In 1972,
T. Rex were still riding high on the afterglow of the glam rock explosion, but
Marc Bolan was ready for something new. During the recording of
Tanx, he looked to America for inspiration and came up with a rough-and-raw, blues-inspired sound that was tempered by
Tony Visconti's post-psychedelic production techniques and
Bolan's unerring hook-making abilities. The album is filled with short and incisive songs that hit hard and leave the listener breathless as it toggles between Mellotron-heavy cosmic ballads like "Electric Slim & the Factory Hen," thumping rockers ("Shock Rock"), rockabilly trifles ("Born to Boogie"), and swaggering metallic blues jams ("Rapids") that are daubed with
Bolan's mystical poetry and jagged guitar riffing. Not a huge change from previous albums, but the scope is smaller and more intimate;
Bolan aims the songs for small clubs and bedrooms more than stadium stages, and it's a nice change of pace. Sometimes, as on "Broken Hearted Blues" or "Life Is Strange," he even manages to sound human in a sweet way he never had before. On the other end of the spectrum are songs where he jumps headfirst into rock & roll excess in a brilliant way. Check the epic-length "Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys," which adds barrelhouse piano runs, gospel-style backing vocals, an orchestra of Mellotrons, and one of
Bolan's weirdest lyrical flights, for a bracing example of
T. Rex at their biggest. The album-opening "Tenement Lady" is another example of
Bolan firing on all cylinders as he struts magnificently through a slinky rocker that shifts halfway through to a swirling piano ballad that sounds like
Elton John deconstructed. This wide range of styles and sounds found on
Tanx could be seen as
Bolan looking for a sound that works, and that might be true. It's also true that everything he and the band try on the album -- from rocking like they were trying to knock down the studio walls to breaking hearts on sweet dream melodies -- works like a charm, and even with a lamentable lack of hits,
Tanx ends up being one of the best
T. Rex albums.
[The 50th anniversary reissue of the album adds the same bonus tracks as many previous editions; the singles "Children of the Revolution," "20th Century Boy," "Solid Gold Easy Action," and their B-sides. It also adds a second disc that consists of Alternate Tanx: Left Hand Luke, a version of the album made up of alternate versions of the tracks, plus another batch of demos recorded for
Tanx and the concurrent singles. It truly gives a full picture of where
Bolan and the band were at the time, and even though the versions have been released elsewhere, it's good to have them all housed under one roof.] ~ Tim Sendra
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