MAXIMUM BOLAN!

As the author of the Bolan acetate article published in the November issue, I was intrigued by the letter from Marc Arscott, published last month. It seeks to add to the facts surrounding Marc’s first known acetate: The Road I’m On. This gives me the opportunity to give a fuller account of this historic recording. Perhaps, it should first be mentioned that there are claims that Marc’s very first recording was with Joe Meek. This is based on a scratchy anonymous acetate discovered by the Joe Meek fan club which has a slight resemblance to Marc’s vocal delivery. The first confirmed recording, however, was at Maximum Sound Studios located in Soho, London. As I stated, three acetates were cut from this session and I gave the history of the one that was illustrated and is in the best condition. I got this information directly from the owner, who auctioned it in 2002 and RC is the first to publish it. The second was owned by one of Marc’s former managers and was auctioned in the early nineties by the collectors shop Plastic Wax. It is this copy that is believed to be owned by a PR/design company, which paid £4,200 for it, even though the condition was not perfect. The third acetate is only single sided and in the poorest condition. It ended up with June Child (Marc’s wife) who gave it to Bolan fan Paul Roland. Paul later sold it to another fan, Marc Arscott who then had it pressed onto a limited issue vinyl single. Finally, 30 minutes of production masters, from Maximum Sound, on a two-track tape was auctioned by Christies in London on the 7th May 1992 but only attracted bids up to £800 and failed to sell. It was subsequently acquired by Marc Arscott and Uwe Klee who performed a great service by making the recordings available to all fans in 1993.

by George Rab
<< Back to Issue 344

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