(Polygram Chronicles)
Frequently disregarded as superfluous teeny-bop noise unable to establish an American audience, Marc Bolan and T-Rex are now cited as a major musical influence by a large portion of the pop elite and are suddenly big business in the country that rejected them nearly 25 years ago.
Despite charting with "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" early in 1972 (No. 10) and then creating a minor stir on these shores with The Slider later that same year, America proved to be a frustrating market for Bolan, a major superstar in Britain at the time these three records were originally issued.
Hot off the success of '71s Electric Warrior and still riding the "Bang A Gong" buzz; industry predictions for The Slider ran high and an American version of Bolan-mania (or T-REXtasy) was widely-predicted.
Receiving a respectable amount of label support and released amidst a flurry of promotional fanfare, "Telegram Sam" struggled to reach No. 67 on the charts before vanishing that summer; while tracks such as "Metal Guru," "Rock On," "The Slider," "Baby Boomerang" and "Baby Strange" - all of which would've sounded great on the car radio - never stood a chance.
Bolan's fuzzed out and bastardized Chuck Berry riffs, spunky proto-boogie beats, diminutive, semi-androgynous appearance and quirky lyrics about kissing cars, automatic shoes, Purple Pie Pete and silver-studded saber-tooth dreams never found favor with radio programmers eager for the next Cher, Argent or Eagles single; and T-Rex, after a brief, marginally successful American tour, returned home to bask in the glory of a fan frenzy similar to Beatlemania and plot their next move.
Taking his glammish image to the extreme on 1973s Tanx, Bolan scared off yet more of middle America with a silver-tinted, feather-boaed, half-naked, heavy-lidded, eye-shadowed, thoroughly suggestive album cover.
Not as immediately gratifying a piece of ear candy as the collection of singles that was its predecessor, Tanx nonetheless boasted several tracks on a commercial par with Bolan's bopping best, most notably "Born To Boogie," "Rapids" and "Mister Mister," showcased convincing, albeit brief, traces of metal, psychedelic and blues influences, contained lyrics that occasionally made sense (to others besides Bolan) and expanded the reflective muse previously explored by the Jeepster on "Main Man" with "Highway Knees," "Life Is Strange" and "Broken Hearted Blues."
Credited to Marc Bolan & T-Rex, a lifestyle of rock and roll excess had considerably dulled Bolan's once sharp pop sensibilities and 1974s Zinc Alloy - his answer to the commercial failure of Tanx - finds the band on the brink of dissolution, his shamefully lightweight songs swamped in overproduction, Yoko-caliber backing vocals provided by girlfriend Gloria Jones, "Interstellar Soul" (which features a chorus of "Bullshit! Bullshit!") as the only track that hits any sort of mark, and all traces of the happy-go-lucky Bolan bop replaced by pasty-faced, second-hand funk and the sort of faux hippy mysticism that made his pre-abbreviation days so forgettable.
All three Chronicles reissues feature singles, B-sides and non-album material as bonus tracks. The Slider includes "Cadillac," "Thunderwing" and "Lady"; Tanx boasts a holiday message (wishing you a "superfunk Christmas") from Marc and the pre-_Tanx singles "Children Of The Revolution," "Solid Gold Easy Action" and "20th Century Boy"; while the otherwise abysmal Zinc Alloy includes "Midnight," "Sitting Here" and the excellent "The Groover" - all recorded during sessions for Tanx.
