Media Blackout

They’re at the post so place your bets, ’cause this is the trifecta edition of MB50! • Corb Lund — Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer (Stony Plain) :: Maybe I ain’t been listenin’ carefully, but I ain’t heard an album with yoyo yodelin’ on it since Eno’s ululatin’ “Seven Deadly Finns.” Well, thanks to this fine fiddlin’ country album, I stand corrected. Bonus points for letting Ramblin’ Jack Elliott sing. • Nural — The Weight of the World (Hopeless) :: What separates these teens from their boring older brethren is an ability to vary the beat and have a Geddy-esque singer who seems to know what the word “passion” means. • SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK, PART ONE: Mediaeval Baebes — Mirabilis (Nettwerk) :: What we got here are eight — count ’em, eight — come-hither hotties who’ve managed to come up with an ethereal Celtic cross between Mike Oldfield’s Ommadawn and Jethro Tull’s Songs from the Woods. I kid ye not. • Loren Drive — Romantic Wealth (Lobster) :: More like a pedantic wealth of angst-driven drivel. • SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK, PART TWO: Otis Taylor – Below the Fold (Telarc) :: The next time someone tells you that the art of storytelling songwriting is dead, play them this intelligent brain-blistering blues album that sounds like an archival roots recording but is as vital as the blood coursing through your veins. • SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK, PART THREE: The Click Five – Greetings from Imrie House (Lava) :: Yeah, yeah, yeah, their name is meant to evoke Dave Clark’s saxified beat combo, but this new Five alive jive straddles the gap betwixt Cheap Trick and the Cars, with a Strawberries dollopdash guaranteed to keep your tail wagging. And each copy contains a different bubble gum card, so collect them all. • Be seeing you!

Jeffrey Morgan is a freelance writer. Send comments to [email protected]