That must've been two years ago last January.

Kee-rist, time flies when you're getting older. Hells bells - it probably was that long ago, dammit.

Yoinks.

Stop getting older, Frank!

My insatiable need for glam has caused me to buy the newest compilation from RPM (who did Velvet Tinmine), Glitterbest. This is an epiphany causing compilation where the coin drops and you suddenly get the cultural context for a very specific shift in style and taste.

This collects a bunch of post-glam/pre-punk rockers from the mid-seventies by bands like The Jook and The Hollywood Brats and Milk n' Cookies and Jet (the 70s group, not the current hitmakers). These are mostly British bands who desperately want to sound like (a) Bowie and (b) The New York Dolls. And then - DUH! - I'm thinking, "These all sound like the second cousins of The Only Ones" when I notice that one of the songs on the comp is "City of Fun" by England's Glory. (This is the name of The Only Ones before they got their stellar guitarist - whossisname? John Perry? - and this song was also done by The Only Ones, who are most famous for "Another Girl, Another Planet.")

In brief, this collection connects all the dots between glam and punk in an era that had no obvious transitional band which has endured (except The Only Ones), and it includes musicians who later went on to be in groups like The Vibrators and Ultravox among others. Which is not to say this is the first rare glam comp I'd recommend (that would be Glitter From the Litter Bin), but this is good proto-punk-power-pop.

Now I need a New Yorker to go by Other Music and pick up Satin Dustbin and Clap Your Hands Stamp Your Feet two semi-boot CD-R compilations of rare glam compiled by Ursula 1000 and not otherwise distributed (but are getting a lot of play on WFMU).

looks around hopefully

I can't remember if I already mentioned these first two earlier in here, but TMBG's Indestructible Object and John Vanderslice's Cellar Door are (still?) both great.

More recently received were two more XTC albums: Oranges & Lemons and Wasp Star (Apple Venus Vol. 2). The former is still sinking in, but I am now the property of the latter. SUCH a sucker for Andy's love songs, in their several forms. But especially "Church of Women", with the warbled -ers and -ings and the glorious innuendo.

Lie for a lie, but a truth for the truth . . .

Hi everyone! I'm still here! Just not posting as much as I did when I led a life of leisure. It's nice to be missed though.

Hi everyone! I'm still here!

Hello! I'm definitely not just stealing this number!

Seriously, getting reacquainted with a mere 40-hour week again has been enough to leave me in the dust in several Internet locales.

Hi Robert!

OK, then, for old times' sake:

Britney's "Toxic" is the single of the year so far. Discuss.

Britney's "Toxic" is the single of the year so far. Discuss.

Upon catching the video a few weeks ago, took me almost two minutes to decide whether it was Britney or Christina.

I imagine that the song title has led innumerable music reviewers down the primrose path of awful article titles.

That's all I got. I live in the musical past.

Britney's "Toxic" is the single of the year so far. Discuss.

Not a fan of Britney, so that'll color my views.

But I'll nominate Kylie's "Red Blooded Woman" and George Michael's "Amazing."

Hec: iffen you don't get a real NYer to grab it for you, I'm going there week after next ...

I haven't heard Toxic, Amazing, OR Red Blooded Woman. I think I'm going to have to (gasp) turn on the radio. Cover me, I'm going in!

Fred, finally someone else who likes "Red Blooded Woman"! An awful lot of people absolutely loathe it. It's not as good as "Toxic" though, which really is good enough even to convert non-Britney fans. "Amazing" is good too though. It's actually been a very good couple of months for chart singles.

Anyway, I've changed my mind, single of the year so far is Twista's "Slow Jamz", which manages to be both the funniest and the sexiest hip-hop track in a long time.