Since its three or four years in the sun in the early 70s, its probably fair to say that as a stand-alone genre, glam rock hasn't been at the forefront of the UK / US music scenes, rather more subsumed as a vital ingredient in other styles. Roxy's elan was there in the new romantic and early 80s looks and images of the likes of Duran Duran and Adam & The Ants, Sweet and T.Rex's pop smarts were hooked into those Sunset Strip bands in the US such as Motley Crue and Poison and over here in the rooster haircuts of the Quireboys and Dogs D'Amour, Slade's boover-boys anthems were co-opted by Oasis and the rowdier end of Britpop (amongst others), while Bowie's Ziggy era influenced just about everybody! Hell, even some radio shows and music blogs have pinched a title or two! 'Pure glam' though has been a bit thin on the ground in recent decades in terms of mass commercial appeal.
Travel 'underground' however and there is a thriving glam scene with US bands such as Smash Fashion and Creem Circus, UK's The Voltz and Denmark's SilverGlam all purveying that classic glam style. Hailsham, Sussex's Tim Izzard has also ploughed the glam furrow, with last year's 'Starlight Rendezvous' album and the recently released '21st Century Expose' EP. Heavily influenced by Bowie, '21st Century Expose' contains six tracks that range from glam / powerpop stompers such as the title track, '21st Century Expose' and 'Glam Rock Star (Tribute)', through to ballads such as the 'Space Oddity' soundalike 'Day Trip To Mars' and 'No Show / No Go Second Date', which both have great piano playing and affecting lyrics. Tim's fine, crunching guitar playing drives EP opener 'Empty My Head' (with a motif not unlike Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth' bouncing around in the background), '21st Century Expose' which also has synth work that sounds how Mike Garson might sound if he played synths, and the full-on glam of 'Glam Rock Star (Tribute)'. Tim's vocals throughout bring to mind Bowie, with perhaps a little of Psychedelic Furs Richard Butler thrown in, while all the instrumentation and production is provided by Tim himself.
'21st Century Expose' shows that glam is alive and well and in its six finely crafted songs, Tim Izzard has produced an excellent successor to 'Starlight Rendezvous'. If the glam sounds of the early 70s (and a bit of New Wave / Powerpop) are your thing, then '21st Century Expose' is well worth your time. This is a fine EP from a very talented multi-instrumentalist.
'21st Century Expose' is available from Tim's Bandcamp Page - www.timizzard.bandcamp.com