Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

After yet another legal fallout with songwriter Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf was forced to turn to Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, producer Desmond Child and others for most of the material on the latest Bat installment. Consequently, there’s a surplus of histrionic heavy-metal numbers and an absence of Steinman’s usual arena-opera epics. Apart from the anthemic rocker “Bad for Good” and the power ballad “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” this sequel—a turkey of truly monstrous proportions—simply sucks the big one.

When it comes to grime, this pint-sized white London teenager has eclipsed even Dizzee Rascal, its biggest star. With ska and dancehall beats, expletive-spitting rhymes and a warp-speed flow to rival Eminem, Lady Sovereign’s spunky debut on Jay-Z’s label is a distinctly Brit affair, from the tongue-twisting title track to the comic confessional “Made in England” (“we ain’t all posh like the Queen”). She knows full well that her brazen style will offend some, but doesn’t care: “I’m English,” she says, “try and deport me.”

Released as part of the Classic Album series, this excellent DVD tells the story of reggae’s breakthrough into the mainstream. Featuring interviews with Bunny Wailer, Island Records’ Chris Blackwell and others, plus rare footage of Marley and the band in the studio and on stage performing “Stir it Up” and “Concrete Jungle,” the documentary explains how Catch a Fire crossed over to a rock audience. Bonus footage includes a previously unseen, incendiary b&w performance of “Get Up Stand Up.” Crucial stuff

Slean is Canada’s most theatrical diva—witness her stellar role in the film-noir musical Black Widow. She’s also a visual artist with a taste for the macabre, calling her paintings “tenderly psychotic.” Her songs (or “little urchins”) get a full workout on these live and stripped-down studio recordings. Standout tracks include string-laden versions of her popular hit “Lucky Me,” the tortured “Eliot,” and her spooky cabaret classic “Pilgrim,” with its visceral line about “blood and vomit on the car seat.” Beautifully twisted.

The deluge of Dylan ephemera keeps a-washing over the land. This hour-long DVD of 1965’s Q & A session in San Francisco captures the 24-year-old rising star at his playful, combative best. “We’ve been booed all over by people,” says Dylan about the Newport debacle. “They must be pretty rich to go somewhere and boo.” Promoter Bill Graham and poet Allen Ginsberg are also in attendance and join the inquisition. As media circuses go, it’s less manic than Beatles press conferences but still highly entertaining and insightful.

With his band El Torpedo, Mays crafts excellent alt-country-rock songs about lost love and endless highways. On this solo album, the Nova Scotia surfer dude explores similar themes but in a variety of styles. “Beach Party,” with its spacey keyboard dub, sounds like something from The Beta Band, while the title track, featuring a guest vocal from rapper Buck 65, is an urban-flavored delight. And when Mays returns to jangly California sounds on “Morning Sun,” it’s as gorgeous as anything he does with El Torpedo.

The woolly-hatted one is back. For his latest album, the Boy, born Damon Gough, pays tribute to growing up in England, with a nod to his hero Bruce Springsteen. While there’s nothing as spirited as the Boss’ “Thunder Road” or “No Surrender,” Gough has a way with modest pop songs about life’s futility, such as the piano-laced “Without a Kiss” and the acoustic blues “Time of Times.” The rocking title track sums up all things English, including royalty, The Sex Pistols and the country’s “sense of loathing and belonging.”

Canada’s Hip has achieved undeniable greatness, graduating from bar band to stadium act with consistently strong, uncompromising albums. But throughout Hip history the American charts have always eluded them. That may change with “In View,” the buoyant first single from the band’s 11th album, produced by Rob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi). Bright and accessible, it’s the closest the Hip has ever come to pop music. Also cool are excursions into one-drop reggae (“The Kids Don’t Get It”) and giddy travelogue (“Fly”).

Is ancient music back in vogue? Richard Thompson recently covered a 13th-century English ballad, and joined Bono, Sting and others singing a collection of old sea chanteys. Here, der Stingle picks up the lute and tackles the work of John Dowland, who was court lutenist to James I in the early 17th century. Apparently, Dowland’s “Flow, my tears” and “In darkness let me dwell” were pop songs back in the day and Sting’s passion for them is palpable. What next? Mesopotamian hip hop? Medieval country music?

Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy recently released his third solo CD. Not to be outdone, the darker half of the band’s songwriting team responds with his third. Featuring support from Keelor’s usual suspects, including Sarah McLachlan and members of The Sadies (with whom he performs in the psych-country group The Unintended), it’s a bittersweet affair, with pretty ballads like “Miss You” and ominous numbers like “Prisoner.” Although he lacks Cuddy’s melodic gifts, Keelor’s moody songs run much deeper.