This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“Like a space-time contraction / Back to the year of our lord, 1973,” purrs Grand Mal’s Bill Whitten on Old Fashioned, a song on his band’s latest CD. The singer-bassist is — believe it or not — singing about his anachronistic garbageman (don’t ask). But he could just as easily be referring to Bad Timing, the third album from his New York retro-glam foursome.
The platform-shod, feather-haired spectres of the velvet goldmine era haunt these 11 tracks, from the Mick Ronson guitar riffs, soul-sistah chorus and big chorus of the Mott the Hoopled 1st Round K.O. to the sleepy whine and muted choogle of the Marc Bolanesque title track to the pumping pianos and feather-boa swagger of the David Bowie-like Duty Free. Toss in a few New York Dolls moments, some MC5 touches and even a dash of Led Zeppelin here and there, and you’ve got a disc that’s simultaneously brand-new and antique. Sounds like pretty good timing to me.
