The Slider

The Slider's album cover was my first experience of T. Rex. I can remember one of my mom's friends had this album. I could not tell you about the music, but the cover stuck with me. For the longest time, "Bang a Gong" was the only T. Rex song I knew. But I eventually familiarized myself with and liked The Slider's immediate predecessor, Electric Warrior. So it should come as no surprise that The Slider sounds a lot like Electric Warrior.

There is never a bad time or a wrong situation for T Rex. Somehow, I’d never heard The Slider before. Even though there are perhaps less standout moments than in Electric Warrior, it’s so smooth, I could have this on repeat all day and never tire.

Interesante álbum. No conocía a la banda. Me gusto

Good - Glam distilled to it's essence

Surprisingly good to me, was the last T.Rex album from this list (Electric Warrior) also this good? Clearly, I didn't think so. This album just did not sound like something released in the early '70s; it sounds like a '2000s indie group paying homage to the '70s through a more modern lens. Some songs, like the psychedelic-acoustic cuts 'Ballroom of Mars' and 'Main Man' reminded me of late-era MGMT, while many of the bluesier moments sound straight out of the Jack White and White Stripes playbook, 'Buck McCane' especially. But the real highlight was just how good the actual core collection of songs here were. Like, T.Rex can write a domn good chorus and vocal hook. And the record is surprisingly varied; you get the slower psych jams, the harder blues-rocky tracks, and the more traditional glam stuff from the '70s as well. Overall, just a super fun and consistently enjoyable record, not really a dull moment. Again, makes me want to revisit that other T.Rex album to see what I was missing there because this is totally up my alley. And again, so un-70s in so many ways.

Opening track sounds a lot like Slade to me. So I like it. Track two is good. If the album keeps up like this I will really enjoy it. “The slider” reminds me of “Revolution” by the Beatles. I really like it.

Awesome

5/10

Tokio tipažo dainavimas man niekad nelabai patiko, visos dainos gan panašios, meh.

It didn't sound bad, but as soon as I've heard any song I've already forgotten about the previous one.

Good good

T. Rex dares to answer the question “What if David Bowie was straight?”

Fun, early '70s glam rock—not a serious note in this album, just pure whimsy.

Liked it

a pretty fun album that i liked a lot more than i thought i would. even if i wondered several times over the course of the album if i was hearing the same riff over and over... it didn't really matter because it all blended together into a pleasant and upbeat listen through. highlights - metal guru, mystic lady, rock on, the slider, buick mccane, rabbit fighter, ballrooms of mars, chariot choogle

one of the best albums that came from this website

Not as good as electric warrior but still a glam rock pioneer

Fun but eventually monotonous

Definitely found this a fun listen! I didn't like every song, I didn't vibe with Telegram Sam for instance. I quite liked Mystic Lady. Overall I liked it.

I’ve been putting off listening to this and now I’m in it I can say it’s not as bad as I thought it’d be. But it is pretty bad.

8/10

Not a big TRex fan. This wasn't bad, some good songs, but really samey and nothing to write home about in my opinion.

Glittery fun superbly executed but let down by overly repetitive themes.

3.72

Early 70s glam rock.

Three listens it’s took to get over the fact that the opening track ‘metal guru’ is the only decent track on this album. I kept listening because I felt there was more to it. Unfortunately I didn’t find a lot more to it in those listens, I still think the opening track starts with such a swagger that it doesn’t give the rest of the album chance to compete. That been said there is nothing wrong with the rest of the album it’s just all very much the same and at times lacks energy and left me wanting. I suppose that’s the damage an opening track that felt that strong does. Very David Bowie esque and his track The prettiest star for example I could hear in this album all over the place. Best track- I liked quite a few obviously the opening track. But actually the best track on the album is probably the slower ‘ballroom of Mars’ and now I feel Like I’m contradicting my review and proving why I’ve listened 3 times and still can’t work out how to judge this easy to listen to glamorous album! I’m also struggling to pull out a worst track.. I might need to rethink massively where I was going score wise and give a 4th listen… So after 4 math listen. Best track- ‘ballroom of Mars’ Worst track- ‘main man’ but it was a struggle to pick one. Probably my third or fourth change of score but I’m going to go with an 8/10

T Rex - The Slider The musical equivalent of the swinging saloon doors bursting open as a swaggering cosmic cowboy strides to bar, orders three fingers of whiskey, gives a look to the showgirls that makes them blush, beats everyone at poker the disappears into a star flecked sunset. Tony Visconti firing out production techniques and sonic tomfoolery left, right and centre that he'd subsequently re-use with Bowie. And in the middle of it, 3 chords coupled with nursery rhyme lyrics and a stomping backbeat. Yeah there's not much Innovation in the songwriting but, barring one or two mis-steps, they all land with a punch. No wonder the likes of Johnny Marr and Guns n Roses cite it as a major influence. Best Track - Could have been one of the singles but going for the hard hitting Buick Mackane Worst Track - Baby Strange. A swing and a miss. 8/10

Glam Rock. Definitely listenable. I see the influences. Love their hits.

Kind of a re-hash of his previous efforts. Feels strong and confident, but the songs are all pretty T-Rex-y, which is OK, but a little goes a long way.

The old T Rex sounds yep they mostly sound similar but they mostly sound great.

good shit 8/10 best song - buick mackane

I think T.Rex is my favorite of the glam stuff. It's the most listenable and each song individually is pretty great. I think this one is less memorable than Electric Warrior.

It wasn’t obviously bad, but it was completely forgettable. In fact now only 24 hours later the only thing I can remember was that the title track had a decent groove to it somewhere. That’s it.

nice enough

Mehhhh

Sólida banda, no muy sólido álbum pero bueno

Está bien, me gustó escucharlo, pero no destaco ninguna canción ni nada muy wow. Me gustaría escuchar más de la banda.

Groundbreaking glam.

favs: mystic lady baby boomerang buick mackane telegram sam chariot choogle rating 1.9/5

This was pretty gas. { YEAH ! }

Rad album. Never listened to any T Rex except bang a gong. This was so freaking good. 10/10.

Raw and groovy.

Pretty good for classic-ish sounding rock

Kinda slow and boring. Not my cup of tea

I’m not talking to John about my reviews before I post them anymore. Mine was going to be better! It was “now I see where my chemical romance and the wiggles got their inspiration.” Or maybe it would have been a connections category. But he ruined it.

My Chemical Romance meets The Wiggles... And I kind of liked it!

T. Rex is a band whose influence is bigger in. Post-modern, next and following generation sort of way than how how the music has itself has lasted. Site there’s some classic songs from them, but mainly it’s about the bands they influenced and the bands that followed them. I enjoyed this at a 5. Probably deserves a 3. Going to give it a 4.

Yeeeees! Love me a bit of T.Rex! Not many of my favourites are on this one and I still loved this. A great example of 70s rock, well worthy of inclusion on the list!

It's very fresh

Divertido

Straight ahead rock sound, with interesting lyrics. T-Rex was a whole vibe, man.

Meh - def better T.Rex albums out there

A very enjoyable glam rock offering. 6/10

Top notch glam rock. 4/5

A fun and creative rock album.

This is a superb album. What a talent

rather boring, kinda groovy at times but most tracks kind of felt very samey and dull.

Precursor to Suede’s sleazy sex sound.

Early 70's rock/glam-rock. Nothing terribly interesting. Not sure why there are multiple albums by them on the list. I don't get it. Pitchfork: n/a Rolling Stone: n/a

Nice!

Ik vond het heel leuk!! Kende ik totaal niet

This is pretty slick, even if a lot the tracks sound like they are about to morph into ‘Bang a Gong’ at any moment.

It’s fine. Paint by numbers 70s glam rock.

Gillade i början men sen blev det så same:y att det blev nedgradering

Överlag trevligt och med några toppar.

Jäkla trevligt sound! Stark avslutning.

Nikdy som nepochopil mániu okolo t. Rex. Mne tento zvuk nikdy nesedel.

I loved this album at the time of its debut but I found that it did not hold up and sounded rather dated.

My dad is a big fan of T. Rex so I head some of it when I was very young. After that I have only really heard one song and its not on this album. As for this album it was okay. I didn't dislike listening through it but it felt boring and nothing made me want to come back to it again. It has no standout hits and a lot of the songs are slower than I would like.

Nakon nekog vremena sam postala veliki ljubitelj Electric Warriora pa ću na osnovu tog iskustva i s ovim sačekati drugu priliku da budem potpuno poštena. Već čujem da nije baš toliko genijalan ali vidjet ćemo je li bliže nego što mi trenutno djeluje.

Mark Bolan is one of those guys whose work never would be uncool. Maybe it’s the pain or sleaze in his voice or the infectious of the guitars, but T. Rex is one of a kind. Do yourself a favor and press play

I don't care for this. Not sure why.

This has got plenty of groove and funk and panache.

Favorite songs: Main man, Telegram Sam, Baby boomerang

I have one reason for not ever listening to this. An obsessed fan who hung out at blackwater. Just refused to listen. It’s not bad at all.

(3/5) Bang a Gong, I guess? What makes this special enough to be on the list? It's obviously early, Bowie-like, glam and the music is fine. Nothing really sticks out, but nothing offended either. This feels like filler.

I'd obviously heard of T. Rex before (Bang a Gong and Teenage Dream in particular), but I had never heard a single song off of this album, so had little in the way of expectations. This album met that with what felt like a unique blend of rockabilly, psychedelic rock, Broadway musicals, and David Bowie. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes driving, there's enough variety here to stay interesting, if not entirely memorable (though Telegram Sam sounds enough like Bang a Gong to stand out, if not in a good way). The end result is an album that I liked but didn't love, so I'm happy to round it up to a 4/5.

192. The Slider - T. Rex (1972) 9.2.26 Variety: 5 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 4 = 4.8 rounded up to a 5 ""Me, I funk, but I don't care/ I ain't no square with my corkscrew hair"" I love the juxtaposition we see between albums sometimes. Our last one - "Close to the Edge" by Yes was possibly as far as you can get in rock from short, catchy, hummable songs and this one is nothing but that. What they have in common though is a focus on the cosmic. with spacey imagery and fluttery, diaphanous lyrics. Marc Bolan is one of those guys who I came to later in life, but not too late I think. "Get It On" was still a classic rock staple when I was growing up and had almost turned into background noise, so that by the time I began hearing his other, less mainstream stuff pop up ( mostly in movie soundtracks I think) I was pretty blown away that this was the same guy. I mean, it's obvious now but I think there's a real deadening effect that happens when you hear even a great song ( which it is) over, and over, and over. It kind of sucks that our brains work like this. When I was finally able to dive into the T/ Rex discography, I snapped up as much as I could find, and was pretty stunned at how chock full of melodic hooks the stuff was compared to how enduring it was. I think a lot of this can be explained by the ma himself, with his sleepy, untraditional, ( I think) heavily processed vocals, and the almost defiantly underproduced presentations in even his best material. It totally tracks that one of the few times he went whole hog BIG with his sound, he scored. It's going to be hard to talk about his stuff without constantly comparing him to Bowie, but I'll try and keep it limited to the idea ( no doubt unoriginal) that of the big glam rock acts of the early 70s, Bowie can be seen as the Apollonian schemer, always the most ultra-aware of his own image, and a master curator of his own material. Artifice in the service of mass entertainment. Bowie cultivated and wanted his success. Bolan by comparison is so far in the Dionysian mode that his career ( as successful as it was) appears like the sloppy, disorganized, unself-aware accident that it most certainly was not. I think it really comes down to the fact that Bolan was an legit, inveterate weirdo, both in his musical choices and his life. Bowie was just the best at playing one. But to a lot of people their music is bound together under that glam umbrella, with both guys dropping killer melodies left and right. Bolan didn't have as much control over his life unfortunately, and in addition to burning out after an intense period of creativity, his legacy was also handicapped by an early death. Bowie I think deserves to have won out ( they were close friends apparently), but I think Bolan would have had a lot more cool shit to say had he lived. THE TRACKS Side A "Metal Guru" - What a great start to the album. Lush, supremely catchy, and full of all of the stuff I love about Bolan's music. His weirdo glam take on the 50's rockabilly vocal delivery, Elvis hiccups and slapback echo included. The girl group background vocals. The bare bones, but delightfully lazy rhythm. The tasteful strings to sweeten the pot. And he delivers a bouncy, sugary sweet bit of ear candy, with gibberish lyrics, and plenty of "YEAH"s and "BABY"s. This is the glam rock sound distilled into a perfect 2:25. "Mystic Lady" - A delicate, acoustic guitar line that Mr. Cat Stevens would be proud of opens this pretty number where we get to see Bolan throw down some romantic, if still spacey vibes. A lot of the same elements from the previous track are on display here as well, but remixed into a softer, more yearning take, with the beautiful, if slightly maudlin, strings providing the core melody and the background vocals being even more Doo-Wop inspired. If you came for complicated lyrics or sentiments, look elsewhere. "Rock On" - This track delivers a much dirtier, raunchy sound with the fuzzed out bass approaching "Spirit in the Sky" levels, and the swinging, low, and slow beat giving this an almost weirdly bluesy feel. Garage Space Blues? Psychedelic Alien Slow Motion Bubblegum Boogie Woogie? Take your pick. ( something I learned later was that Flo and Eddie , previously of Turtles fame provided background vocals here! And I assume the rest of the album? And here I thought I couldn't love this thing more...) "The Slider" - An even sleezier feeling rocker, this time even slooooooooooower. And with some very interesting percussion which I think is a shaker, but it almost sounds like a snake hissing. This one is all style and, laid back swagger, with Bolan delivering his one of his more arch vocal performances. Also, the strings remind me a little bit of E.L.O. Awesome stuff. "Baby Boomerang" - The hits they keep on comin! We get the return of that Norman Greenbaum crunchy, fuzzed out bass, this time with some top shelf singalong chorus moments, and some supremely stupid, and fun lyrics. This is Fats Domino as filtered through mile thick beer bottle glass, and a thick haze of weed smoke. "Spaceball Ricochet" - Is it possible for this guy to write something that's NOT catchy? Well, maybe not AS catchy. Some more acoustic stylings, and the dynamics are more evened out on this one. This is Bolan on auto-pilot, and it's still more charming than the best stuff off of a host of albums by lesser artists. But I've got to keep the standard high here when sorting these. The Outro though is some primo shit though, and almost makes me want to give it the bump. This should have been the whole song though. "Buick MacKane" - This is by far the most out and out rocker on the album, with the BIG drum and bass sound. This is the track you play your older, cooler brother who's really into Zeppelin and Deep Purple to convince him that "See! T. Rex isn't weenie-rock!". It's Bolan at his most crowd pleasingly sexy, and feels closest to a live in the studio jam as anything I've heard from the band. My biggest complaint is that it just seems to cut out before it's properly finished. I can't help but think this was a conscious choice, as it ended up on the final cut, but feels very one-takey. Side B "Telegram Sam" - Yet another minor classic on an album filled with them. I definitely first heard this via the ( arguably better ) Bauhaus cover, but this is still pretty great. It's Bolan at his most playful, with the silly lyrics of the verse bordering on the absurd, contrasting with the more serious sounding chorus, where he shakes off the stupor only momentarily, before drifting back into it again. Jungle Faced Jake, Golden Nose Slim, and the rest belong up there along with old Flat-Top with his monkey fingers and toe-jam footballs. Cover by Bauhaus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WLc8MsB3Z4 "Rabbit Fighter" - We get a small taste of some guitar hero theatrics on this one, but they are tempered with one of Bolan's dreamiest, prettiest bits with the outro on this one. Love this song, but that last bit MAKES it, and most of my favorite songs of his are nothing but this sort of thing. "Baby Strange" - We get a some proto-Diamond Dave scatting to open this one, but just a small slice. Otherwise this is a four on the floor sizzly, crunchy downtempo rocker. "Ballrooms of Mars" - Bolan turns up the slapback echo ( who would have thought it possible?) to deliver what seems like his attempt at a romantic ballad. A slow dance number for all the gutter-gaunt gangster freaks still at the bar at 5AM, who long ago burned through the last of the disco biscuits, and who are going to have a long, painful walk home in their lizard leather boots in the blinding sun. "Chariot Choogle" - What other word could be used to describe this crispy, crackling, groove but "choogle"? Things start off with a menacing repeated riff, along with some uncharacteristically aggressive "YEAH!"s. If the last rack was meant to be romantic, this one is a full on Tex Avery Wolf -come-on. Bolan's eyes are telescoping out of his eyes and his tongue has rolled out like a red carpet onto the floor. The Hendrix-style guitar heroics are just icing on the cake. "Main Man" - We end things on a strong note with another super-catchy, sing-a-long track that's even more simple than the simplest song we've yet seen. "Yellow Submarine" for barbiturate crowd. HIGHLIGHTS - "Metal Guru" - "Mystic Lady" - "Rock On" - "The Slider" - "Baby Boomerang" - "Buick MacKane" - "Telegram Sam" - "Rabbit Fighter" - "Baby Strange" - "Ballrooms of Mars" - "Chariot Choogle" - "Main Man" MIDLIGHTS - "Spaceball Ricochet" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS If we play the ( fun for me) game of mapping the big acts of a decade of genre onto the iconic Big Four bands of the 60s - David Bowie is the Beatles of Glam Rock, and I think T. Rex is the Stones. In friendly competition with each other, and just as productive, but a much more stripped down traditional rock n roll adherent. Just looking at all the influences I heard on this ( Doo-wop, Rockabilly, Trad Blues, Bubblegum Pop) cements that point of view for me. I guess that makes Roxy Music the Kinks, being the darker, artsier, unappreciated din their time weirdos. And then Slade gets the Who spot by default maybe? Big, brash, too loud, and obnoxiously catchy. I loved this album when I first heard it, and I can't say my opinion has changed much. Electric Warrior might JUST beat it out overall, but it's a very tight race. We'll get to that one sooner or later, so we'll see where things fall. I would absolutely recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of any of the other glam acts mentioned in this review, and especially to fans of David Bowie. You might listen to Bolan's stuff and think "Bowie is by FAR the better of the two. What is the big deal with this guy, I don't get it" and I couldn't blame you. But I think even if his stuff doesn't wow you, this and Electric Warrior at least I think are important context pieces that go towards understanding what Bowie was up against and reacting to. And that's not even touching on how influential this stuff was. I could write a whole separate ( probably longer) piece just about that. Take your vitamins and listen to these. Possible Turn-Offs might Include: - sleepy, echoey vocals that might come across as super affected - strangely underproduced mixes which make everything sound smaller than you might think it should - VERY simple ideas, verging on the childlike/ hippy dippy in subject matter You might enjoy this if you like: - songs steeped in melodic hooks - intimate, cozy atmospheres, not common to the subgenre - lots of strange imagery and a playful, almost Lewis Carroll-like disregard for the strictures of logic in lyrics - crunchy, fuzzy, warm guitars - the vibe of a space alien who learned to make music by listening to garbled, barely audible transmissions from light years away of Chuck Berry, Elvis, and the Archies, and who can only perform while doped to the gills with Dramamine. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Nope FURTHER LISTENING - Hunky Dory by David Bowie - Slayed? by Slade - The Ballroom Blitz & More Sweet Hits by the Sweet - Kimono My House by Sparks - For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music - Here Come the Warm Jets by Brian Eno - Dandy in the Underworld by T. Rex - Damned, Damned, Damned by the Damned - In the Flat Field by Bauhaus - Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam & the Ants - Love by The Cult

Once again, an act I've never heard of before today. I think these lists are made for novices like me more than all the music snobs that tend to go through them. Well, here I am now, entertain me. T. Rex's "The Slider" is quite basic. And again, I have novice ears, but each track seems to find its tempo and chords and then never deviate. I did not find this album compelling in the least. Its kinda hard to put into words why. The music is good and his voice was not distracting to me. It just seemed rote. Like there was nothing underneath waiting to be revealed or burst forth. And I know, its like I explained exactly what music is- a musician made some noise on an instrument at a certain tempo and did that for 3-4 verses. You're right, but man was I needed something to grab my attention from this and it never did. 2/5

Fun album. Goes on too long

Early 70s glam rock. Not bad. Not great. Just there. Wouldn’t listen again. 2.75

Favourite Songs: Buick Mackane

Tbh I got bored

Classic raunch rock. Great record

Was fine. Not as good as the other one I know.

compared to electric warrior i think i prefer the overall heavier sound of this album but the tracklist is much less tight, this one kinda drags on a bit while electric warrior doesn't overstay at all. metal guru is probably the best t. rex song i've heard tho. low 4/5

Geluisterd en vrijwel niks van onthouden. Ontzettend niet-aanstootgevende SkyRadio muziek met her en der een lollige tekst. Alice Cooper maar dan wat minder uitgesproken. Een soort glam die nog uit de kast moet komen. Uiteraard klinkt het wat oud, maar het is niet gruwelijk storend. Creatief gezien kan ik hier qua rating ook he-le-maal-niks mee. Tussen de 2 en de 3.

Great sounds-a bit predictable?

The heartbeat of glam rock and a roller coaster of noise and genres. I vaguely recall the cover artwork causing a bit of a stir in rural East Anglia at the time. Telegram Sam and Metal Guru are the standout songs.

T. Re ffic

I praised Electric Warrior as evidence T Rex wasn't just a singles band. But The Slider suggests I was a bit hasty. The two singles here are genius, and Telegram Sam is my favourite T Rex song. But many of the other tracks carry standard blues riffs, or recycled ideas from other T Rex songs, without the swagger of the other album. Still pretty good after all these years though. 3*

Some nice classic rock, more mellow than say and AC/DC but a little harder than fleetwood

Great rock album! I liked the sequence and flow of the songs, with great production and general vibe of the band.

It’s pretty good! A couple of duds, but there’s some really catchy ditties on here

Good Glam Rock fin but I will probably only hear this on the Radio

issa another rock album but there is some charm/personality to it (glam rock?), just not enough for me to REALLY like it

Good rock and roll record, maybe not as good as the other one on here. I did get one of my favourite life experiences out of this one, though, which is when my wife hears a song and lights up and says “Guns n Roses covered this one!” and then gets embarrassed by her own knowledge of Guns n Roses deep cuts. That’s good shit to me.

Mostly classic and Glam Rock, which is not really my thing. There were a few songs that stood out, but for the most part unmemorable. Will not be listening to it again or seeking out more by the band. The Slider was the standout track. low 3 Stars

“The Slider” is the follow-up to the successful album “Electric Warrior.” I haven’t listened to the latter in its entirety yet (but I will - it’s on this list), but “The Slider” is certainly no step forward. Setting aside comparisons to its predecessor, “The Slider” is definitely a good album. Marc Bolan was a great songwriter, singer, and guitarist, and he carries this album effortlessly. Plus, I just really like the hard rock style infused with folk, jazz, and rock ’n’ roll influences. The only question I have is whether you really need to listen to this album if you’re already familiar with its far more famous predecessor...

T. Rex is underated.