1972- "X-Mas Flexi Message"

.....You would think that a musician routinely described as 'elfin' by critics would have more Christmas music in their catalog. During the 1960's Marc Feld had a hard enough time selling his own singles to worry about the holiday market. After failing as a Donovan knock-off, mod clothes horse and avant-pop provocateur (that last one with John's Children), Marc decided to indulge his love of Tolkien and formed a duo with a percussionist who went so far as to rename himself Peregrine Took. Marc himself continued to use the stage name he'd used professionally since 1965, Marc Bolan. [Some detective work by Mark Paytress found that the pseudonym was taken from actor James Bolam of the British TV series "The Likely Lads", about blue collar youth with middle class aspirations. That sounds appropriately mod.] The two found cult stardom as Tyrannosaurus Rex and actually poked into the lower end of the UK singles charts. Maybe all those creative writing professors who mechanically chant, "Write what you know" were onto something all along. After three albums he dropped his junkie bongo-playing partner for a bongo-playing heartthrob, went from acoustic to electric and made himself as available as possible for radio sessions, but it made no difference commercially. Someone, probably producer Tony Visconti, suggested they shorten the name. Most radio DJ's and music critics in England at the time were not like John Peel, an unlikely early fan of the band. They dealt with the avalanche of new music every week by relying on their preconceptions about the band, not by listening to the record. And since they were pretty dim generally they wouldn't make the connection between the old band and the new name until it was too late and the public had heard the records. From that point on they became 'T. Rex', switched from one EMI subsidiary label to another EMI subsidiary label, got haircuts and Marc covered himself with glitter confetti for a TV appearance. For the next two years (10/70-12/72) their singles reached: #2, #1, #1, #2, #1, #1, #2, #2. Every day was Christmas for Marc Bolan. So, at the end of that enviable run he sent out a fan club flexi single.

.....The earliest Christmas recording from T. Rex I could find was actually an impromptu Bolan solo recorded as a bumper for the Bob Harris Show on BBC Radio in December 1971. It's the last track on 3CD BOLAN AT THE BEEB Polydor 530292 3 (EU [really Germany]) 2007. It goes under the name "CHRISTMAS JINGLE" and is only 17 seconds long. In its entirety:

• "Christmas is a good time
• Christmas is a good time
• On the Radio-o-o
• If you listen to this show"

.....A year later the last T. Rex commercial single of 1972 was released. Anyone getting that first pressing found an unannounced spoken message right before the B-side:

• 7" T. Rex Wax Co. MARC3 (UK) December 1, 1972
• A) 02:20 SOLID GOLD EASY ACTION (Marc Bolan)
• B) [0:12 X-MAS RIFF]
• ---02:04 BORN TO BOOGIE (Marc Bolan)
• The message reads: "This is Marc Bolan here. I'd like to wish you all a super-funk Christmas and a golden New Year. Yeah!"
• this track can be found on CD TANX Polygram Chronicles 314 534 356-2 (US) 1997, but is listed as "X-MAS MESSAGE"
• It surfaced again on 2CD THE T. REX WAX CO. SINGLES A's & B's 1972-77 Edsel Records MEDCD 714 (EU[UK]) 2002 as "X-MAS RIFF"

.....That spoken message was probably recorded at the same time as the fan club flexi single, in November 1972 in Tony Visconti's home studio. The flexi starts with about 44 seconds of conversation followed by an original song. The conversation breaks down like this:

• (0:24) Marc Bolan "Hello babes, this is Marc Bolan, um, and I'd like to thank you all for a really fine year. We've had a really good time, been everywhere, and, um, 'spect you've had a good time yourselves, um, I hope you have a good Christmas, really good and we're gonna be on "Top Of The Pops" on the weekend over Christmas and we're in London and everywhere so at some point we're going to see you and be close to you so, and also have a good year and don't cry."
• (0:10) Steve Currie "Hello, this is Steve Currie here. Thank you very very much for all you've made us. We really couldn't do without you and I hope to see you all again soon."
• (0:07) Mickey Finn [or possibly Tony Visconti reading his part?] "This is Mickey Finn here and I'm wis-- [Marc interjects, "Never!"] and I'm wishing you a merry, merry, merry Christmas."
• (0:03) Bill Legend [actually woman's voice, obviously reading from a script] "This is Bill. Have I got a Christmas surprise for you, oh boy!"

.....The remaining 1:28 of the flexi is an untitled song. The whole band is playing, except that Visconti is playing Legend's part. The lyrics, such as they are, are here:

• All I want to do
• Is spend some time with you
• 'Cause I want to spend
• My Christmas with you
• All I want to say
• Is everything OK?
• 'Cause I want to spend
• My Christmas with you
• [Chorus] Want to spend my Christmas with you [repeat once]
• Everything I do
• Makes me feel like a zoo
• 'Cause I want to spend
• My Christmas with you
• [Chorus] Want to spend my Christmas with you [repeat three more times]

.....Flexis are usually giveaways, perfect for mailings or magazine premiums because while their sound quality is inferior to hard vinyl they travel much better. They're lighter and flexible (hence the name) and won't break in shipping. This track appears as "X-MAS FLEXI MESSAGE" on at least two box sets:

• 3CD A WIZARD, A TRUE STAR Edsel Records FBOOK17 (UK) 1996
• 4CD 20TH CENTURY SUPERSTAR Universal 493-452-2 (UK) 2002
• 3CD INTERSTELLAR SOUL Edsel Records EDSB4001 (UK) 2007 (really just a repackage of the 1996 box)

.....It also appears on a few rarer sources with tomorrow's entry.