2008-03-07 A true labour of love.....but those critics make me angry !!

The author of this book, has, with meticulous care & evident affection, put together a really marvellous chronology of Marc's life (with obvious emphasis on the 1960's onwards).
There are details of Marc's recording sessions, record releases, TV & radio appearances, concerts, media interviews & so on.
These are laid out in almost a "diary" format, with relevant dates & what was going on in Marc's life & career, on those dates.
This is interspersed with reproductions of concert advertising & reviews from critics, of both records & live performances (some of these critics are supportive of Marc but others are very certainly not !)
What struck me, as someone who is a huge Bolan fan & has been for some years but was too young to really remember him,when he was alive, is how very vicious, personal & unpleasant some of these reviews were (I had heard this of course but was still surprised, when seeing the reprints here, at the ferocity & complete absence of attention paid to the music, the focus being on Marc,rather than his music. Some of it is just plain wicked & spiteful, not to mention pretty childish & I do wonder how some of those critics sleep at night - but then, hopefully, they don't)
Thnakfully, in many quarters, Marc's contribution, influence & importance is now acknowldged but you can see from some of these reviews where the seeds of derision, so often heard, were sown (Charles Shaar Murray, the same man who labelled the Clash as just a garage band, is one of the main but not only, culprits)
Back to the book though - I loved it. A real must, it's ideal for any Bolan fan who borders on the obsessive.