T Rex Tanx: Expanded And Remastered CD

The 1997 reissue of TANX features 7 additional tracks that did not appear on the original release; "Children Of The Revolution," "Jitterbug Love," "Sunken Rays," "Solid Gold Easy Action," "Xmas Message," "20th Century Boy" and "Free Angel."
T. Rex includes: Mark Bolan (vocals); Steve Currie (bass); Bill Legend (drums).
Includes liner notes by Mark Paytress.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
This two-disc 2002 edition is packaged in a digipak and plastic slipcase.
Disc one includes seven non-album single sides in addition to the original album.
Disc two includes 23 "work in progress" versions and demos, which mirror the original album's running order.
Includes a 16 page color booklet featuring lyrics, photos, and memorabilia.
Includes liner notes by Mark Paytress (Marc Bolan's biographer).
T. Rex: Marc Bolan (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Mickey Finn (vocals, congas, percussion); Steve Currie (bass guitar); Bill Legend (drums).
Additional personnel: Howard Casey (saxophone); Tony Visconti (Mellotron, background vocals).
By 1973's Tanx, the T. Rex hit-making machine was beginning to show some wear and tear, but Marc Bolan still had more than a few winners up his sleeve. It was also admirable that Bolan was attempting to broaden the T. Rex sound -- soulful backup singers and horns are heard throughout, a full two years before David Bowie used the same formula for his mega-seller Young Americans. However, Tanx did not contain any instantly recognizable hits, as their past couple of releases had, and the performances were not quite as vibrant, due to non-stop touring and drug use. Despite an era of transition looming on the horizon for the band, tracks such as "Rapids," "Highway Knees," "The Street & Babe Shadow," and "Born to Boogie" contain the expected classic T. Rex sound. The leadoff track, "Tenement Lady," is an interesting Beatlesque epic, while "Shock Rock" criticizes the early-'70s glam scene, which T. Rex played a prominent role in creating. Other highlights include one of Bolan's most gorgeous and heartfelt ballads, "Broken Hearted Blues," as well as the brief, explosive rocker "Country Honey." Tanx marked the close of what many consider T. Rex's golden era; unfortunately, the bandmembers would drift off one by one soon after, until Bolan was the only one remaining by the mid-'70s. ~ Greg Prato
There were more successful T. Rex albums, notably THE SLIDER, but without any hit singles, this collection seems to win favour as the most cohesive and interesting. The reissued CD has the generous bonus of seven tracks, including the largely ignored single "Children Of The Revolution." The expanded booklet has excellent sleeve notes from Bolanologist Mark Paytress; unfortunately, the designer decided to make them totally unreadable with ludicrous overprinting. This album clearly demonstrates there is more to the Bolan catalogue than the radio-flogged "Get It On" and "Telegram Sam." He was a fascinating lyricist, who could hope to put the line "myxomatosis is an animal's disease" in a song and get away with it.
Conventional wisdom concerning Marc Bolan is that TANX was the beginning of the end, but the two-disc 2002 reissue of the album goes a long way toward rectifying that false impression. TANX certainly tweaks the T. Rex formula, bringing Flo and Eddie's harmonies forward in the mix and adding horns and more keyboards. The songwriting is more varied as well, with ballads like "Broken Hearted Blues" and soulful rockers like "Mad Donna" amid the usual glam boogie. Although the TANX album proper did not score any hit singles in the States, this expanded 2002 edition collects several utterly essential singles that were released around the same time, including the immortal "20th Century Boy" and "Children of the Revolution." These songs led to a renewal of interest in T. Rex when they were used in an SUV ad and the film MOULIN ROUGE, respectively. There's also an entire second disc of a