No doubt about it, Alex Chilton is really hip right now, with bands like R.E.M., the Replacements and the Bangles citing his legendary early-Seventies group Big Star as a major influence, dropping his name right and left, even naming songs after him. High Priest, indeed. But while these young whippersnappers have taken his antislick philosophy all the way to the bank, guru Chilton hasn't, despite a fanatically loyal cult following.

So the time couldn't be better for a great new album, and with High Priest, Chilton delivers it. His infrequent solo records have been erratic at best, but this record is a strong, consistent effort, featuring a loose mix of Southern R&B, gospel, blues and straight pop. There's a liberal dash of humor, as in "Dalai Lama," the coolest (and perhaps the only) rock tune ever written about the Buddhist bigwig. How could you lose with rhymes like "30,000 monks at his direction/Practicing things like astral projection"? Later, there's a swinging version of "Volaré" that defines cheesy. Here, as elsewhere, Chilton elevates the throwaway track to high art.

Chilton has long abandoned the gruff singing style he used on the classic Box Tops hit "The Letter"; on songs out of his range he just talk-sings. But he even talks flat, Lou Reed style, especially on "Take It Off," a sleazy Reedian tale of seduction wherein he drones, "Take off your eyelashes, I know you bought them on sale/Don't scratch my back with your false fingernails."

Some of the best songs hark back to the melodicism of Big Star: "Let Me Get Close to You" (a Carole King and Gerry Goffin chestnut) and Chilton's own "Thing for You" are sweet, archetypal pop delivered with an honest but half-baked delivery that sabotages any hit potential. Chilton can write great songs, but "ruins" them with skranky guitars, sloppy takes or off-key singing. So the record still has the same seductive whiff of self-destruction that tinged his previous work.

Chilton only wrote four of High Priest's twelve tracks. Perhaps with this solid record under his belt, he will take more chances on his songwriting on the next. In the meantime, High Priest is a big step in the right direction for an American original whose time may finally have come. (RS 514)

MICHAEL AZERRAD