Let's pretend for a moment that Johnson's Whacks is anything but a blues record. Most long-term rock fans, fed up with the white-boys' blues of the Sixties (to which we were all subjected at the time), would rather be ordered to grad school to study, say, plant grafting than listen to blues of any stripe.

So, then. Johnson's Whacks is loose, modern, funny and goes down easily. Jimmy Johnson sings in a fluid, sometimes trumpeting high voice that avoids clichés and blends in well with his playing. On the guitar, he picks spare, twinging runs that move quickly, because he won't go anywhere near a thoughtless note. Though his wittiness gives sprout to a few shameless puns ("I drank a dozen Buds, but I don't feel any wiser"), he's no snickering David Bromberg-style lightweight.

This album, to finally admit it, is honest to its home genre. While the Jimmy Johnson Band does indulge in cover versions of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" and Ernest Tubb's "Drivin' Nails in My Coffin," most of the material is basic blues. And Johnson's lyrics are good enough to bear printing on the back cover. e.g., the words to "I Stand Alone," the tidy and classic tale of a star musician snubbing the singer with whom he once begged to play. Johnson also likes to throw in candid, up-to-date autobiographical twists, such as "Cover of the Living Blues is where I hope to be." Well, he deserves the cover of that magazine. And you can underline Living twice. (RS 316)

FRED SCHRUERS