Bolan Marc & T Rex / T.Rex - I Danced Myself Out of the Womb (CD)

A lusciously presented two-LP package revives the earlier Electric Boogie CD with revised and corrected source information -- famously among Marc Bolan and T. Rex collectors, Electric Boogie was heralded as a long-lost recording of the band's summer 1971 Weeley Festival showing, only to emerge a collection of cuts from four other shows entirely. Bearing in mind that these shows were taped before the epochal Electric Warrior album, and, thus, concern themselves primarily with material from the transitional Beard of Stars/T. Rex period, it was a fascinating document regardless of provenance. Nevertheless, I Danced Myself can only be applauded for correctly identifying Wolverhampton (May 1971), Lewisham (July 1971), Bournemouth, and Rotterdam (August 1971), and for reprogramming the tracks accordingly. The heavyweight 180 g virgin vinyl, meanwhile, seems to have eased some of the problems out of the CD's sound, giving the entire performance a far fatter feeling. The Electric Boogie material consumes two and a half sides of vinyl; for the remainder of the set, we are treated to a February 1972 American radio broadcast, a solo Marc Bolan airing tracks intended for his next album, The Slider, plus a couple of Electric Warrior standouts. (This material also appears on the Till Dawn and Spaceball albums). The transition in mood between the live and radio material is abrupt -- though a mere six months separated them, an awful lot had happened in that time, and Bolan's style was changing fast. Still it's a gripping performance, with Bolan in fine voice and cheeky mood, and can one ever tire of hearing "Ballroom of Mars"? ~ Dave Thompson