T Rex on TOTP

[Mark Tinkler]

Nobody knew what they were or their worth I'm afraid - junked is the operative term in this case.

[Peter Elliott]

Thanks for the heads up info MarkT!

Sad to read that Bolans video collection was junked. I am however intrigued by the Johns Children film clip... I know they did once shoot a promo clip but never heard of any footage with Bolan in the band so that in itself is a nice discovery.

I look forward to the DVD and the promo footage as well as Tony Visconti showing how those two songs were recorded, especially "Ride A White Swan"... a record I think still sounds fresh and unique to this day.

[Brian Evans]

Am I right in thinking that there is material that the BBC supposedly don't have that is available on DVD? I am talking about such performances of Children of the revolution and Solid Gold easy action which was on the Glam rock video that came out in 1989?

[atomic23]

for MarkT
Many thanks for the info. Didn't think it looked like Beat Club although it was similar.
The DVD release is another must-have, sounds great.
Please tell me that Tyrannoasaurus Rex footage will be included in the extras too.
Any chance of a more detailed list of what the extras will be?

evanswho

Am I right in thinking that there is material that the BBC supposedly don't have that is available on DVD?

Lots of the ZDF/BBC TOTP material is available on DVD. All the T.Rex footage (apart from '20th Century Boy' which doesn't exist in full) is on the 'T.Rex On TV' DVD which is a sensational collection. The same DVD unearthed a fantastic old b&w performance of 'Ride A White Swan' from French TV in 1970. A must have DVD for any Bolan fan.
BR Music have issued lots of DVDs featuring many of the ZDF TOTP performances.

[Mark Tinkler]

I'll post a complete set of the extras tomorrow - but not alot of archive as it's cost prohibitive and so I'm afraid the Tyrannasaurus Rex new find is NOT on the DVD.
On the doc on Friday you will see that I showed the John's Children to Andy & Chris from the and and they were stunned by it as they had certainly never seen it and didn't knw it existed.

The T Rex on TV DVD is indeed a good 'un and hard to beat in terms of it's archive content - I think you will all have a few surprises on Friday night if you tune it though!! Some archive certainly not seen in the UK before...

[Mark Tinkler]

as promised, here are the extras for the DVD release of "MARC BOLAN: THE FINAL WORD" which NBC/Universal are releasing on (I think) 5th Nov in addition to a 77 min version of the documentary which I have to say has an almost completely re-written script to the BBC version this Friday:

Deleted Scenes
“Grandad”
Marc’s guitar playing
Marc’s accent

Extended Interviews
Memories of Marc
A Premonition
The Marc Bolan School

Promotional Films
"Get It On (Bang A Gong)"
"Jeepster"
"Children of the Revolution"

In The Studio
Tony Visconti with the original master tapes of "Ride a White Swan"
Tony Visconti with the original master tapes of "Jeepster"

[atomic23]

Thanks for the info, looks like another must-have Bolan DVD.
Great the three promos are included, have you managed to get hold of good prints of 'Jeepster' and 'Get It On' then? Both of these promo films have been issued on video and DVD in pretty awful quality before.

[Mick A]

Hello everyone.
Although I've been browsing this informative site for three or four years now, only today have I signed up.
I had to mention that to my knowledge, but please don't hold me responsible (!!!), we will see Marc performing "Teenage Dream" from TOTP '74. It came from a guy's home tv recording. Don't know the quality but must be decent for broadcast. Here's hoping.

Thanks.

[Mark Tinkler]

Sorry, that footage wasn't available for me to use in the prog this Friday. I tried to get it but...

[Mick A]

Shame that Mark. Will we get to see "Teenage Dream" in any way shape or form then ?

So if that's not the unseen TOTP footage then what is then ?

Thanks.

[Mark Tinkler]

A few shots of "20th Century Boy" from 1/3/73, some shots of "Hot Love" from 11/3/71 and also "Sold Gold Easy Action" from 7/12/72. But as I mentioned before, these are quite short bits - the original edit of the opening of the doc was based completely around about a minute of the 1/3/73 "20th Century Boy" but although the sound is there, the pictures have almost completely been replaced as you will see... I hope!! I am in the process of sending the material I acquired from ZDF back to the BBC - as well as some missing radio stuff.

But I hope there will be other performances of Marc & T Rex that will be new to the viewers of this forum as well, TOTPs notwithstanding.

And "Teenage Dream" is a track that is not featured in the doc - I'd heard a whisper that the ITV doc was going to use it, as indeed they did and I was trying to avoid duplication.

In terms of the promos, I used what I could get! Nobody knows where the masters are so I used the best I could find - but the DVD extras will see them in their original 4 x 3 as I suggested that buyers of the DVD would not be best pleased to see them arced to 16 x 9 - though I'm afraid they are in the documentary itself.

[Tim Disney]

Thanks for the info Mark. The Tivo is set and looks like I'll have another DVD on my shopping list :-)

[atomic23]

That's good news about keeping the original aspect ratio for the promos, thanks!

The ITV programme did feature 'Teenage Dream' but used footage from a Disco performance, they didn't show the lost TOTP material.

[Mick A]

Yeah. That got me thinking re: the Teenage Dream TOTP performance 'cos I've watch the doc twice now & I never saw it either.

Thanks MarkT for your information regarding Friday's programme. Really looking forward to the DVD.

[Bob Savage (robstar)]

The "teenage dream " footage used in the ITV doc was the familiar ZDF Disco one of Bolan live in the german tv studio. Does there really exist a TOTP one?