Tanx - T.REX***

Tenement Lady/Rapids/Mister Mister/Broken Hearted Blues/Shock Rock/Country Honey/Electric Slim & The Factory Hen/Mad Donna/Born To Boogie/Life Is Strange/The Street & Babe Shadow/Highway Knees/Left Hand Luke & The Beggar Boys

For nearly three years the glam rock group T. Rex had enjoyed enormous teenybop adulation in Britain. However, soon after the release of Tanx Bolanmania began to abate, a process accelerated by the increasingly repetitive nature of his music. (US:102 UK:4)

“Tanx would prove to be the last great T. Rex album. Bolan and his crew of glitter splattered rock ‘n' rollers would go on to make a few more records before his death. But nothing after Tanx would come anywhere near the quality of this."

“Starting to slip a bit. Everything is starting to sound the same. Still, not a bad album and it still rocks in a glam kind of way. Their previous recordings are better but this is still a good listen.”

“Here's a little secret. All of T. Rex's songs sound alike. Fortunately it's a good song, and Bolan tries to branch out his sound on Tanx with the use of a little bit of soul singers peppered in the background.”

“Marc Bolan's voice is almost arrogantly perfect for his tunes. His exaggerating way to sing cuts through the rich sound tapestries effortlessly, breathing mystery and sensuality to soaring melodies, while his lyrics remain innovative and strange.”

“Right about here Bolan lost the plot. Or at least started repeating him self too blatantly. Has its moments, but not that many, but still enough to give it a spin every few years.”

“There must be times in every artist's career when they begin to question the validity of their music and style and there is no better example of a performer in such a dilemma than T.Rex's Tanx. Whether it was Bolan's attempt to throw off the shackles of the teenybopper image, or a conscious effort to distance himself from the excesses of other full-on glam acts, or a cynical response to catch the prevailing trend for black music - who knows? Whatever, it simply didn't work”

“Tanx presents a fascinating mixture of sounds and styles. The most familiar tracks are those that borrow from the framework of previous efforts, big glam bombast. Fun and memorable as these songs are, they are overshadowed by the tracks that see the band stretching itself.”