The Story of Marc

Here's an incredible BBC Documentary about Marc Bolan and T. Rex. It's narrated by the one and only, Suzi Quatro. Enjoy!

Bolan Boogies Long After Death

Back in high school I had a friend who was convinced that Marc Bolan was going to return to the land of the living somehow, someway. Not like the whole "Elvis is alive" movement but more like a reincarnation. It was at this time that I came across a single by Marc Bolan entitled, "You Scare Me To Death". It had been released posthumously and was featured in an ad campaign for mouthwash in the UK. My friend had never heard this song so I put it onto a cassette and brought it over to her house. When I played it for her, I told her it was a new, up and coming artist who had just released this single. As soon as she put it on her face turned white and she uttered these words: "Holy Shit. He's back. I knew it!" By the time I finished laughing, she knew she had been had. Evil, yes but fun none-the-less. It wasn't long afterwards that I came across a full length album of "new" Bolan recordings entitled, "Love and Death". The recordings were actually made by Marc long before the T. Rex days. The original recordings were simply Marc and an acoustic guitar. For "Love and Death", they took these recordings and added new backing tracks with musicians from the 80s. This was long before the whole "dead people on record with alive people" fad took off. Back then, it was a lot harder to do that type of thing. Especially since they were doing it with low quality tapes of a guy who had some trouble playing in time. The "new" backing band takes that into account and you can actually hear the tempo shift on a few songs. However, it sounds like they are all doing it as one. (in the music business, we call that "chasing the rabbit") The end result is amazing! The production is unreal and the arrangements sound like they were originally intended to sound that way from the start. See for yourself when you take a listen to "Marc Bolan-Love and Death." Enjoy!

Marc Bolan-Love And Death

BONUS:
The original versions of the songs featured on "Love And Death" were actually released in 1972 on an unauthorized album entitled, "Hard on Love". It was quickly pulled from the market. Two years later, Track Record released the proceedings as "Beginning of Doves". Though still unauthorized, it wasn't pulled and has remained a prominent bootleg in the Bolan catalogue. Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

Marc Bolan-Beginning of Doves

Creating The Electric Warrior

Marc Bolan and T Rex are among my favorites and was I first introduced to them by a friend of my high school girlfriend who worshipped Bolan. This girl honestly believed that Marc would appear in another form at one time. Kind of weird but she was pretty cool. Anyway, the first album that I was given to listen to was Electric Warrior. This should be standard listening for everyone and should adorn the collection of all audiophiles. It contains the biggest hit Bolan had in the states, "Get It On (Bang A Gong)" as well as classic radio cuts such as "Jeepster" and "Cosmic Dancer". Quite simply, it's the best T. Rex album, period. This could only get better when I discovered "The Electric Warrior Sessions" one day. This was a limited edition release with just 500 copies that were officially put out. The "sessions" include 12 outtakes and previously unreleased versions of tracks such as 'Get It On', 'Monolith', 'Cosmic Dancer', 'Life's A Gas', 'Honey Don't', 'Woodland Rock', 'Summertime Blues', 'Jeepster', 'Baby Strange' and 'Jewel'. It is extremely cool even if you're not a big T. Rex/Marc Bolan fan. I present it here for you now. Enjoy!

T. Rex-Electric Warrior Sessions
T. Rex-Electric Warrior Sessions Part 2