Search - Marc Bolan, T-Rex :: Spaceball

Die-Hard Fans Will Love This!

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 12/14/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This certainly is not the place for novice fans to begin building their T. Rex library. However, if you're a fan of Marc Bolan, this will make an excellent addition to your collection. Contrary to Amazon.com's billing of this album as the "Acoustic BBC Sessions," only a little over half of this is acoustic and none of this is taken from BBC broadcasts. Instead these are derived from four US radio broadcasts. Disc 1 is all acoustic. Tracks 1-8 are from a February 1972 broadcast. "Cosmic Dancer," which is represented three times, appears in a nearly 8-minute version here. Bolan is in fine form here and the recording quality is very good. In contrast, the last three tracks are from a Septemeber 1972 broadcast and all suffer from poor vocal sound quality. Disc 2 starts off with the final two solo acoustic numbers, "Cosmic Dancer" and "Planet Queen." With "Elemental Child," Bolan picks up the electric guitar and half way through the song is joined by percusionist Mickey Finn and bassist Steve Currie. On the 12-minute version of "Jewel" (again with Finn and Currie) Bolan plays some terrific Hendrix-inspired guitar. Drummer Billy Legend joins the rest of the band on "Hot Love." The sound quality on these five tracks is remarkably good. The sound quality on the remaining five tracks is good, but not great. On these tracks Bolan plays acoustic guitar and is accompanied only by Finn. Their take on Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't" may not rank up there with their studio version of "Summertime Blues," but it can at least boil water. The "unlisted" track 10 is a brief spoken word piece about "obelisks" with about 30-seconds of "One Inch Rock" spliced onto it. Overall, this is an enjoyable look at some different interpretations of some of T. Rex's best known songs. Running Time: 1 hr., 48 min. RECOMMENDED"

Behind the Stars

happydogpotatohead | New Orleans, LA USA | 06/25/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Mostly acoustic, and surprising, versions of familiar songs here. Bolan is playing live on American radio. At this point he was in the odd position of being a total superstar overseas, but a complete unknown in the USA. As a result he is at his most charming and (for the most part) unpretentious. He runs through what were then non-album tracks (which would be a total no-no for an "unknown" artist in today's "music industry"), explains that "Cosmic Dancer" is about reincarnation, and plays slashing, efficiently rocking acoustic guitar. It's altogether engaging. On the second CD, Bolan straps on an electric guitar and is accompanied by the rest of T. Rex on "Elemental Child," "Jewel," and "Hot Love." "Jewel" gets a bit excessive, but again, Bolan's enthusiasm and love of just plain rockin' out save the day. The CD ends with some ragged-but-right recordings that include a very unexpected version of Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," and an early version of "Get it On," called "Get It On Blues," which contains some classic doesn't-make-sense-but-somehow-does Bolanesque lyrics. (I should remark that on both CD's, the first 2/3rds of the material sounds great, but the last third is rough sounding. Understandable, considering all of the source material is live American radio broadcasts from the early '70s.) This CD is something that you'll definitely want in your collection if you're a Marc Bolan/T. Rex fan, and it's fascinating to hear this side of Marc. It might surprise people who are only familiar with "Get it On" and the currently popular "20th Century Boy," to hear Marc get down on acoustic, but Spaceball shows that Marc had a lot of music in him, and could get it across on a stage in front of jillions of screaming fans or sitting with his beat up Epiphone acoustic in front of a hippie radio station's microphone. Worth listening to."

For Bolan Fans It's A Must!

Michael Topper | Pacific Palisades, California United States | 06/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Taken from US radio sessions recorded in '71 and '72, "Spaceball" is largely just Marc on solo acoustic guitar, belting out versions of popular "Electric Warrior" and "Slider" cuts. For this reason alone it is essential to any fan of Marc's music; hearing many of the electric glam anthems redone in the setting of his intimate acoustic hippie past is a treat and a half, and his voice is in top heartfelt form throughout. On several tracks Mickey Finn joins in on congas,providing an unexpectedly ethereal backing to favorites like "Cosmic Dancer". There are also a couple electric tracks using the full band, and while there are better versions of the dramatic guitarwork on "Elemental Child" available, the jamming in "Jewel" is on fire."