Tanx

Album review

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 And The Factory Hen," thumping rockers ("Shock Rock,") rockabilly trifles ("Born to Boogie,") and swaggering metallic blues jams (The 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 the 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.

© Tim Sendra /TiVo