Exhaustive two-DVD set chronicles peak of T. Rextasy
Twenty-eight years after the untimely death of T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan, this 1972 film gets the re-release it deserves. At a near-overwhelming 325 minutes, the comprehensive two-disc set offers a mix of concert footage and surrealistic vignettes. There’s a man dressed as a dormouse driving a red convertible with the characteristically top-hatted Bolan in the back. Waving a fly swatter, the bushy-haired songwriter looks like glam’s answer to Willy Wonka. Suddenly, a midget materializes and eats the rearview mirror. Later, Bolan jams in a basement studio in London’s West End with Elton John on piano and Ringo Starr—the film’s director and aforementioned dormouse—on drums. Erratic though it may be, Born to Boogie is an engaging document of the short-lived period when T. Rextasy ruled the music world.