You've blown it all sky high

I find myself inexplicably drawn to the half-hour-long TV ad for Time-Life's ten-CD set 70s Music Explosion. Something about polyester shirts, unruly hair and melodies like that of Pilot's "Magic" are mysteriously riveting. Every time I come across it on cable, I just can't stop watching. (Wow, so that's Albert Hammond, Senior. He looks just like his boy.)

"I love that song!" says Erica Shaffer, so unconvincingly it hurts, as Barry Williams looks on approvingly.


FMFM: Solo Monk. Not necessarily the best album of Thelonious playing alone, but as always it's a revealing window into his incomparable mind.