T.Rex - Bolan At The Beeb

Three discs from Auntie’s vaults, including two unreleased

Thanks to his mate John Peel, Bolan was afforded a fair amount of airplay in the late 60s. Spanning 1967-71, this wonderful set charts the rise from starry-eyed pixie to glam superstar in all its unlikely glory. For all his rotten hippy poetry, the most revelatory aspect of Disc One is how vital early Tyrannosaurus Rex seems today. What once appeared as the bongo-heavy gumbo of a lost mystic (Child Star; Chariots Of Silk) now sounds like a portal to new folk exotica such as Devendra Banhart and Espers. Hot Rod Mama and Elemental Child proved Bolan was a rock’n’roller at heart, the latter first unveiled from the Paris Theatre on New Year’s Day 1970 in full boogaloo stomp. By year’s end, at the same venue, T.Rex had seized the moment with Ride A White Swan, and Bolan was an overnight sensation with a carpetbag of Chuck Berry riffs draped in satin and tat. On 1971’s Radio One Club, T.Rex’s “hot and lovely sound” is typified by an ebullient Jeepster. There are two unreleased (though previously bootlegged) tunes here. Neither My Baby’s Like A Cloudfall nor Funky Now Jam, the latter a throwaway bop, add to the package, but there’s plenty to make this essential.

Universal/Polydor | 5302923

Reviewed by Rob Hughes
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