| ""Solid Gold Easy Action"" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 German picture sleeve by Ariola label | ||||
| Single byT.Rex | ||||
| from the album Great Hits (1972) | ||||
| B-side | "Born to Boogie" | |||
| Released | 1 December 1972 | |||
| Genre | Glam rock[1] | |||
| Length | 2:14 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Songwriter | Marc Bolan | |||
| Producer | Tony Visconti | |||
| T.Rex singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Solid Gold Easy Action is a song by English rock bandT. Rex, written byMarc Bolan. It was released as a single on 1 December 1972[2] and reached number 2 in theUK Singles Chart.[3][4] The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included on the 1972Great Hits compilation album issued byEMI Records, as well as most CD reissues ofTanx. It was beaten to number 1 in theUK Singles Chart by "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" by Little Jimmy Osmond (one week).
Kerrang! magazine founderGeoff Barton, wrote in an article forClassic Rock magazine that the first two lines of the song,"Life is the same and it always will be / Easy as picking foxes from a tree", appeared to predict Marc Bolan's own death in 1977. The number plate of the car Bolan was in during the fatal collision with a tree was FOX 661L.[5] This is one of many supposed 'prophesies' surrounding Marc Bolan's death.[6]
A working version of the song known as "Fast Blues Easy Action" was recorded on 2 August 1972, with the final take put down at Strawberry Studios, Chateau d'Herouville in France between 21-25 October. A special mix of the recording was used for the group's appearance onTop of the Pops, with Bolan writing "for show only-live vocal-girl low low strings-please track loud" on the tape box.[7] "Solid Gold Easy Action" was the first T. Rex single since "Ride A White Swan" not to featureFlo & Eddie on backing vocals, with the female vocal duoSue and Sunny used instead. This, plus the ultrafast tempo of the song, were noted by Bolan in a contemporary interview as attempts to disrupt the normal T. Rex formula.[7]
Like the previous single "Children of the Revolution", "Solid Gold Easy Action" stalled at number 2 on the UK chart as Bolan's popularity began to show the first signs of a mild slip. It was also less well received critically, with Danny Holloway ofNME noting that the "main riff violates the speed limit" but otherwise "consists of cliches reworked to sound their own". Peter Jones ofRecord Mirror wrote that the song had a "shoulder shrugging approach which is a bit boring" yet conceded that "Marc has a dead-centre knack of knowing what is commercial..."[7]
There is a 12-second un-credited spoken intro on the b-side, titled "Xmas Message", which was later called "Xmas Riff" when it was included in theRhinoSingles compilation.[14]
| Chart (1972–1973) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Go-Set Top 40)[15] | 39 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[16] | 13 |
| France (SNEP)[17] | 68 |
| Germany (GfK)[18] | 6 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[19] | 4 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[20] | 5 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[4] | 2 |
(Bolan) started writing manic chant-along glam-rock hits such as "Metal Guru," "20th Century Boy," "Solid Gold Easy Action," and "Children of the Revolution."
Always previously described as "Xmas Message", we've recently discovered (on a handwritten white label demo) that Bolan referred to this short, seasonal spoken-word piece as "Xmas Riff". So that's what this super funk message to his fans now becomes.
