[1] Although it barely charted at number 44, Bolan wished to press further with his musical evolution but felt hamstrung by deteriorating relations with his partner, percussionist Steve Peregrin Took, who was involved heavily with drugs yet wanted to contribute songs to the group's next album.

[1] A further four tracks from the spring sessions – rejected for the final album – subsequently surfaced on various compilations, three ("Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia", "Blessed Wild Apple Girl," "Demon Queen") in Bolan's lifetime, the fourth ("Ill Starred Man") posthumously.

After a period of rehearsal at Plas Tan Y Bwlch cottage in Wales, sessions resumed at Trident with Mickey Finn on October 31 and finished on November 13.

The album's closing track, "Elemental Child", saw the main body of the song recorded separately from its extended guitar coda, with the two parts then joined in editing.

[1] The track, along with "Woodland Bop", "Pavilions of Sun" and "By The Light Of A Magical Moon" represented Bolan's increasing desire to play electric rock and as such pointed to his future; he claimed to have taken informal guitar lessons from Eric Clapton in the leadup to its composition.

UK critics were generally favorable to the transition in sound, with Nick Logan of New Musical Express opining that the new electric guitar embellishments were employed with taste and discretion, resulting in the duo's most successful album to date.

[3] In a review for Uncut, Graeme Thomson notes "It’s a quietly auspicious record, what with the arrival of Mickey Finn on percussion, and the addition of electric guitar to the mix.

The result is an odd, repetitive, but not displeasing collision between fey folkabilly – princes, moons and dragons remain consistent preoccupations – and the seeds of something meaner and leaner.

"[10] In another positive review, Paul Sexton at Udiscover writes "It was clear that Marc Bolan was ready to become the pop star figurehead and idol he soon turned into.