What are you listening to right now?

T. Rex - The Slider

Quote:
The Slider is the seventh studio album by English glam rock act T. Rex, released on 21 July 1972 by record labels EMI and Reprise. Two singles, "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru", were released to promote the album.
It received acclaim from critics, and reached number 4 in the UK charts and number 17 in the US.

Quote:

T.Rex only had one major hit that got any significant amount of radio airplay in America, and it wasn’t on The Slider. The majority of T.Rex songs you’ve heard in movies, TV, or the radio came from the ever-essential Electric Warrior— an album that defined Marc Bolan’s boogie for T.Rex descendants across musical genres. But The Slider is, in many ways, the bold and boisterous younger brother of Electric Warrior.

Electric Warrior starts out with the quiet, cool, slow groove of “Mambo Sun”. The Slider starts with a wail– “Whoah OHH oh yeaaaaahhhhh!” Opening the album with “Metal Guru” kicks it off with a party, not a Bolan smolder. Not as cool, maybe, but it spells out its terms from “go”: This album is going to be fun as hell. It keeps the same whimsical ’50s-rock-meets-Lewis-Carroll lyrics that he minted in Electric Warrior (“Metal Guru has it been,/ Just like a silver-studded sabretooth dream,/ I’ll be clean, you know, pollution machine, oh yeah!”) and he definitely held onto that boogie.

Yes, those slow, cool driving power chords are found on the title track, wherein Bolan discusses how he’s never, never kissed a car before (it’s like a door). Actually, his love of cars was a theme– interesting for a man who couldn’t drive (and, tragically, died in a car crash– a correlation that Chuck Klosterman went on to point out in Killing Yourself To Live). “The Slider” builds with a steady blues riff, until Bolan wails, “And when I’m sad,/ I slide.” It’s a song that juxtaposes strings, backup singers, and that steady blues rhythm expertly.

The album goes through a few moods, but they all follow that “fun as hell” thesis statement. With “Buick McKane”, Bolan exudes a snarling lust. He gets flirtatious (with mystique, of course) on “Baby Strange”. He name-drops John Lennon and Bob Dylan while keeping it cool for the ladies on “Ballrooms of Mars” while killing it at the alliteration game (“You a gutter-gaunt gangster”).

Aside from being a solid record through and through, The Slider is a showcase for Marc Bolan: the icon and celebrity. He’s a Poet with a capital-P, he’s a superstar, he’s the next Beatles– that’s legitimately what people thought. He was confident (read: cocky), and he hung around with superstars– Ringo Starr, Elton John, and David Bowie were all friends. And for a while there, he was on top– watch Born To Boogie, the Starr-directed T. Rex concert film, where he plays The Mad Hatter (or himself in a top hat– who knows) and is worshiped by screaming British teen girls. He was the curly haired face of a glam revolution.

And why shouldn’t he be the face of some sort of revolution? One listen to The Slider is an indication that this guy knew how to sell “cool,” and he sold it with great music. And his big rock star hair didn’t hurt, either. His vibratto-laced coo is counterbalanced by his driving rhythm guitar. There’s a blue base in these songs, but they keep a definitive T.Rex gloss.

The Slider closes with another slow, cool rocker– “Main Man”. It’s a repetitive acoustic guitar number where Bolan’s baritone is met with an absurd falsetto harmony. But with a line like “Bolan likes to rock now,/ Yes he does,” it’s a song that gives you time to think about all the album’s flavors, be it the high drama of “Rabbit Fighter”, the pretentious intimacy of “Spaceball Ricochet”, or the old-time boogie of “Baby Boomerang”. Maybe it’s not the definitive T.Rex album, but man is it a good time.


51CMg7VZv2L.jpg
 
Just finished 15 tracks on the HDtracks 2017 Hi-Res Sampler download. All new stuff for me... some of it was pretty cool.

Listened to all of it thru the V-Moda M-100 headphones. Sounded great, but my ears were sore when I got done... cups too small for my big ears. Overall good music though.
 
Just finished 15 tracks on the HDtracks 2017 Hi-Res Sampler download. All new stuff for me... some of it was pretty cool.

Listened to all of it thru the V-Moda M-100 headphones. Sounded great, but my ears were sore when I got done... cups too small for my big ears. Overall good music though.

I'll have to give that sampler a try. Based on track titles it all looks new to me too. I'm following your headphone thread and the V-Moda's have me intrigued as well.
 
I believe it's new... stamped 2017. I have one from back in 2013 as well.
 
The Blessed Unrest album from Sara Bareilles via J River Media and the AKG 550 headphones.
 
The Hunter by Jennifer Warnes via J River Media and the AKG 550 headphones.
 
Brand new: Heartworms, The Shins.

Great songwriting, good recording quality, lousy headphones - oops, that's my fault - ok, that's better, got my AKG K 550 phones on, much better.
 
Hey, the K 550 phones are getting some press tonight!
 
Just to bass weak for me, but they still sound good, until I put on the V-Modas... see my headphone thread if you haven't. I sent you a couple of emails too about other stuff.

Winding down Jennifer Warnes and about to wind down myself for the evening.
 
Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters | Still River

I can only describe this wonderfully refreshing album as "just right." Ronnie skillfully mixes blues and smooth jazz into a style all his own to sweep you away on therapeutic landscapes of sweet, melodic sound.

51CVeiVEW9L.jpg
 
Billy Joel - Piano Man remastered SACD. Limited Edition # 4773 to be exact.

Beautiful recording!!
 
The Black Keys - Turn Blue

This is one of those recordings that I can honestly say sounds better on headphones or in my vehicle than it does in my listening room with speakers.
 
Joss Stone - various Youtube songs... on the A900's.
 
Gerry Rafferty - Night Owl

upload_2017-5-7_22-23-0.png
 
The Tubes - Love Bomb
Produced by the Brilliantly Amazing, Amazingly Brilliant Todd Rundgren

Side 2 - "Night People" through "Night People (Reprise)"

Asus Laptop (Win7-64) > Foobar2000 > M-Audio Fast Track C600 > AKG K 550 (I love 'em, Sonnie!)

Not available on Tidal, for some strange reason. It might be because the tracks on the 2nd side are a continuous gapless play, but only side 2, not side 1. Tidal might not have a good way to handle something like this.

Favorite Track: "Baby's Eyes"

Love_bomb_album_cover.jpg
 
Last edited:
I call this ballpark music... perfect song for between innings.



 
Yello - Touch

upload_2017-5-8_22-1-26.png
 
Yello - Motion Picture

upload_2017-5-8_22-16-19.png
 
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue (on the DT 770's)

upload_2017-5-8_23-26-59.png
 
Peter White - Glow

71S3wUcqZnL._SX522_.jpg
 
Gotta love The Band!

Greatest_Hits_(The_Band_album_-_cover_art).jpg
 
Pink Floyd "A Momentary Lapse of Reason"
Tidal HiFi
 
Pink Floyd "A Momentary Lapse of Reason"
Tidal HiFi

If I could stay awake any longer, I'd dive into that right now!
 
Back
Top