Nick Gilder

Lookout for this high-energy, bubble-blast of true emotion, simulated swagger and Johnny Zip's flying V. The only bad thing about Nick Gilder's deep-blue debut pearl is that the shining You Know Who You Are signals the beginning of the end. No one knew at the time, but the late '70s would compress pop to the point of celestial explosion. Sure, there's been some great variations on the theme since, but listening to the luminous You Know Who You Are nowadays is most sentimental, as it's a fleeting close encounter of the kind that must come to a close. If you need to hear how amazing these takes on Gilder's Sweeney Todd leftovers "Roxy Roller" and "Tantalize" are, what are you waiting for? Then there's "Genevieve" and "Amanda Greer," two haunting gazelles who will never see the light of disc. Let this "Poor Boy" tuck you in at night illuminating illicit images of X-queens between the seats, with the radio playing familiar tin-can beats, before he sails away on a gentle breeze. Glammaster Gilder nailed a number one on his sophomore effort, City Nights, and then polished off the '70s with a near-perfect supernova flourish, Frequency. Like a true '70s star, he disappeared (for the most part) with the delectable decade he helped define, running away in the night, bidding fond farewell, and never going back to his old school, where he taught an endless wave of inferior influences the finer points of back-street noise and plastic metal joys. ~ Doug Stone, All Music Guide