Everlovely Lightningheart — Everlovely Lightningheart (Hydra Head) :: A single 40-minute track consisting of a tinny piano-cored music box melody that weaves through myriad underwater caverns before cross-fading into a convergent realm of mysterious melodies and concrete sounds in the haunting tradition of Basil Kirchin and Gavin Bryers.
The Cinematics — "Break" (TVT) :: I bet the new Roxy Music record isn’t half as hip as this glamatronic go-round.
Tommy Emmanuel — The Mystery (Favored Nations) :: Finally, the virtuoso acoustic guitar equivalent of Rick Wakeman’s The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth.
Snoop Dogg — Love Don’t Live Here No More (Atria) :: "Street lit" mah azz. But I can’t find it in me to hate a guy who took his name from Hanna-Barbara’s classic cartoon characters Super Snooper and Doggie Daddy.
Pete Townshend — Horse’s Neck (Faber & Faber) :: And as Billy Altman astutely pointed out, Cyrano nicked his guitar smashing act from Hanna-Barbara’s classic cartoon character El Kabong — aka "Queeks Draw" McGraw.
Desi Arnaz — "Babalu" (Desilu) :: Baba Looey, geddit?
Roman Candle — The Wee Hours Review (V2) :: Springstonesish anthemic storytelling rock. Bonus points for having a guitarist named Nick Jaeger. Really.
The Flintstones — Original TV Soundtracks! (Colpix) :: Didja know that back in the early ’60s — a half century before the luxury of complete season DVD box sets — Columbia released a series of long-playing original sound track albums of Hanna-Barbera’s most popular cartoon shows?
Keith Richards — "I Could Have Stood You Up" (Virgin) :: He had a gay old time. Really; listened to the lyrics lately?
SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Milky Ways — Milky Ways (Alive) :: Back in punk’s halcyonic heyday, I used to spend every night lurching from one dingy, rat-infested hellhole to another, listening to a buncha snotbox bands who sounded just like these wonderfully wasted kids. So if you like your rock served raw with a side order of primitive cool, you’re gonna love these guys ’n’ dolls to deaf, ’cause these Milky Ways ain’t no Milky Duds — and that’s nothing to Snickers at.
Be seeing you! Jeffrey Morgan is a freelance writer. Send comments to [email protected]
