T. Rex

This 50-minute video contains just under 18 minutes of first-rate live T. Rex, from several appearances on Beat Club/MusikLaden, all in full psychedelic effects (including floating close-ups and lots of layered images) and blazing color, with Marc Bolan in fine form on both vocals and lead guitar. One always suspected, listening to songs like "Jeepster," that Bolan's repertory worked better on stage than it did in the studio, and this release is the proof -- his guitar and Steve Currie's bass have a lot more punch than they show on the studio recordings of the same numbers, and it's fascinating to hear just how Bolan transmutes traditional rock & roll guitar licks into the basis for something otherworldly. Everything on this video is interesting, exciting, and surprising, even "Ride a White Swan," a record that never counted much to this listener as a single. "Jewel," with its multiple layers of feedback, is a throwback to the psychedelic era, while "Twentieth Century Boy" -- a late appearance from the early 1970s, showing Bolan in a feather boa -- is the most accessible piece of straight rock & roll on the video, a hard, crunchy guitar workout whose only flaw is that there isn't a little more like it to really fill up the program. [See also Roxy Music.] ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide