JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #499.128!

Metric – Grow Up And Blow Away (Last Gang) :: Canada’s answer to Eurythmics are back with another breathy passel of passive ’n’ pensive eletropulse paeans.

Paul Reddick – Review (Northern Blues) :: The superhype sticker stuck on the shrink-wrap embarrassingly brags: “Includes the song ‘I’m A Criminal’ from the Coca-Cola TV commercial!” As if that’s something to be proud of. Have we really come to this?

Neil Young – “This Plug’s For You” (Reprise) :: No shit, Ex-Lax.

SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: The Alice Cooper Group – Pretties For You (Straight) :: When this impenetrable grate bomb first came out in 1969, I found it nigh on impossible to listen to all the way through. But now I hear it for what it really is: a hip demented psychedelic version of early period David Bowie (“Today Mueller”), middle period Todd Rundgren (“10 Minutes Before The Worm”) and latter period Monkees (“Living”) that also predicts the advent of missed period Sparks (“Earwigs To Eternity”). And then Toronto Bob had to go and ruin everything. Damn Ezrin anyway! Speaking of which...

SULFURIC PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Danzig – The Lost Tracks Of Danzig (evilive) :: Two discs with 13 tracks per side—geddit?—that just might be Glenn Danzig’s greatest album yet. These back catalogue outtakes cover a whole lotta ground ranging from T. Rex’s “Buick McKane” to David Bowie’s “Cat People.” But the stellar standout is his sincere sold soul spiritual “Cold, Cold Rain” which is top of the pops on the Hit Parade Of Hell. 666,666,666 Danzig fans can’t be wrong! Which reminds me...

Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings (Epic Legacy) :: Devoid of any enduring God-given talent, mediocre busker Robert Johnson gives his soul to Satan in exchange for becoming the greatest bluesman in history without reading the small print which says that Satan also gets to murder him shortly thereafter. Last of the Delta bluesmen? First of the Delta devil worshippers is more like it.

Be seeing you!