Born To Boogie - T.Rex DVD Review
Illustration: Elly Roberts
DVD Review
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 above)and soundtrack on Disc1.
'Tanx' for the memory!
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