Tanx

This article is about the musical album. For the mathematical function tan x, see Tangent function.
Tanx
Studio album by T. Rex
Released 28 January 1973
Recorded Chateau d'Herouville, France
Genre Glam rock
Length 35:03
Label EMI (UK), Reprise (US)
Producer Tony Visconti
T. Rex chronology
The Slider
(1972)		 Tanx
(1973)		 Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow
(1974)

Tanx is the eighth studio album by English glam rock act T. Rex, released on 28 January 1973 by record label EMI. Tanx was a musical departure from previous works: still containing tracks in the vein of The Slider, Marc Bolan showed his interest for both American soul music and funky music. Female backing singers appeared on a few tracks. New instruments such as saxophone and mellotron were used, allowing the T. Rex sound to evolve.

Upon its release, Tanx peaked at number 3 in the UK Albums chart.[1]

History and music

The recording sessions first took place in France in August, and then in October 1972 after the American tour. In the US, the band had appeared on stage, accompanied with female soulful backing singers on a few dates. Bolan recorded "Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys" with other female singers who had worked for Aretha Franklin.[2] They doubled Bolan on the soulful choruses but were not credited on the sleeve. "The Street and Babe Shadow" with saxophone as one of the main instruments, showed Bolan adding a funky side into his music. "Life is Strange" and "Broken Hearted Blues" were ballads closer to the T. Rex sound while "Shock Rock" was a boogie track.[2]

Bolan wanted to get away from the traditional T. Rex. He spent time in the studio to overdub all the instruments and add effects. The opening number " Tenement Lady" allowed the band to use a mellotron and Bolan used a phased effect on his vocals.[2]

Release

Tanx was released on 28 January 1973 by record label EMI in the UK and Reprise in the US. Tanx was a hit in UK and Europe but it failed to match the success of The Slider in the US, reaching only No. 102 in the album charts. Curiously, the popular single "20th Century Boy" recorded during a stay in Japan and not in France,[2] was not included on the album, which may have affected sales, as the album (unlike its two predecessors) did not include a hit single. The album is also widely known to be the last of T. Rex's string of successes since Electric Warrior; their next album Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow would prove to be a financial failure and put Bolan's musical career in jeopardy until 1976. It's also T. Rex's last album released under Reprise Records in the US, as Light of Love, released under Casablanca Records (like Reprise, distributed through Warner Bros. Records), would be the last of their albums released in the US.

Tanx was remastered for CD by Edsel Records in 1994 as part of their extensive T. Rex reissue campaign. A number of bonus tracks were added. A companion release, entitled Left Hand Luke (The Alternative Tanx), was released in 1995 and contained alternative versions, studio rough mixes and demos of the main album and bonus tracks. A combined album digipak was released in 2002. In 2003, further recordings from the Tanx sessions were released by Thunderwing Productions Limited (TPL), the owners of several original ¼", 1" and 2" Master Tape recordings of Marc Bolan & T. Rex. These tracks were released as The Tanx Recordings.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Pitchfork8.3/10[4]
PopMatters7/10[5]
Rolling Stoneunfavourable[6]
The Quietusfavourable[7]

At the time, Tanx received favourable reviews in both the NME and Record Mirror.[2] However, it was derided by Rolling Stone as an uneven departure from the unique melodic rock and roll that made the band famous. Paul Gambaccini wrote "This one album might have made a good EP, since there are four worthwhile tracks, but the remaining nine are flights of Bolan's fantasies that might be interesting to his numerous devotees but less so to more casual listeners", calling it "a sad indication that Bolan really hasn't progressed and I can't see many people being truly pleased with it. But I've been wrong before." Gambaccini nevertheless praised tracks like "Mister Mister," "Electric Slim and the Factory Hen," and "Broken Hearted Blues."[6]

Retrospective reviews have been more favourable. Whitney Strub of PopMatters wrote "One reason for Tanx's commercial failure was its lack of the immediacy for which glam was known. [...] But what doomed the album on the charts is precisely what earns it reinspection today: the songs, for the most part, flow cohesively from one fractured mini-narrative to the next".[5] Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork, whilst praising the record, called it "a difficult album".[4] The Quietus wrote "It's an excessive record in the best possible sense", qualifying "Tenement Lady" as a stunning opener. Neil Kulkarni considered that "Electric Slim & The Factory Hen" was a nod to black soul music, a style that Bolan had always wanted to explore: Kulkarni wrote that this was two years before David Bowie "tried the same move on Young Americans".[7]

Legacy

"Life is Strange" was the soundtrack of several scenes of the film Dallas Buyers Club in 2013.

Track listing

All tracks written by Marc Bolan.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Tenement Lady"  2:55
2."Rapids"  2:48
3."Mister Mister"  3:29
4."Broken Hearted Blues"  2:02
5."Shock Rock"  1:43
6."Country Honey"  1:47
7."Electric Slim and the Factory Hen"  3:03
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Mad Donna"  2:16
2."Born to Boogie"  2:04
3."Life Is Strange"  2:30
4."The Street and Babe Shadow"  2:18
5."Highway Knees"  2:34
6."Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys"  5:18

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "T. Rex uk charts". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Paytress, Mark. "Tanx booklet - liner notes". Edsel Records. 2002
  3. ↑ Prato, Greg. "Tanx – T. Rex". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 Deusner, Stephen M. (5 February 2006). "T. Rex: Tanx / Zip Gun / Futuristic Dragon / Work in Progress - Album Reviews". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 Strub, Whitney (22 January 2006). "T. Rex: Tanx / Bolan's Zip Gun / Futuristic Dragon / Work in Progress". PopMatters. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 Gambaccini, Paul (24 May 1973). "Tanx review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 Kulkarni, Neil (3 March 2014). "Pop, Fragility and Dissolution [Tanx -review]". The Quietus. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
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