The Slider

EMI released it in the UK and Reprise in the US, with Visconti producing. The first sessions took place in Copenhagen in November 1971, where Telegram Sam was recorded. Most of the album was cut at the Chateau d'Herouville outside Paris, a studio Elton John had recommended, and working abroad also helped avoid British taxes. Backing tracks for The Slider, Rock On, Metal Guru, Mystic Lady, Spaceball Ricochet, Rabbit Fighter and Main Man were laid down there from 8 to 12 March 1972, and Flo & Eddie added their vocals in Los Angeles in early April. Visconti said the pressure to make another blockbuster record was huge, and remembered late-night playbacks at the chateau as the happiest part.

Bolan called the heavier songs, Buick MacKane and Chariot Choogle among them, Zep Rex. The sleeve credits Ringo Starr with the black and white photographs, taken on the Born to Boogie set at Tittenhurst Park, but Visconti has said he took them himself.

It reached number 4 in the UK and number 17 on the Billboard 200. British reviews were mixed: NME's Charles Shaar Murray panned it, while Richard Williams of The Times praised Visconti's arrangements and production. Later writers were warmer. Pitchfork's Andy Beta wrote in 2019 that it caught Bolan at the height of his powers, and the Guardian's Alexis Petridis wrote that almost every track on it and Electric Warrior could have been a hit single.