Tanx

This article is about the musical album. For the mathematical function tan x, see Tangent function.

Tanx
File:Tanx.jpg
Studio album by T. Rex
Released	28 January 1973
Recorded	February–March 1972 at Abbey Road Studios London; October–December 1972 at Strawberry Studios, Paris; EMI Toshiba Studios, Tokyo, Japan; AIR Studios, London, England
Genre	Glam rock
Length	35:03
Label	EMI (UK), Reprise (US)
Producer	Tony Visconti
T. Rex chronology
The Slider (1972)The Slider1972 Tanx (1973) Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974)Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow1974

Tanx is the eighth studio album by English glam rock act T. Rex, released on 28 January 1973 by record label EMI.

Recording

Earlier sessions at Abbey Road Studios in early 1972 included "Left Handed Luke", "Country Honey", "Electric Slim & the Factory Hen", also "The Groover" and "Blackjack" but these versions were not featured on any original studio album. The earlier Abbey Road sessions were either shelved or destroyed, and those songs would be re-recorded at Strawberry studios. The early sessions of "Blackjack" and "The Groover" are featured on The 20th Century Superstar box set.

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" 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.

Reissues

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 (see below). 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
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Pitchfork	8.3/10
PopMatters	7/10
Rolling Stone	unfavourable

At the time, Tanx was critically derided by journalists as an uneven departure from the unique melodic rock and roll that made the band famous. Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone 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."

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". Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork, whilst praising the record, called it "a difficult album".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Marc Bolan. 

Side A
No.	Title	Length
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.	Title	Length
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

1994 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
14.	"Children of the Revolution"	2:30
15.	"Jitterbug Love"	2:59
16.	"Sunken Rags"	2:54
17.	"Solid Gold Easy Action"	2:20
18.	"Xmas Riff"	0:11
19.	"20th Century Boy"	3:41
20.	"Free Angel"	2:12

Left Hand Luke (The Alternative Tanx)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tenement Lady / Darling"	2:49
2.	"Rapids"	1:59
3.	"Mister Mister"	2:49
4.	"Broken Hearted Blues"	2:08
5.	"Country Honey"	1:50
6.	"Mad Donna"	2:19
7.	"Born to Boogie"	2:09
8.	"Life is Strange"	1:47
9.	"The Street and Babe Shadow"	2:20
10.	"Highway Knees"	2:32
11.	"Left Hand Luke"	5:17
12.	"Children of the Revolution"	1:04
13.	"Solid Gold Easy Action"	2:13
14.	"Free Angel"	2:14
15.	"Mister Mister (Acoustic and Bass Demo)"	3:32
16.	"Broken Hearted Blues (Acoustic and Bass Demo)"	2:08
17.	"The Street and the Babe Shadow"	2:14
18.	"Tenement Lady (Acoustic and Bass Demo)"	1:35
19.	"Tenement Lady (Acoustic Demo)"	1:53
20.	"Broken Hearted Blues (Acoustic Demo)"	1:50
21.	"Mad Donna (Different Lyrics / Acoustic Demo)"	1:45
22.	"The Street and the Babe Shadow (Acoustic Demo)"	2:36
23.	"Left Hand Luke (Acoustic Demo)"	1:58

The Tanx Recordings
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tenement Lady"	3:18
2.	"Darling"	1:46
3.	"Rapids"	4:39
4.	"Mister Mister"	3:31
5.	"Broken Hearted Blues"	2:16
6.	"Shock Rock"	2:36
7.	"Country Honey"	2:06
8.	"Electric Slim & the Factory Hen"	3:16
9.	"Mad Donna"	4:10
10.	"Born to Boogie"	2:10
11.	"Life is Strange"	2:39
12.	"The Street & Babe Shadow"	2:17
13.	"Highway Knees"	2:35
14.	"Left Hand Luke"	5:26
15.	"Children of the Revolution"	3:32
16.	"Jitterbug Love"	3:59
17.	"Solid Gold Easy Action"	3:31
18.	"20th Century Boy"	3:57
19.	"Free Angel"	2:21

Personnel

• Marc Bolan – vocals, guitar
• Mickey Finn – conga, hand percussion, vocals
• Steve Currie – bass
• Bill Legend – drums
• Tony Visconti – mellotron, string arrangements, backing vocals, recorder
• Howard Casey – saxophone
• Elton John - Piano (uncredited)

External links

• Tanx at Discogs (list of releases)