So make it one for my baby and one more for Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #203!
The Orchid Highway — The Orchid Highway (Naughty) :: They're not the Beatles but an incredible simulation!
Wovenhand — Ten Stones (Sounds Familyre) :: Ambitious angst anyone?
Okkervil River — The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar) :: This is the absolute second-best cabaret angst record I've ever heard. It's only the second cabaret angst record I've ever heard, but it's the absolute second-best.
Skybombers — Take Me to Town (Albert Productions) :: Strangely believe it, Skybombers are the new Cheap Trick and Take Me to Town is their Heaven Tonight.
Fish — 13th Star (MVD Audio/Chocolate Frog) :: If you thought prog rock was dead, then you ain't heard nuthin' until you've heard this epochal space-spannin' offering from Marillion's main man.
Sally Tomato — Toy Room (Severe Enterprises) :: These words I speak are true: this ambitious four act rock opera is operating in an arena that's so far out there it makes Welcome to My Nightmare sound like nap time in a deaf mute kindergarten.
Ayla Brook — After the Morning After (Saved By Radio) :: Sensitive love songs and plaintive paeans that anyone who ever had a heart can relate to.
The Homemade Jamz Blues Band — Pay Me No Mind (Northern Blues) :: The earthy Hendrix influence is undeniable but so is the playing, so it's a whitewash.
Caamora — She (MVD Audio/Metal Mind) :: Are you ready for a bombastic two-disc rock opera based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard? If you ever owned a copy of Jesus Christ Superstar, you are.
Kiss — "She" (Casablanca) :: Honey, it's not one a'doze.
SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Rhonda Silver — Twelve Pieces of Silver (Prism) :: Backed by the expert likes of Guido Basso and Jeff Healey, these silky smooth songs of songstress Silver's smack of slinky late night rendezvous in a swank penthouse bar and morning after musings in a sodden neighborhood saloon. Even better, she belts out her original blues with enough gusto to make you down another round. So set 'em up, Joe.
Be seeing you!
