T. Jones, whose organ plays a sprightly game of tag with Lindley's slide guitar.

The root of these songs is rhythm, and as on Lindley's solo debut, reggae remains a major influence. Win This Record's cover versions include Toots Hibbert's "Premature" and a reverentially trashy reading of the Melodians' "Rock It with I." Lindley cooks up his own reggae on "Talk to the Lawyer," a political number with a rock-hard guitar solo by Bernie Larsen.

David Lindley has the curatorial instincts of Ry Cooder, but he performs in an engagingly offhand manner that says he's more of a fan than a scholar. His reggae makes no pretenses to Rastafarianism, and his rock is aimed at those who like tequila with their tacos. It's a bit unusual for a musician's musician to be writing songs as charmingly cheesy as "Ram-A-Lamb-A Man," but David Lindley seems plenty happy doing it. (RS 384)

JOHN MILWARD