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.

The Slider received acclaim from critics, and reached number 4 in the UK charts and number 17 in the US.

On the recommendation of Elton John, The Slider was recorded outside of Paris at Château d'Hérouville to avoid British taxing laws. Production started on March 1972 and the basic recordings were completed in Strawberry Studios in five days. One of the songs recorded at Chateau was "Metal Guru". Bolan described the song as a "festival of life song", and that he related "Metal Guru" to "all gods around... someone special, a godhead. I thought how god would be, he'd be all alone without a telephone".

Further recording was done at the end of March in Rosenberg Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The backing vocals by Flo & Eddie were recorded at Elektra Studios in Los Angeles, in April.

Like all previous T. Rex albums, The Slider was produced by Tony Visconti.

The album notes credit Ringo Starr with the front and back cover photographs. The photographs were taken the same day that Starr was filming the T. Rex documentary Born to Boogie at John Lennon's estate, Tittenhurst Park. Producer Tony Visconti, however, disputes that Starr took the photograph, stating "Marc handed me his motorized Nikon and asked me to fire off two rolls of black and white film while we were on the set of Born to Boogie. Ringo, the director of the film, was busy all day lining up shots. But Marc apparently saw a photo "credit" opportunity and gave Ringo the credit for the photos."

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