This is the most famous photo of Marc Bolan from T. Rex. The instantly recognizable grainy image of Bolan sporting a top hat was used on the cover “The Slider” released on July 21, 1972.
Crazy enough, the front and back cover of the album have a double tie-in to The Beatles. The first Beatle tie-in is that the front and back cover photographs were credited to Ringo Starr in the linear notes of the album.
The photographs of Bolan were taken the same day that Starr was filming and directing the T. Rex documentary “Born to Boogie” which was released under The Beatles Apple Films label.
The second Beatles tie-in is that the photos were taken on the grounds of John Lennon’s estate, Tittenhurst Park which Starr would later purchase. The historical estate was also the location of the last Beatles photo session and where the Lennon recorded and filmed the “Imagine” album and documentary.
“The Slider” producer Tony Visconti, however, disputes that Starr took the famous photograph:
“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”
Here’s a few more photos (taken by Ringo?) from the Bolan Tittenhurst session…
Starr or Visconti??? I guess only Bolan would know.