Elly Roberts reviews
Marc Bolan and T.Rex: Born To Boogie
Distributed by
Sanctuary Records Group
DVD: 
CD:
- Cert:
- Cat.no: SVE 4016
- Running time: 325 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 1, 2, 4, PAL
- Sound: Stereo, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 16:9
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Rating: DVD 10/10; CD 10/10; Music 10/10
- Extras:
90 minutes including, out-takes, deleted scenes, rare footage of Tyrannosaurus
Rex performing Sara Crazy Child (1967), original trailer
Mark Feld, aka Marc Bolan was born to boogie.
He stood out from the crowd in many ways. His androgynous image and music was
only the tip of the ice berg of a phenomenal talent. Behind the ‘King of
Glam’s stage persona, there was a deeply sensitive soul. This was reflected
in poetic and often mythical work, which took pop music to a level unparalleled
at the time,and since.
In the mid to late '60s he was a member of two seminal underground bands -
John’s Children and Tyrannosaurus Rex. A big favourite of the festival scene,
Bolan decided to change direction in 1970. Like Bob Dylan, he ‘plugged-in’
and to some die hard fans, ’sold-out’. With the change, the music press panned
him, totally demeaning and underrating his technical ability as a musician.
The chart singles Ride A White Swan, Hot Love, Get It On and Jeepster
were prime examples of a man with the knack of delivering pure pop songs:
memorable ones at that. Similar to his friend and contemporary David Bowie,
he indulged in surreal lyrics, though Bolan failed to evolve in later years,
which proved his downfall.
After the demise of The Beatles in 1970, British teenagers were looking for
new heros, and they found it in T.Rex. ’T.Rextasy’ had arrived and I was part
of it. I bought all the singles and albums. Posters were plastered on all
bedroom walls. Even ex-Beatle Ringo Starr recognised this new phenomenon, so
much so he wanted to capture it for posterity.
So,at long last this DVD (and CD companion), filmed and directed by Starr on
Apple, will (hopefully) silence the critics. This is more than a rockumentary:
it’s a final statement and testament, which is long overdue. Watching the first
of two shows it brought back happy memories of the day I was there. Somewhere
in the 12,000 crowd, there’s a 17 year old pre-art college Elly Roberts raving
it up.
On stage Bolan strutted, pouted and totally let-rip. His studio recordings were
meticulously geared for the pop market. Live, he was a totally different guitarist
who broke free and improvised his rock’n’roll prowess. Flanked by two huge
self-portraits and low key technology, he thrilled the constantly screaming
crowd.
Regular edits show teeny boppers going OTT with their look-alike hairdos and
glittered cheeks. The band - Bill Curry on bass, Bill Legend on drums, Mickey
Finn on percussion, they turned on the style, allowing The Slider to exhibit
technique rarely heard on disc. Hendrix played with his teeth, Page played with
a violin bow - Bolan screeched his Les Paul with a tambourine. He was, in other
words,a sensation.
Extras provide subliminal snippets of the bopping elf goofing around with Ringo,
jamming with Elton John along with other source material. In reality it’s
a hotch-botch, but who cares because it’s been faithfully restored by producer
Tony Visconti with contributions from son Rolan Bolan. As a bonus,you can
experience a concert on CD2 (tracks below) and soundtrack on Disc 1.
‘Tanx’ for the memory!
Weblink:
Born To Boogie.net /
Sanctuary Records Group.co.uk
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
