The Slider (1972)

The Slider is the seventh studio album by English rock band T. Rex, and the third since abbreviating their name from Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was released on 21 July 1972 by record labels EMI and Reprise. Two number-one singles, "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru", were released to promote the album. Issued at the height of the band's popularity, The Slider received acclaim from critics, reaching number 4 in the UK Albums Chart and number 17 in the US.

Background

At the start of 1972, T. Rex was riding a wave of superstardom propelled by four successive top 3 hits (including two number ones) and an 8-week run at the summit of the UK charts for Electric Warrior, which became that country's best-selling album of 1971. Fan hysteria at concerts was dubbed "T. Rextasy" by the press, and "Get It On" hit number 10 in America. Bolan had just left his old label Fly Records and formed T. Rex Wax Co., distributed by EMI, for his records. The first single released under the T. Rex Wax Co. imprint, "Telegram Sam", became the band's third number 1 hit upon release on 21 January 1972. It was under these auspicious circumstances that the songs which would comprise The Slider were written and recorded.

Songs and recording

Most of the songs for The Slider were written and demoed in the fall and winter of 1971, as the group toured the UK. Bolan claimed in interviews that the new album was his Imagine, in that in it he felt he had been frank and truthful about himself. Among the highlights was the opening track "Metal Guru", which Bolan described as a "festival of life song" where he related "Metal Guru" to "all gods around... someone special, a godhead. I thought how god would be, he'd be all alone without a telephone". Other tracks like the acoustic ballads "Spaceball Ricochet" and "Main Man" expressed a vulnerable fragility addressed to his fans, while the chugging boogie of the title track contained the revealing refrain "and when I'm sad, I slide".

Musically, outside of the ballads, the album was harder rocking than Electric Warrior, featuring several heavy metal-influenced songs like "Buick MacKane" and "Chariot Choogle" that Bolan cheekily labeled "Zep Rex", along with a further use of elaborate studio techniques (phasing, reverb, backwards guitars etc.) to achieve a glam rock sound. As on Warrior, Tony Visconti provided string arrangements while Flo & Eddie contributed androgynous backing vocals (although Visconti later claimed they sang on only three tracks, with he and Marc doing their best Flo & Eddie impersonation on the rest).

The first sessions for the album were held 1–3 November 1971 at Rosenberg Studios in Copenhagen, with Visconti producing. "Telegram Sam" and the B-sides "Baby Strange" (also to appear on the album), "Cadilac" (sic) and "Thunderwing" were all recorded along with an early version of "Spaceball Ricochet". On 15 November, overdubs and mixing took place at Trident Studios, where most of Bolan's early albums had been recorded.

On the recommendation of Elton John, the bulk of The Slider was recorded outside of Paris at Strawberry Studios in Château d'Hérouville to avoid British taxing laws. According to Visconti, the pressure to create another blockbuster record was huge. Production there began on 3 February 1972 with the recording of "Ballrooms of Mars" and overdubs to "Thunderwing". After a short tour of the United States, sessions reconvened at Strawberry Studios during 8–12 March, where backing tracks for "The Slider", "Rock On", "Metal Guru", "Mystic Lady", "Spaceball Ricochet" (remake), "Rabbit Fighter" and "Main Man" were laid down along with the B-sides "Lady" and "Sunken Rags" plus an outtake later titled "Buick MacKane and the Babe Shadow" on archival releases. Visconti recalls that Bolan was beginning to drink and use cocaine at this time, which affected his personality during the sessions. In spite of this, the recordings went quickly and efficiently, in contrast to the months-long process of recording Electric Warrior. Visconti remembers the happiest times making the record being late-night parties in the studio when "the French wine would kick in and we’d listen to the playback of the songs we’d done that day. We’d run around the building, having a ball. That was the fun part. It was worth all the stress to hear that these tracks were… scintillating".

Further recording was done from 31 March to 2 April back at Rosenberg Studios. These sessions produced "Buick MacKane", "Baby Boomerang" and "Chariot Choogle" along with a 12-minute rehearsal of new song "Children of the Revolution", with a note "For Ringo" on the tape box sheet as the song was to be used in the T. Rex concert film Born to Boogie directed by Starr that spring. Finally, backing vocals by Flo & Eddie were overdubbed at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, along with further overdubbing and final mixing, in early April.