the rats - "turtle dove" (from the boobs: the junkshop glam discotheque compilation, available for purchase here.)

allmusic guide, as you ought to know, grows more indispensable w/ the day, and stephen thomas erlewine's critical voice is one i've long respected, especially since few other american-based critics seem to place such a premium on the recorded output of suede.

taking a look at the site the other day, i saw a link to an album called boobs, which i followed b/c ... just b/c. erlewine wrote the review and, though the project, a sort of nuggets of glam rock, isn't necessarily high-profile, he really rises to the occasion, or perhaps brings the occasion up to his level. he writes this:

certainly, rock & roll in the 21st century no longer means the trashy, sleazy fun that is 'boobs' (the title, by the way, is an homage to a glam club of the same name from the mid-'70s) -- with an exception or two, it's well-intentioned and somber, even morose, either stagnant in its sincerity or designed for posterity and overly reverential of the past.

... which puts into print feelings i've long had, and explains, i hope, why i latch onto "are you gonna be my girl?" by jet and "god killed the queen" by louis xiv. these two songs, from bands i otherwise abhor, merely have the good sense to rip off iggy pop (or should it be katrina & the waves?) and t. rex, respectively, and, as a result, would fit in perfectly w/ bands like the rats on boobs.

(an aside: brandon flowers, from every piece on him i've seen, seems to have admirable taste in music, but somehow it fails to translate in the killers.)

the major difference, of course, is that these songs aren't mere curios: they're verifiable hits, which says less about the timelessness of these songs than it does about the current marketplace. alas, jimmy jukebox, erasmus chorum, and hobnail--you were all born too soon.