Electric Warrior was the second album by British rock group T. Rex, and is widely considered to be one of the quintessential glam rock releases. In 1987, it was ranked #100 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the best 100 albums of the period 1967-1987. In 2003, the album was ranked number 160 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
One of the best-known songs on the record is “Get It On”,whose title was changed in the United States to “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” (as there was another hit song at the time called “Get It On” by the group Chase). This was T. Rex’s biggest single and their only U.S. hit (#10). The track is followed by “Girl”, which is separated from the rest of the album by an unusual flugelhorn arrangement. Elsewhere is “Cosmic Dancer”, an acoustic-based song propelled by producer Tony Visconti’s string arrangements. This track features over the opening credits of the film Billy Elliot.
Also present on the album are Flo & Eddie, whose background vocals are most prevalent on the track “Monolith”, but also feature on “Mambo Sun” and “Get It On”.
Electric Warrior reached #32 in the US, thus paving the way for the greater success of The Slider there in 1972, while it went to #1 for several weeks in the UK, becoming the biggest album of 1971.