| "Solid Gold Easy Action" | |
| Cover: | T-rex-solid-gold-easy-action.jpg |
| Caption: | German picture sleeve by Ariola label |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | T.Rex |
| Album: | Great Hits (1972) |
| A-Side: | Solid Gold Easy Action |
| B-Side: | Born To Boogie |
| Released: | 1 December 1972 |
| Genre: | Glam rock |
| Label: | EMI |
| Producer: | Tony Visconti |
| Prev Title: | Children of the Revolution |
| Prev Year: | 1972 |
| Next Title: | 20th Century Boy |
| Next Year: | 1973 |
"Solid Gold Easy Action" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single on 1 December 1972 and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included on the 1972 Great Hits compilation album issued by EMI Records, as well as most CD reissues of Tanx. It was beaten to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart by "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" by Little Jimmy Osmond (one week).
Kerrang! magazine founder Geoff Barton, wrote in an article for Classic 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. This is one of many supposed 'prophesies' surrounding Marc Bolan's death.
A working version of the song known as "Fast Blues Easy Action" was recorded on 2 August 1973, 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 on Top of the Pops, with Bolan writing "for show only-live vocal-girl low low strings-please track loud" on the tape box. "Sold Gold Easy Action" was the first T. Rex single since "Ride A White Swan" not to feature Flo & Eddie on backing vocals, with two female vocalists named Sue 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.
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 of NME noting that the "main riff violates the speed limit" but otherwise "consists of cliches reworked to sound their own". Peter Jones of Record 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..."[1]
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 the Rhino Singles compilation.
| Chart (1972–1973) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Go-Set Top 40) | 39 |
| France (SNEP) | 68 |