By the time of The Slider’s release in 1972, David Bowie (aka Ziggy Stardust) had absorbed T. Rex’s fey extraterrestrial vibe, and the band’s glam rock main man, Marc Bolan, had already passed his creative peak. But even though The Slider revealed Bolan as a two-trick pony, with “Bang a Gong” boogie on one side and fairy-dust ballads on the other, the album has many moments where the formula clicked, especially the exuberant U.K. hit “Telegram Sam” and the spooky “Ballrooms of Mars.” The CD reissue unearths no new tracks, but it includes a booklet by Bolan biographer Mark Paytress that puts T. Rex’s early-’70s chart-topping success in context.
