car radio when the chunky rock of "Build Me Up," the midtempo groove of "It Hit Me Like a Hammer" or the sweet soul of "He Don't Know," a ballad featuring the Gospel Hummingbirds, pours out. At home, however, there's something indolent about listening to a record that offers no hope for the unexpected.

Thematically, the group that boasted that it was hip to be square has never been afraid to embrace a cliché, and the weekend celebration of "Couple Days Off" is about as novel a meditation on leisure time as a beer commercial. Elsewhere on the album, the musical accompaniment maintains a familiar balance – the guitars carefully groomed, a honking sax seasoning the mix and Lewis singing with a swing as natural as a golf stroke.

The problem is not that you've heard these songs before but that you can digest them so completely on the first go-round. The songs on Hard at Play reveal nothing through repetition; they have no secrets. You get what you expect: solid rock from a bar band that had the good fortune to hit the big time. (RS 608/609)

JOHN MILWARD