T. Rex “The Slider” released on this date July 21st in 1972. Reprise Records, gatefold. The album notes credit Ringo Starr with the photographs on the front and back covers but apparently this isn’t the case; the photographs were taken by album producer Tony Visconti while Starr was busy filming T. Rex documentary Born To Boogie.

The LP reached #4 on the UK charts and #17 in the US; the single “Telegram Sam” made it to #1 in the UK. (Bauhaus would later cover “Telegram Sam” in 1980, rendering the glam rocking tune into an upbeat goth anthem.) Overall the album is slinky sexy, glam rock with dirt under its fingernails. Steve Huey writes about “The Slider” on Allmusic “[Marc] Bolan’s love of a good groove takes precedence over fast tempos or high-volume crunch. Lyrically, Bolan’s flair for the sublimely ridiculous is fully intact, but he has way too much style for The Slider to sound truly stupid, especially given the playful, knowing wink in his delivery.” I’m especially fond of this stanza from “Ballrooms of Mars” –

You dance

With your lizard leather boots on

And pull the strings

That change the faces of men

You diamond browned hag

You’re a gutter-gaunt gangster