T.Rex - Collections

Box sets

Rare T.Rex (2004)

=== Press release ===

T-Rex boxset from Easy Action Records.

• Containing 5 CD's of previously unreleased material, radio sessions, demos and live material and a DVD.
• A beautiful collectors box set, individually numbered and strictly limited to 5000 copies worldwide.
• Contains UNRELEASED material from the personal collection of Marc's family for the first time!
• Features De-luxe booklet with notes by drummer Bill Legend and the late Mickey Finn & Steve Currie as well as unpublished photos.
• This set captures the four piece group at the height of their popularity.
• Features home demos of Marc and the band working songs out for the legendary Electric Warrior album and features the title track which has never been heard!!
• Rolan Bolan has overseen this project personally
• Contains free Electric Warrior replica stickers 2 per set

The UK Retail will be around $130-150.

=== Review by Paul W ===

Hi Mark

I've trawled through the archives and detail below the previous releases to feature the material (not an exhaustive list, but the ones I know about).It is quite interesting to see exactly where the tracks have appeared before.

• Disc 1 - Radio Sessions
  • Tracks 1 - 8 Unplugged session, LA, Feb 72: "Discovered" by the Bramleys these featured on the 2 LP set "Till Dawn" in 1985. Subsequently released commercially by New Millennium Communications (NMC) on a cd "Boogie On" a 3,000 "limited edition" release in 2002.
  • Tracks 9-12 WBCN Boston radio 11/9/72: These tracks have never been commercially released. They have however been available to fans on unofficial releases. "Boston Rocks vol 2" issued by the NYC Fan Club featured these tracks. Subsequently they also appeared on disc 5 of the "The Classic Airwaves & Concert Collection", a 14 disc collection made available to Bolan Society members for "historical archive & preservation purposes". Left hand Luke from the Boston radio sesh originally appeared on a bootleg 7 inch single & also all the tracks from this session appeared on a boot LP as well, but I cannot remember the title, perhaps one of the Spaceball Boots crew (Zac, Pierre et al) will remember the name ?
• Disc 2 - Radio Sessions, New York, April 71: This material featured on a bootleg release "Cosmic Planet Elemental Queen" issued on the Retropop "label". The same material was later released commercially by NMC as "Spaceball" a 2 cd set.
• Disc 3 - Live, Wolverhampton, May 71 & Cardiff, June 72: All of these tracks appeared on an unofficial release "Monitor Recordings 1971 & 1972" issued by the NYC Fan Club and made available via The Bolan Society. The tracks surfaced again on the Bolan Society's "Classic Airwaves & Concert Collection". Two of the Wolverhampton tracks appeared on NMC's commercially released "Electric Boogie" issued in 1997.
• Disc 4 - Live, Boston Gilderdrome, Jan 71 & Stoke on Trent, Aug 71: The Boston Gilderdrome cd was released by the OMBFC, an unofficial release made available to fan club members (check out eBay & you'll nearly always find a copy listed for sale). The Stoke on Trent tracks first appeared on another monitor mic cd "Monitor Recordings 1971" issued unofficially by the NYC Fan Club & available via The Bolan Society. Subsequently the Stoke tracks appeared on the Bolan Society's "Classic Airwaves & Concert Collection"
• Disc 5 - Home Demos: Contains the Electric Warrior title track that "has never been heard". Can't help think that they are stretching the truth a little here. All of these tracks (including the EW title track) have been released unofficially by the Bolan Society on a cd entitled "Electric Warrior / There was a time ".
• Disc 6 - Film Footage: None of these material has ever been commercially released, but following the pattern of the previous discs it has all be issued unofficially before. The 8mm cine film footage at the Chateau & The EMI Pressing Plant first appeared on a Bramley's video "The Throne of Time vol 3" and it was subsequently been made available to Bolan Society members via their "DVD Transfer Club". Music in the Round & The Capital Theatre Cardiff footage have both appeared on the "Lost & Found" videos and subsequent DVD's.

What's the verdict ?

Most Bolan fanatics and those with access to The Bolan Society will probably have all of this material already. The average fan in the street may not have heard the unofficial material before. Even those who already have everything may still buy this "Limited Edition" boxed set, just to say they have every Bolan release. The set comes with a booklet containing recollections by TREX band members and previously unpublished pics (made available by the Bolan Society & acquired from the OMBFC). I would expect that the sound quality has been improved as far as the source tapes will allow.

Hope you find this useful.

Paul

A Wizard, A True Star (1996)

=== Review by Russ ===

"A Wizard, A True Star" - the limited edition triple CD box set from EDSEL was released on the 21st of October. Old favourites, unreleased "demo" material, and snippets of recorded interviews, virtually ensured the set would be well received by the Bolan community.

At £25.99 "A Wizard, A True Star - MARC BOLAN & T.REX 1972 - 77" to give the set its full title, is a steal comprising 92 tracks (94 if you include the 3 part "Children of Rarn" extract). Compiled by Mark Paytress AWATS is no "Greatest Hits" compilation - Telegram Sam is there as is Metal Guru (2 versions, 1 acoustic) - rather the material spans the period in some depth bringing out Marc's studio work, home-cooked song sketches, and sometimes revealing interviews no doubt selected for their profound "quote-ability" factors.

Like it's subject, AWATS is a handsome number. The 3 CDs are housed inside a glossy hardback book. It isn't going to fit on your dedicated CD shelving though - the designers having gone for the tall slim approach stacking 2 CDs end on end inside the front cover and the third inside the back cover (with a filler in the gap where the 4th CD would be - sadly there isn't a 4th!).

The book proper takes the reader through a potted history of Marc's recordings and, in so doing, Marc's life. For any Marc Bolan/T.Rex fan AWATS is a "must have".

Russ.

=== Info from Cliff ===
As I was one of the people involved in the compilation of the box set, just some comments.

A box set has to fulfill several functions:
1) Satisfy fans with rarities
2) Interest others who want more than a Best Of, but not the whole catalogue
3) Make the record company some money (unfortunately it is a business).

So what I and Ros Davies suggest gets filtered through Mark Paytress and Martin Barden and a compromise is reached. For example I wanted 4 discs with the Agora Ballroom show as a 'bonus'. Demon didn't buy this for economic reasons. I don't have the final product with me to refer to, but among my suggestions were acoustic demos of The Slider, Rock On and Buick Mackane. Only one made it because on listening to a mock up of the set it was felt that too many acoustic demos worked against the overall package.

Last minute changes were made for similar reasons. We have a 1975 version of 20th C Boy. It wasn't included because it's inferior to the original. We could have had more of The Children Of Rarn. There are about 40mins in total. However, some of it is so dire you don't want to hear it (honest it's that bad). So the best 10mins or so are there.

With regard to the packaging, Martin B gave Edsel a huge amount of memorabilia. They didn't use it. We can't do anything about that. It's their decision. Overall, I feel the package works. Any comments?

20th Century Superstar

=== Review by Paul J ===

Dear Gang,

I am delighted to inform y'all that the magnificent new box set, "20th Century Superstar" is now available in yer local record shops - well at least some of them. Funnily enough neither Virgin nor HMV in Newcastle had it but good old Windows in the Central Arcade did (that's where me Mam bought me Electric Warrior for Xmas when I was a nipper and where I bought the Ramones first album in November 1976 when I was a 13 year old pube) and so did Spin Discs - a local indie type CD shop.

Anywaaay - the packaging is magnificent - - f**kin* GREAT cover !!!!

I have only had a chance to start playing the discs since I came home from work - but I must say the enormity of Marc's career has at last been done some justice...from Toby Tyler....to Marc Bolan...via Johns Children......and Tyrannosaurus Rex.....through to the mighty T.Rex

I think the older and wiser "heads" on this list who are primarily Tyrannosaurus Rexers will be expecially delighted with the 3 previously unreleased tracks.....".Puckish Pan" (which I think sounds like Marc saying "Fuck This Man"......*g ...if only.......proto-punk-poet before the birth of "punk rock"....:-))

"Nickleodeon" is another new one and has some great vocals form Steve Took (as does PP) but the undeniable jewel in the crown is "Ill-Starred Man" - an amazing, atmospheric, sensual song - with a great melodic chorus and a hauntingly distant backing vocal from Marc - and some great de-tuned acoustic guitar to give some loose, funky, bounce to the rhythm......superb !

And there is a verse of "Do You Remember" sung by Steve Took where you can actually decipher the lyrics - fabulous !

And there's..........:-))

I'm off to give the rest of the album a listen........much credit and a huge "TANX" to anyone who was involved in this project......well worth the money.

ZCP

XX

=== This review from Shindig! Magazine (October 2002) ===

URI: http://www.shindig-magazine.com/reviews-oct2002-1.html

MARK BOLAN & T. REX

20th Century Superstar (Universal, 4-CD Boxset)

Because of the legal wrangle over who actually owned the pre-1972 Bolan back catalogue, this is the first time a complete career retrospective has appeared of the bopping elf. No matter how familiar some of this material is, placed in a historical and chronological order, this is a compelling and worthy musical document.

Much of this will be overly familiar to Bolan buffs of course, especially on discs three and four which contain the hit material (and of course Edsel have done sterling archaeological and reissue work in this period of Bolan's career). But there are still nuggets to be had.

Disc One opens with Bolan's first known recordings from the Winter of 1964 /65, 'The Road I'm On (Gloria)' and 'Blowin' In The Wind', remarkable as much as anything else for their lack of the trademark Bolan warble.

Disc two provides a 30-second snippet of Steve Perrigrin Took singing 'Do You Remember' and David Bowie's 'The Prettiest Star' with Bolan playing lead guitar. Historically, a moment of note is when producer, Tony Visconti asks Bolan immediately prior to recording "What's this one called Mark?" to which Bolan replies "'Ride A White Swan'" and a star was born.

The irst two discs are full of the prime cuts from all four Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and the first T.Rex LP. On a compilation so daunting, favourites are inevitably omitted (mine are 'Throat Of Winter' and 'Stacey Grove'). For those of my generation who grew up with T Rextasy, but have not subsequently delved that deeply into the back catalogue,

Discs three and four are something of a revelation. Often decried as lazily generic after 1973 (and okay, riffs are recycled a-plenty, granted), much of the material from the T Rex albums presented here, to my ears anyway, sounds great! For instance, I'm up for 'Futuristic Dragon' now for sure!

In general, if you like Bolan but are not a hardcore fan(atic), this box is a dream, it provides so much of worth; if you are a fanatic then no doubt you will have to have this for the odd previously unissued track and the packaging which is very nice (a book set with two discs clipped into the inside of both covers with a booklet of many previously unpublished pics and overseas issued pic sleeves of 45s).

This is a beautiful and long overdue career retrospective of one of pop's true stars.

Paul Martin

© 2001-2003 Shindig! Magazine

Greatest hits

Bolan Boogie

A collection covering the middle years of the Tyrannosaurus Rex to T.Rex transition. For more detailed reviews and track listing see the Bolan Boogie Reviews.

The Best Of T.Rex

Bit of a misnomer since it is mainly Tyrannousaurus Rex. Contains the (then) unpublished tracks "blessed Wild Apple Girl" and "Seas of Abyssinia".

The Very Best of T.Rex (1991)

Most of the usual suspects.

The Very Best of T.Rex Vol. 2 (1999)

More of the usual suspects, includes sleeve notes by Caron Willans (spelling?) of T.Rextasy.

The Words and Music of Marc Bolan 1947-1977

Includes the "Children Of Rarn" suite.

Great Hits (1972)

Title says is all.

Great Hits 1972 - 1977: The A-Sides

Title says it all again.

Great Hits 1972 - 1977: The B-Sides

Title says it all again, again.

The Singles Collection Vol 1 1968-1972 (1990)

A-sides and B-Sides. Manufactured and distributed by Teichiku Records Co Ltd. Catalogue numbers TECP 25384 and TECP 25385, licenced from Marc On Wax. This collection is notable for the terrible mangling it gives to the lyrics. These can *only* have arisen from a native Japanese listening to the songs and attempting to transcribe what they heard. Many of the transcriptions are phonetically close but ludicrous in effect. Sometimes they gave up part way through and put ... Sometimes they did not even try. Personally I found them so-o-o-o way off the marc that I laughed and laughed and fell off my chair in stitches.

The Singles Collection Vol 2 1972-1974 (1990)

A-sides and B-Sides continued.

The Singles Collection Vol 3 1975-1977 (1990)

This does NOT exist so do not try looking for it.

The Essential Collection (1995)

I don't think that this is the same as 'The Collection' but would like confirmation of that.

The Collection

Mostly Tyrannosaurus Rex (tracks 1 - 20) from the first four albums and just four T.Rex tracks from Electric Warrior.

The Unobtainable T.Rex (1980)

Singles from 1972 - 1977.

Other collections

Light Of Love

Very similar track listing to Bolan's Zip Gun. Originally only released in US and Canada. Light of Love contained 8 of 11 songs from Zip gun and 3 songs from Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tommorow (subtitled "A Creamed Cage in August").

Get It On (1997)

Mainly a collection of odds and sods from the Bramley days of Marc On Wax and Beginning Of Doves tracks :

Spaceball Ricochet
Buick MacKane and the Babe Shadow
The Slider
Metal Guru
all off the Alternative Slider album

Eastern Spell
Beginning Of Doves
Mustang Ford
Pictures Of Purple People
One Inch Rock
all off The Beginning Of Doves album

Children Of The Revolution
Laser Love
from the abortion that was Till Dawn album

Depth Charge
Hot George
Mellow Love
from the virtually monstrous Billy Super Duper album

Plateau Skull
Sky Church Music
Funky London Childhood
Over The Flats
from the Unchained series of albums

Born To Boogie
from the alternative Tanx

finally
Get It On 1997 remix as previously reviewed

The sleeve notes rather worryingly state that this is the first in a series to bring back to the record buying public the Marc Bolan back catalogue (strange - I thought Edsel was doing that) so we can expect more of the same - it's the same people who brought us Acoustic Warrior so I think you can guess what kind of dogs dinner we are going to be served up.
Verdict - waste of money
(Review by Southgate R.)

Remixes and other stuff

Billy Super Duper

=== Review by Michael ===
After coming back to the T.REX world in 1998, I was curious to hear what Marc had intended to put out after DANDY, an album I have also heard for the first time that very same year and have enjoyed since.

BILLY SUPER DUPER left me puzzled though. In time, I'm not really sure those songs were all meant to be released after DANDY. Or, at the most, they were like demos unless Marc was really out of it. Some songs such as "Shy Boy" and "Foxy Boy" do have such simplistic lyrics that even the BackStreet Boys sound like Shakespeare or William Blake. Once again it was as if Marc was trapped into his fantasy to absolutely appeal to the very young teenyboppers - and he would have been 30! "Mellow Love" is so repetitive that all the songs on ZIP GUN seem like T.S. Eliot's poetry. "Love Drunk" sounds as if Marc was impersonating the fat Las Vegas Elvis...

I was utterly disappointed as I had read long ago that Marc wanted to come back to his roots, to a more Tyrannosaurus Rexian inspiration. Well, surely this wasn't the album he was talking about!

One thing I must give him though, is that Marc had kept his flair for melodies. Simple, catchy and efficient. BSD has a good groove and "Dept Charge" is quite challenging as it really doesn't sound like anything Marc has done before with T.Rex.

So I think this was just part of a series of songs he was working on, playing around with, with no precise idea in mind. Not the BSD film nor opera project, they were just songs that were almost ready in a batch of more songs and ideas. As if they were taken out of the Unchained Series.

But, that's what was left after Marc's passing away. This is like the book he wanted to publish, The Wilderness Of The Mind, it was just another unfinished project, BSD is also an unfinished project and cannot be considered as a 'real' album, finalized and marketed as such under the name 'Marc Bolan / T.Rex'. They're just demos Marc was playing around with until they would be finalized and arranged and performed in studio as a finished entity.

One thing for sure, after seeing the MARC Show, he hadn't yet fully recovered. He was still trapped into a false image of himself. Yes he looked better, but he was still under the illusion of being two different personas: a natural Mark Feld in an ordinary world and a so-called 'rockstar' playing a role on TV and for the media. It was still unsolved and it wasn't clear in his mind. Once Marc would have come back to his real senses, without any specific role to play or perform - then and only then he would have come back with a something really different.

I'd like to believe he would have... but BSD is surely not very confincing.

Cheers.

Michel

=== Review by Vampyre (aka Randy at Work) ===

This is one of the better if not the best of the Bramley releases. Several of the songs have no posthumous instruments added but sound "cleaner" than on the Edsel/Demon release. The rest of the tracks have been completed by the Bramleys with an unusually light touch (for the bumbling Brambles) and they manage to keep the spirit and sound of 70's T.Rex versus many of their later releases in which they aim to update the songs (Till Dawn album, Think Zinc, Jeepster, GIO) and fail.

Even though the tracks range from 1972(?) to 1977, I always think of this as the next release after Dandy in the Underworld if Marc had lived. My favorite is Shy Boy which I feel could have been a posthumous single if released. My least favorite is Love Drunk because Marc sounds like he has a head cold! There is controversy regarding the destruction of the original Billy Super Duper track and the creation of songs which are really fragments of different songs pieced together.

There is no excuse for the loss of BSD but I do like the Bungles version even though I haven't a clue what the original may have sounded like. The two songs pieced together were done well (and well intentioned, I think) to present pieces of songs in a listenable format that may otherwise not have been heard. I like what they did with Write Me a Song (Supertuff) very much. Overall, I like this album and recommend it along with the similar/sister release Dance in the Midnight. It is after Dance in the Midnight that the Bumbles stumbled.

Dance in the Midnight

=== Review by Vampyre (aka Randy at Work) ===

I don't have my review of Billy Super Duper. If I did, I would say that Dance in the Midnight is Part II - a companion volume to Billy Super Duper.

All new tracks (except one) that have been cleaned up with a light touch by the Bumbles and made presentable & very listenable. There aren't any notes with the album so I don't know when these tracks were recorded but I suspect the range of years (1973 - 75?) is closer than Billy (1972 - 77).

I gave this a listen last night. Very enjoyable. A couple tracks are unusual for Marc vocally: Down Home Lady & Do I Love A Thee. I never noticed til last night the beautiful background vocals on Down Home Lady (or were these added later by the Bumps?). Solid Gold is a faster version than the original.

As I mentioned before with my Billy Super Duper review, the Bumbles stumbled after these two releases and chose to mix Marc in their own image versus what Marc might have done.

Get It On '97 Remix (1997)

Not an album. Re-mix, and I've lost the review.

Best Remix & More

=== Review by Rick ===

There is a Japanese release -expensive- that has all the Bolan re-mixes x-cept for the new 97' mix ... We had posted it once before but i will post it again... It is a lot of fun. Some is ..shitty.. The Tony V mixes are nice.. and some of the demos are even better ..here the info from Zoom man

* TRex/Best Remix & More (TECW-20124) ¥2039 $18.04

GET IT ON (DUSK MIX): another out take. not same one as in the ELECTRIC WARRIOR SESSIONS. The ending goes longer and different than that. no overdubs so far.

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION (12" MIX): remix version. syns. strings plays extra few notes verse to verse. Echoes on the vocal.

METAL GURU (REMIX): I dont think it remix version. no overdubs so far. the original's fade out ending isnt here. zats counts all.

SOLID GOLD EASY ACTION (ALTERNATE MIX): vocal track is original take but guitar track is slightly different than the original nonetheless definitely Marc's. no over dubs.

THINK ZINC (SPECIAL MIX): remix version. cheap drummachine ruled then cut and paste mix.

JEEPSTER (DUSKMIX): starts with slow tempo Marc wiz cello (this slow part I've never heard before) then attached to the original vocal. drum & bass is cheap plus syns female hum overdubbed.

TELEGRAM SAM (ALTERNATE MIX): acoustic version. acoustic guitar added but both sounds like Marc's. i dont have ACOUSTIC WARRIOR yet, so i cant tell if the AW has TS in it?

SUNKEN RAGS (MONSTER '85 MIX): lame guitar and drum here. Marc singing over "it's the shame treat me like a fool". tease your sarcasm.

ROCK ON (ALTERNATE MIX): sounds like an out take. no overdubs so far.

TRUCK ON (DEMO): demo! demo! unplugged take.

MISTER MISTER (STUDIO ROUGH MIX): same take as in the LEFT HAND LUKE. in fact LHL one has more lowends.

THE SLIDER (ALTERNATE MIX): another out take. not same one as in the RABBIT FIGHTER.

CADILLAC (DEMO): demodemo unplugged.

BORN TO BOOGIE (REMIX): the drum track EQed sharper yet no overdubs so far. Slippery drum rolls and also slippery guitar added. these parts might have been done by some mediocre players. zats all.

RIDE A WHITE SWAN (BBC LIVE): ----^^^----

MEGAREX: lame as much as if violent like having an eruption or somethin' just under a TRex jukebox. dis thing would derange all Tillers effectively.

The Alternate Takes of Classical Hits

'Furious Oligarch'

A review by Christopher Chadwick.

Compilations by artist are relatively simple things. There are two definite categories each with two distinct classes, genu-in and cash in. Most common is the genu-in attempt at raising awareness (and hence sales) of an established artist, but that often masks a cash in on a successful act. Similarly, a cash in mixed bag of forgettable recordings can too easily be passed off as a genu-in attempt to collect hard to find material for the fan. 'The Alternate Takes of Classical Hits' (Laserlight double CD) is a definite contender for the cash in class of the second category, but there are some revealing moments and maybe a worrying underlying truth.

There are thirty-two tracks, some of which sound like the untouched original T.Rex label release. Nothing here (except COTR) is a true remix of the original issued recording, ie anything more than unremarkable, certainly not good, overdubs on unchanged studio or live masters. However, on this collection the dubs often swamp the voice and guitar of Marc Bolan, and when they don't threaten to overwhelm they sound far too bright against a rather dull sounding original track (probably using a copy of the master many generations from source).

Here are the standout tracks, good and bad.

• Get It On. The long version with coda in full, with clearer sound than on 'EW Sessions? without opening chatter and covered in computer generated overdubbed sax, strings, drums and bongos. I quite like this, the overdubbing doesn't over power the original recording. Done with a bit of understanding. A decent attempt.
• Telegram Sam. A very 80's keyboard bass on the intro and largely harmless twiddly bits over the chorus. Not bad.
• Born To Boogie. The overdubs dominate here. Marc is almost inaudible. A ruinous work.
• 20th Century Boy. The idiots who tackled this put keyboard on the opening guitar riff. No you're not dreaming, they overdubbed one of the classic opening rock'n'roll riffs of all time. Unbelievably bad.
• Lady. Twiddly keyboard bits stuck where no lady should admit to having bits in the first place. It's difficult to spoil this song. This tries to do the right thing ? and fails.
• Girl. The US radio session version (In which Boley hacks away in best bedsit guitar hero style on his most delicate song). Computerised backing, set to maximum Spectorisation (strings, girly choir, piano, drums etc) loses the plot and becomes totally inappropriate as Marc swings the tempo and threatens to scat his way through a load other stuff. Funny if it wasn't so sad. Appalling.
• Light of Love. Pointless overdubs on a song that begs for an open sound.. Summertime Blues. Probably from the TV shows and possibly overdubbed. So so.
• Life's A Gap (sic). Subtitled 'Unplugged' this is an acoustic version electrically overdubbed. Possibly from the BBC sessions, poor master track. Bad.
• Laser Love. I've heard it said that this song suffered from thin production. This is a reasonable attempt at filling it out. The original isn't swamped by the overdubs, and the extra parts are in sympathy with the original, but sadly you can still hear the different recording levels. If they clean up the original or dirty down the dubs a good sound would result. Best on the set.
• Woodland Rock. The original track with backward guitars but without the Visconti strings. Overdub drum track franticly overtempo does nothing more than annoy, synth horns. Basic track pushed too far down in the mix. Rather odd and faintly unpleasant.
• Debora. Possibly Acoustic Warrior with dubs. Goes on a bit, but Boley was enjoying singing this. A pity it has such a poor sound.
• Jeepster. Another guitar and throat only radio version hidden under a mountain of backing. This time as Boley picks up the tempo they manage to stay with him, just (Although 'there's a drum break here' is edited out). The finger picking at the end is mismanaged. Fairly successful.
• Slider. Very weird (poor quality) sounding vocals track possibly a private demo recording. Marc is really very bluesy but that doesn't stop the backing bounding along like manic bubblegum. The clash between vocal and musical style might be considered art house by some but that obviously wasn't the intention here. This is a studio exercise in putting an inappropriate backing onto a demo tape. Awful. Joint worst with 20 C Boy.
• Children of the Revolution. From the MoW Bill Legend re-recordings (In which we get to hear the same drummer older and slower and TOO KIN LOWD) this was the attempt to do more than sling a bit of extra noise over the original. It would probably work quite well if we didn't have Billy boy hammering away like a demented piledriver on top of the mix. Sympathetic but too long at four minutes.

As much as anything else this set reveals what may have become of Marc Bolan had he not had boundless self-belief, a sympathetic producer, enthusiastic sidemen, or had he recorded in the modern click track and drum machine era. The big problem is that the musos used for these overdubs had little idea of what they were working towards and sound as though they didn't care either. Many of the arrangements are clichés from the jobbing musical director's handbook - utterly out of context with the lurching inventiveness of real Bolan Boogie.

I first heard this on my PC using cheap headphones where the fi is pretty lo, however, played on a real hi-fi it just sounds depressing. Sadly this set is aimed at casual fans browsing supermarkets, they will be disappointed. As a budget (£8.00) cash in compilation of the strange and daft I suppose it's not too bad for the informed listener - but don't take that as a recommendation. Nice cover though.