Testing! Testing! Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #123!
Marilyn Manson — Eat Me, Drink Me (Interscope) :: Marry Me, Dump Me is more like it.
Paul McCartney — Memory Almost Full (Hear) :: Not only does he sound like Roger Daltrey on the baroque power ballads, he can still outyowl Little Richard on the too-few high-note rockers — and my memory is still scarred from his greatest solo screamo shriekfest, the mentally insane and completely indecipherable "Mumbo."
In Theory — This Is It (Adrenaline) :: In practice, no it ain't.
Richard X. Heyman — Actual Sighs (Turn-Up) :: Smart savvy pop that evokes Elliott Murphy at his Aquashow apex.
Big D & the Kids Table — Strictly Rude (Side One Dummy) :: Mirror in the bathroom, I'll talk free. This hip, hyperactive ska-fueled upgrade of the English Beat's for you and me.
The Stooges — The Weirdness (Virgin) :: Album of the year.
Skull Time — Skull Time (Latest Flame) :: I don't usually agree with superhype promo blurbs, but "self-effacing classic rock lovers whose music requires the throwing of devil horns" sounds about right to me.
Bobnoxious — Rockaholics: The Fun Drinking Game (Wannabe) :: Just when you think you've heard it all, along comes this concept album about binge drinking.
Matt Mays — Matt Mays (Beachfire) :: Matt's got his Neil Young sound down cold, but Neil never veered down the Dylan meets Bolan alley that Matt does here on tracks like "Stand Down At Sundown" and "Move Your Mind."
Paul McCartney — The Russian Album; Unplugged; Run Devil Run (Capitol) :: Nobody out-rocks Mr. Helter Skelter when he screams out rock 'n' roll — and on these three albums he screams out rock 'n' roll.
SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK
Jayme Stone — The Utmost (self-released) :: Remember the banjo fever that swept the nation after Bonnie And Clyde and Deliverance made pop stars out of Flatt & Scruggs and Eric Weisberg? Then relive those glory days of precision pickin' on this extraordinary new album.