JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #961.595.230!

Dweezil Zappa – Return Of The Son Of... (Razor & Tie) :: Brown singers don’t make it.

Lorrie Matheson – In Vein (I Can’t Read What The Name Of The Record Label Is Because The Logo Is Printed In Glossy Black Enamel Against An Equally Black Matte Finish) :: Look, I’m all for artsy black on black Warholian art direction but not when form impedes function, alright? That said, this is a folksy pop album with rusted edges of insanity that some blind folks might like—but if you can’t read any of the lyrics or album credits, who will love this lad’s In Vein?

Johnny Foreigner – Waited Up Til It Was Light (Nettwerk) :: What we got here is some erratic experimental pop music the likes of which used to be regularly served up by Stiff and Island. It’s Jam packed to overflowing with noisy unbridled enthusiasm and joyous burbling Vibrators spunk. Male and female vocals collide as if they were yanked from an Orson Welles optical soundtrack and guitars wail with a frenzied out of control Buzzcocks aesthetic. In fact, I haven’t heard such a bracing barrage since Robin Scott’s M. Or is that Howard Devoto’s Magazine?

SIZZLIN’ PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Tim Hus – Hockeytown (Stony Plain) :: It’s that time of year when I start to get a-thinkin’ about my annual Top Ten list and this joyous upbeat country celebration of what it means to be a prairie-bred Canadian is already on it, the only question bein’ how high a rankin’ it’ll receive by the end of the year.

Y’see, I spent several of my teenage summers livin’ on a farm in Prince Albert and some of my adult years residin’ in Saskatoon, so I can testify to the veracity of such Saskatchewan songs as the two-fisted “Saskatchewan Son-Of-A-Gun” and the culinary-berry “Talkin’ Saskatoon Blues.” But don’t you go thinkin’ that this is some kinda concept album about the land that Dief The Chief made famous ’cause it ain’t.

Tim rambles from coast to coast to coast on numbers like the rail-rumblin’ “Canadian Pacific,” the molten-hammerin’ “Hamilton Steel,” the fish-flounderin’ “North Atlantic Trawler” and the patriotic title track which comes complete with no less a Canadian icon than Foster “He shoots! He scores!” Hewitt callin’ the play-by-play. “Hockeytown” is poised to become the new unifyin’ Canadian national anthem, so you can forget all about them playin’ “O Canada” at the next puck drop—and I’ve attended three Stanley Cup parades in Toronto so I should know.

There’s no mistakin’ that Tim is the heir—and boy is it ever apparent—to the wood-splinterin’ cowboy singin’ legacy of the legendary Stompin’ Tom Connors. But don’t take my word for it, just ask Stompin’ Tom yourself the next time you see him and Tim Hus sharin’ a stage.

And after you hear Hockeytown you’ll know why this is one of the best albums of the year—and Howe!

Be seein’ you!