Angelheaded Hipster review: Makes a handsome tribute to Marc Bolan’s creativity

Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs Of Marc Bolan & T. Rex 

Various Artists                                                                                                   Out Friday

Rating:

Every week, in the album chart, there’s a 1970s reunion. Classic releases by Abba and Queen, who have life memberships, are joined by David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and Bob Marley. 

And you can see why: these artists are old masters. Their hits are still delicious after all these decades.

Posterity has pretty good taste, though it can be forgetful. There are two glaring British omissions from this pantheon – Bryan Ferry, whose work with Roxy Music and on his own put him second only to Bowie as a creative force from 1972 onwards, and Marc Bolan of T.Rex, who lit up the charts from 1970 to 1973.

After starting out as a scattergun hippie, Marc Bolan (above) became the platonic ideal of a pop star – glamorous, impish, lovable yet elusive

After starting out as a scattergun hippie, Marc Bolan (above) became the platonic ideal of a pop star – glamorous, impish, lovable yet elusive

After starting out as a scattergun hippie, Bolan became the platonic ideal of a pop star – glamorous, impish, lovable yet elusive. He was a pioneering teenybopper idol, influencing Bowie among others, and although many have followed in his footsteps, none of them has made more charming music.

Now, 43 years after his death, he receives one of the biggest compliments known to songwriters – a tribute by Hal Willner, the producer who forged memorable records and concerts from the songs of Kurt Weill, Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman. 

Tragically, this double album also stands as a tribute to Willner, who died in April, aged 64, of the coronavirus.

IT’S A FACT 

Marc Bolan died in a car crash, aged 29, on September 16, 1977, the same day the world lost another musical icon, opera star Maria Callas. 

Unlike most producers, Willner had a gift that was easily pinpointed. He was a musical matchmaker, born to introduce singers to songs. Here he gives Jeepster to Joan Jett, Main Man to Father John Misty, Solid Gold Easy Action to Peaches, and Cosmic Dancer to Nick Cave, who turns a slice of whimsy into a thing of bleak beauty.

Sometimes a singer appears and you’re not sure if it’s a boy or a girl, which is just as it should be. Where The Beatles had been boyish and the Stones laddish, Bolan was the first male superstar to be girlish. 

That spirit dances through Angelheaded Hipster and makes it more contemporary.

One of T.Rex’s greatest hits, Get It On, has two identities: in America, where the title was considered too racy, it’s known as Bang A Gong. Willner maintains the duality by handing it to two acts, one from either side of the Atlantic. 

David Johansen of the New York Dolls turns it into late-night jazz, oozing loucheness. U2 jump at the chance not to sound remotely U2-ish, conjuring a New Orleans vibe and adding a rip-roaring piano part, played with relish by Elton John.

The last word goes to Bolan’s son Rolan, who lost his father before his second birthday. Credited only as a backing vocalist, he comes forward to sing a few lines from Ride A White Swan, touchingly alone. 

The whole album makes a handsome tribute to Marc Bolan’s creativity, Hal Willner’s ingenuity and the staying power of top-class pop.

 

THIS WEEK’S CD RELEASES

By Tim de Lisle

 

Bright Eyes 

Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was                           Out now

Rating:

Few songwriters are more prolific than Conor Oberst, yet this album is the first in nine years from his best-loved band. The plan was apparently concocted at the Christmas party of the trio’s Nate Walcott, when he and Oberst shut themselves in the bathroom to call third member Mike Mogis on FaceTime. That’s the sort of move we usually regret within hours, but the reunion is a triumph. Oberst is on top form, bringing glowing melodies, elegant lyrics and effortless fluency. Bright Eyes make a big sound, using strings and horns to wrap these songs in a sumptuous sadness

Few songwriters are more prolific than Conor Oberst, yet this album is the first in nine years from his best-loved band. The plan was apparently concocted at the Christmas party of the trio’s Nate Walcott, when he and Oberst shut themselves in the bathroom to call third member Mike Mogis on FaceTime. That’s the sort of move we usually regret within hours, but the reunion is a triumph. Oberst is on top form, bringing glowing melodies, elegant lyrics and effortless fluency. Bright Eyes make a big sound, using strings and horns to wrap these songs in a sumptuous sadness

Mary Coughlan                                     Life Stories                                   Out Friday

Rating:

A living legend in Ireland, Mary Coughlan knows all about Life Stories. She has written a best-selling memoir and appeared in an autobiographical musical. Now, at 64, she pours all her experience – of abuse, addiction, the lot – into this album, largely co-written with Pete Glenister. Why Do All The Bad Guys Taste So Good, she wonders, but she has found her way to one of music’s good guys. Glenister works superbly with women, including Holly Palmer, two of whose best songs are covered here. He spotlights Coughlan’s voice, which can bleed like Billie Holiday or blaze like Shirley Bassey

A living legend in Ireland, Mary Coughlan knows all about Life Stories. She has written a best-selling memoir and appeared in an autobiographical musical. Now, at 64, she pours all her experience – of abuse, addiction, the lot – into this album, largely co-written with Pete Glenister. Why Do All The Bad Guys Taste So Good, she wonders, but she has found her way to one of music’s good guys. Glenister works superbly with women, including Holly Palmer, two of whose best songs are covered here. He spotlights Coughlan’s voice, which can bleed like Billie Holiday or blaze like Shirley Bassey

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