JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #631.273!

White Zombie – Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (Geffen) :: Five discs containing almost every non-remix track and video released between ’85 and ’95, with the early stuff remaining as embarrassingly execrable as the later stuff is extraordinarily exciting. Bonus points for including a complete pristine print of Béla Lugosi’s 1932 namesake movie White Zombie as a hidden video. Points deducted for not scene-indexing it.

David Bowie & Deep Purple – Tin Machine Head (RCA) :: Includes the hit single “Highway Stardust.”

Saga – Heads Or Tales Live (Eagle) :: Because a day without prog rock is like a day without sunshine, you’ll wanna get your tea shades on for this blinding new offering that fits the prog rock bill with its sure-fire surfeit of squeaky guitars lines; shimmering synth lines; and soaring vocal lines. That’s a lot of lines to do in one sitting so you’d better start now because this excellent album’s nothing to sniff at.

SIZZLING LIVE PLATTER OF THE WEEK: ZZ Top – Live In Germany: 1980 (Eagle) :: Although some like to fine dine uptown next to the Church Of The Latter Day Top, I’d rather dumpster dive in a seedier section of town for the remnants of a vintage Double Z burger served slightly raw and scorched around the edges. That’s why I enjoy aurally chowing down on this live long player a whole heckuva lot more than I do trying to digest their recent “official” release, the slickly smooth Live In Texas.

Y’see, Texas includes the FDA’s recommended daily dose of megahits that every nubile nubbin needs to gulp, but only Germany dares to dish out a greasy heapin’ helpin’ of earlier era entertainment, starting with a main course consisting of such vintage brown paper bag specials as “Fool For Your Stockings” and “Manic Mechanic.” Then add a side order of Bob Johnson’s “Dust My Broom” and garnish with an epic paint blistering version of “Le Grange” that slams into both “Sloppy Drunk” and “Bar-B-Q” before finally careening to a blown-tranny halt.

SIZZLING STUDIO PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Carl Dixon – Lucky Dog (DD) :: “Lucky” ain’t the word to describe a guy who got seriously smearcased in a horrific head-on collision only to improbably survive and then ambitiously thrive, but it’s one heckuva good start. Now some of you may remember Carl from his Coney Hatch days but it’s no hangin’ matter if you don’t ’cause this inspiring new album cleans Coney’s clock six ways to Sunday.

You can take it from me when I tell ya that Lucky Dog is a classic rock fan’s delight because it sounds just like it was recorded back in the halcyonic ’70s. Even better, it ranks right up there in the heartfelt department with such like-minded laid-back long-players as Luther Grosvenor’s Under Open Skies and Neil Young’s Harvest. Bonus bravery points for having the intestinal fortitude and spiritual wherewithal to write a soul survivor song titled “Stitches, Sutures & Staples.”

Be seeing you!