In the early 1970s, what was known as “glam rock” was very much the in thing on the music scene here in the UK.
The likes of Sweet, Slade, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Wizzard and others ruled the charts with huge hit singles along with the , er, “questionable” early 1970s clothing choices.
Right at the very top of the tree were T. Rex fronted by the charismatic Marc Bolan. He and the band reeled off a string of number one singles and big selling albums. If you’re of a “certain age” you’ll remember many of them and if reading this getting rather nostalgic.
Behind all the hits, T. Rex put out a most fine series of albums. Arguably the finest of them being Tanx in 1973. I recall being given a copy as a birthday present after going to see Born to Boogie – the film made about T.Rex. That album long since lost or misplaced over the decades since.
However – Tanx has has a welcome reissue in a deluxe edition which comprises of two CDs in a seven inch gatefold cover so it looks and feels like a good old seven inch single.
The first CD being the original Tanx with the added bonus of the three singles which came before the album – Children of the Revolution, Solid Gold Easy Action and 20th Century Boy – together with their respective B-sides.
The second CD has twenty three tracks of fascinating rough studio mixes and various other versions and demos.
The album itself saw Bolan moving away from the full on strutting glam rock stomp to a more expansive style bringing in other elements.
Short, sharp, concise, precise songs generally between two to three minutes with one exception coming in at five minutes.
Tenement Lady and Rapids kick it off with the catchy glam groove. Steve Currie’s bass so clean, lean and melodic.
Mister Mister rather spacey then the sweeping atmospherics two minutes of Broken Hearted Blues. So much goes in to those two minutes.
Shock Rock and Country Honey just ninety seconds each back to the short, sharp glam hit before Factory Slim and the Factory Hen comes in as a short of symphonic electrified folk.
Mad Donna and Born to Boogie both irresistible hard rocking glam followed by the hippy Life is Strange.
The Street and Babe Shadow a glorious song with the wandering saxophone – then the big finale…….Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys.
This one’s a monster. A measured five minutes of meandering guitar, strings, symphonics, electric soul and even gospel style female backing vocals. You may think all that an odd mixture – though so talented as a songwriter Bolan was it’s all sublimely efforless.
Strangely, no singles were released from Tanx – though surely at least Born to Boogie should have been. Have a listen as see if you agree:
The bonus tracks of the preceding singles and B-sides all timeless classics – well, as is Tanx itself. The extra disc with the rough studio mixes add much to the interest.
Tanx was originally released in 1973 and coincided with the gradual fading out of the glam rock scene. Perhaps Bolan saw it coming with the changes in style on Tanx.
As good as an album it is, with glam starting to go out of fashion it was, future albums saw declining sales with the end coming all too soon with Bolan being killed in a car crash aged just twenty nine years old.
Tanx remains a fresh and relevant listen five decades later as to how good Marc Bolan and T.Rex were and how their influence remains.
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