The Slider
	Produced by Tony Visconti
	Released on July 21, 1972
	UK CHART POSITION #4 . . . US CHART POSITION #17
	Find it at GEMM
MS 2095 cover

The Slider is all style and no substance but, oh, what style it has! This slice of vinyl represents one of glam’s great achievements -- in fact, it might be the quintessential glam rock record. You’ll want to leave your brain at the door for this one though; otherwise, you might sprain it trying to glean meaning from songs like “Chariot Choogle,” “Rabbit Fighter” and “Metal Guru.” The trick is to let this music whoosh through your head like a cool Spring breeze, clearing out the cobwebs in the process. Thirteen tracks, all winners, given the same spit and production polish from Tony Visconti, The Slider is a smoother ride than the slightly contentious Electric Warrior. It never gets heavy, just a little sad sometimes (“Spaceball Ricochet,” “Ballrooms of Mars”), and even those moments are sweet, guilty pleasures. Any number of indelible T. Rex moments occur on The Slider via impenetrably hip phrases (“Got giraffes in my hair, And I don’t care”) and allusions to the glitzy world Bolan lived in. Again, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman provide the perfect foil to Marc’s voice, as essential to the T. Rex sound as Visconti’s serendipitous strings. Together with Electric Warrior, The Slider represents T. Rex at the peak of their abilities. Subsequent records seemed like pale copies by comparison as Bolan sought to adopt more of a funky swagger. Here, Marc is still the innocent decadent, caught in the tuneful tornado of his own creation. In short: The Slider is not the answer, it’s the antidote.

MS 2095 inner gatefold	MS 2095 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. METAL GURU    2:23
2. MYSTIC LADY    3:11
3. ROCK ON    3:26
4. THE SLIDER    3:24
5. BABY BOOMERANG    2:16
6. SPACEBALL RICOCHET    3:34
7. BUICK MACKANE    3:32
8. TELEGRAM SAM    3:45
9. RABBIT FIGHTER    3:55
10. BABY STRANGE    3:03
11. BALLROOMS OF MARS    4:07
12. CHARIOT CHOOGLE    2:43
13. MAIN MAN    4:15
14. *CADILLAC
15. *THUNDERWING
16. *LADY
    
    All songs written and composed by Marc Bolan

CREDITS

MARC BOLAN -- vocals and guitars
STEVE CURRIE -- bass
MICKEY FINN -- hand percussion congas and vocals
BILL LEGEND -- drums
Howard Kaylan -- backing vocals
Mark Volman -- backing vocals
Tony Visconti -- string arrangements
Dominique Freddy Hansson -- engineer
Ringo Starr -- photography

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