Electric Warrior acclaim as a pivotal release of the glam rock movement. The cover artwork was designed by British art design group Hipgnosis, based on a photo taken by Kieron "Spud" Murphy at a T. Rex concert at the Albert Hall, Nottingham on 14 May 1971. Murphy also took the photo of the band that was used for the poster that was included with the first issue in the UK and Germany. The inner sleeve artwork, portraits of Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn, was drawn by artist George Underwood. "Electric Warrior" was released on 24 September 1971 by record label Fly in
The Electric Light Orchestra (album) in this format in South America. Many of these "quad" tracks appeared with the SQ encoding intact on the "First Light" series edition of the album and on a later double-CD release entitled "Early ELO, 1971–1974" (available only as an import in the US). The entire "quad" version with SQ encoding intact has since been released on disc 3 of the "Harvest Years" compilation. The original album art was designed by Hipgnosis and the photographs of the band on the back of the album cover, dressed in seventeenth century period costume, were taken at the Banqueting House in Whitehall, adding