"John Lennon Knows Your Name and I've Seen His.... ROCK!"

The Slider = Glam Rock Masterpiece.



Marc Bolan influenced so many, and this particular work is one of Glam's finest offerings. His crunching LesPaul, cooing vocals and blatant swagger on this disc define a moment in rock that was an exciting phenomenon in Europe. Unfortunately Bolan's huge popularity in England never really surfaced on America's shores short of "Get It On (Bang a Gong) from "Electric Warrior".



The tunes from this collection are some of Bolan's finest.

"Metal Guru" opens the disc with an exhilirating wail of joy and power. It's anthemic vibe never lets up. Flo and Eddie of The Turtles showcase their harmonies on this track and throughout the disc. They were so essential to this work's sound as is the production of Tony Visconti.



"Mystic Lady" is next and Bolan whispers a love song that no doubt melted many young girl's hearts at the time. How many of those young women identified with these lyrics: "The people in your life are cruel,keep on riding that hard road, the lovers in you life are few, keep on riding that hard road." Desperation and love within young females Bolan understood.



I could review this effort track by track but you get the idea.

The biggest standout on this album is the beautiful "Ballrooms of Mars" which many consider to be Bolan's finest moment. A hard rock ballad that completely encapsulates youth, glamour and rock and roll, paying homage to Bolan's heroes, Dylan and Alan Freed. It's perfect.



Pick up "The Slider" along with "Electric Warrior" and soon you'll want everything T.Rex has ever produced. Brilliant.

Definitive T. Rex

If you ever wanted to know T. Rex's significance in the music world, look no further than this album. "The Slider" became Marc Bolan and his band T.Rex's calling card. This album when released in '72, sold amazingly well. The term T.Rexstacy was often used to describe the hysteria caused at a T. Rex concert back in the early 70's.

From the bombastic opening track, "Metal Guru," to the final track, "Lady," you get as close to a perfect album as you can get. Marc's lyrical poetry combined with the production talents of Tony Visconti equate pure musical brilliance.

You get quite a variety of tracks on this album, but all in all, this can only be described as sounding like T. Rex; I really find it hard to equate to anyhting else. This truly defines what became known as the T. Rex Sound. My personal favorites are the added singles, "Thunderwing," "Lady," and album tracks "The Slider" and "Rock On."

Marc was never as big in the United States as he was in the United Kingdom (much to his chagrin), but this album came as close to breaking him big here in the US than anything else he put out.

Disc Two contains alternate versions as well as demo takes. It's not bad listening, but serves the purpose of a musical blueprint, detailing the thought process behind each song. Much of this material was released on "Rabbit Fighter: The Alternate Slider".

Marc Bolan was much more than a pretty face. He wrote, played, and later in life, produced his own music. T. rex has earned it's rightful place as one of the of great rock and roll bands of all time. This album is one of many Bolan compositions that justifies that honor.

My T Rex obsession began here

Make no mistake about it, Electric Warrior is the best place to start if you're new to T Rex but if you're feeling inspired this isn't a bad place either. When I bought Electric Warrior I was instantly drawn into the heavy rocking sound and the incredible voice of Marc Bolan. He instantly became my favorite glam rocker ever. It really wasn't until I picked up this set that I was blown over entirely. When you hear these two discs you begin to wonder how this guy was so over looked in the US. In my opinion he was the best thing going in the early 70's. Anyway, with this set you get two discs, one the remastered studio album with two very worthwhile outtakes at the end and on the second you get alternate versions and early demos along with a few more outtakes. All of this along with good liner notes which detail the time and era in T Rex history. The second disc may not grab you initially, but it's really worth owning. The outtakes are really good accoustic renditions of the original and they really give the songs a whole new set of characteristics that I find myself turning to as much as the original album. On songs like Ballroom of Mars I actually find myself preferring the acoustic version. Anyway, I highly recommend this set for anyone that is looking for a great rock and roll record.