Unclean Beaver (1994)

Anyone who listens to Howard Stern knows the funniest bits are his brash, don't-believe-the-hype commentaries on news events and celebrities, and not his intentionally dumb song parodies. Imagine listening to a dozen or so of those tune — from a dozen years ago — and you get the idea behind Unclean Beaver, a newly excavated album of circa-1982 bits by Stern and cohort Fred Norris. ''I Shot the Sheriff'' becomes ''I Shot Ron Reagan,'' with Stern as a mewling John Hinckley; ''50 Ways to Rank Your Mother'' would probably jar Paul Simon's toupee. A few of the bits are amusing, like a fake ad for an album by Neil Young's cat, who sounds just like the man himself; others are little more than random comments about Stern from people on the street. Most (like the title skits, a gross-out rip on Leave It to Beaver) are so over-the-top infantile they leave spittle stains on your sound system. Stern has it in him to help revive the great, lost art of the comedy album; this cash-in, for-completists-only collection isn't it. C-

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