T. Rex Album: “There Was a Time: Live at Middle Earth September 23, 1967”

It's a nice glimpse into the earliest days of Marc & Steve. It seems to be recorded on primitive equipment (perhaps by an audience member), so it's not the kind of record you'd play at a party. But if you're a diehard fan (like me) of this era, you'll get a kick out of hearing the energy and musicianship that was evident. It also includes a few "demo" style tracks, the best of which is "Dwarfish Trumpet Blues".

Will you listen to it more than once or twice? Probably not.

Japanese label Captain Trip, as many of you know tend to release plenty of hard-to-find and obscure titles that would likely otherwise remain unavailable. This T. Rex rarity is an unreleased archive gig from their VERY first live concert performance {as a duo - Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrine Took}. Took place on September 23, 1967 at the semi-famed Middle Earth Club. Reason I'm giving this CD a two-star rating is because of it's poor sound quality, YET most of the lyrics here are somewhat understandable. If anyone ever COULD clean up the sound and reissue this disc, that would be great. My guess is that whoever discovered this archive on an aging cassette, likely did their best they could to make it sound as 'decent as possible'. Definitely for die-hards and completists.