Consumer Guide Album

Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids [Saustex, 2023]
Hamell's physical of choice for his also downloadable 17th album is a vinyl LP with all music credited to his Roland VS-880 that readily accommodates four 8x11 pages of readable lyrics, which with this guy always come in handy not because he ever muffles a word but because there are so many of them. In addition to brisk takedowns of Tucker Carlson and Jeff Bezos he alerts Christians to the theology of karma as opposed to heaven, dreams of tickling the ivories like Monk and Jerry Lee, proffers shoplifting advice to moms with mouths to feed, longs to hear an ex's "I love you," hopes some "naughty naughty girl" drunk-dials him, abbreviates "Nazi killer girl gangs" to "NKGG," is told how many riot grrrls are also rape victims, and that ain't all. The closer is named for departed sound man Johnny Rydell. Its key lyric goes "1-800-273-8255," which Hamell wants you to remember is the suicide hotline and my editor informs me has been boiled down to 988 in case you're in a hurry, as you should be. A