Sam Kinison's third album, 1990's Leader of the Banned, was the comedian's last before dying two years later in a car crash. Unfortunately, it is a huge disappointment. Actually, Leader of the Banned is on the verge of embarrassing considering Kinison's obvious talent. The first half features a half hour of standup comedy recorded at Bally's in Las Vegas, NV, and very few moments work. "Jerry's Bastard Kid" offers a few chuckles when Kinison brings out Doug Bady, a member of his "Outlaws of Comedy" entourage, to criticize Jerry Lewis' annual MDA telethons for their lack of results. "Casual Users of Terrorism" offers a few tantalizing political remarks but never fully takes off. On "Phone Call from Hell," Kinison supposedly places a real call to berate an audience member's unfaithful ex-girlfriend. The second half of Banned is a complete mess. Kinison thought of himself as a "rock & roll comic" ? he had some success in 1988 with a novelty version of the Troggs' "Wild Thing" ? and he took this perception to extremes with horrible "hair metal" versions of Cheap Trick's "Gonna Raise Hell," Mountain's "Mississippi Queen," the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb," and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell." He sings all four songs. Kinison alters the lyrics of "Mississippi Queen" and turns it into a novelty number, but the other three are "serious" covers. Many of Kinison's rock-star pals perform on these sad remakes, including Eddie Money, House of Lords' Lanny Cordola and Chuck Wright, Mountain's Leslie West, Poison's C.C. DeVille, Bon Jovi's David Bryan, Quiet Riot and Whitesnake's Rudy Sarzo, Dweezil Zappa, Guns 'N Roses' Slash, Dio's Jimmy Bain, and Cinderella's Fred Coury. ? Bret Adams