This star-packed tribute to Marc Bolan’s genius? GET IT ON!

Every week, in the album chart, there’s a 1970s reunion. Classic releases by Abba and Queen, who have life memberships, are joined by David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and Bob Marley. And you can see why: these artists are old masters. Their hits are still delicious after all these decades.

Posterity has pretty good taste, though it can be forgetful. There are two glaring British omissions from this pantheon – Bryan Ferry, whose work with Roxy Music and on his own put him second only to Bowie as a creative force from 1972 onwards, and Marc Bolan of T.Rex, who lit up the charts from 1970 to 1973.

After starting out as a scattergun hippie, Bolan became the platonic ideal of a pop star – glamorous, impish, lovable yet elusive. He was a pioneering teenybopper idol, influencing Bowie among others, and although many have followed in his footsteps, none of them has made more charming music.

Now, 43 years after his death, he receives one of the biggest compliments known to songwriters – a tribute by Hal Willner, the producer who forged memorable records and concerts from the songs of Kurt Weill, Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman. Tragically, this double album also stands as a tribute to Willner, who died in April, aged 64, of the coronavirus.

Unlike most producers, Willner had a gift that was easily pinpointed. He was a musical matchmaker, born to introduce singers to songs. Here he gives Jeepster to Joan Jett, Main Man to Father John Misty, Solid Gold Easy Action to Peaches, and Cosmic Dancer to Nick Cave, who turns a slice of whimsy into a thing of bleak beauty.

Sometimes a singer appears and you’re not sure if it’s a boy or a girl, which is just as it should be. Where The Beatles had been boyish and the Stones laddish, Bolan was the first male superstar to be girlish. That spirit dances through Angelheaded Hipster and makes it more contemporary. One of T.Rex’s greatest hits, Get It On, has two identities: in America, where the title was considered too racy, it’s known as Bang A Gong. Willner maintains the duality by handing it to two acts, one from either side of the Atlantic. David Johansen of the New York Dolls turns it into late-night jazz, oozing loucheness. U2 jump at the chance not to sound remotely U2-ish, conjuring a New Orleans vibe and adding a rip-roaring piano part, played with relish by Elton John.

The last word goes to Bolan’s son Rolan, who lost his father before his second birthday. Credited only as a backing vocalist, he comes forward to sing a few lines from Ride A White Swan, touchingly alone. The whole album makes a handsome tribute to Marc Bolan’s creativity, Hal Willner’s ingenuity and the staying power of top-class pop.