evidence of an unjustly overlooked performer. ~ Richie Unterberger