Does Marc Bolan – king of glitter, pioneer of crushed velvet pantaloons and early 70s hitmaker supreme – need any more praise? If you are the Who manager Bill Curbishley, who produced AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T Rex along with director Ethan Silverman, the answer is most definitely yes. “I felt he deserved universal acclaim,” says Curbishley. “His life was cut short, as [were] a lot of people’s, but he didn’t achieve the acclaim and the fame that Jimi Hendrix did.” Well, the exact level of Bolan’s position on the fame meter may well be a source of dispute – particularly as far as the US goes, which admittedly Bolan never conquered to anything like the same extent as his chum in glitter, David Bowie – but he’s never been short of devoted admirers.
Least of all the lineup of musicians – from grizzled rockers such as U2 and Nick Cave to slightly less grizzled singer-songwriters including Maria McKee and Beth Orton – who have assembled to record a cover-versions album (of the same title), and of which this film is basically a record. (The record’s producer, Hal Willner, sadly died in 2020.) It’s a pleasant enough watch, listening in as these various acts grapple with whichever Bolan masterwork they’ve opted to try – though there’s not much in the way of on-screen fireworks on show, and in any case the film doesn’t get to linger on any single performance; you’ve barely got to grips with one song before it’s off to another.
