If you didn't know better, you'd swear that Canadian guitarist Colin James was from Texas. James, one of the best blues-rock guitarists to emerge in recent years, has all the earmarks of the traditional Texas guitar slinger: dazzling, cocksure technique, a flair for dynamics, enough humor to stand clichés on their heads and an innate sense of direction in his soloing. It's not surprising, given James's precocious talent, that Texas legend Stevie Ray Vaughan treats James like a protégé.

Musical ability alone, however, is never enough in the perennially image-conscious entertainment industry. It took a custom car starring in the band's videos to turn ZZ Top into a household name, and some kind of gimmick will probably be required to put across even as fresh a face as James. His first album was a classic example of how compromising destroys personality. Four "name" producers were brought in to sculpt an identity for James, but the result was a confusion of mixed signals.

This time around, James is working to his strengths, with dramatic results. Under the direction of ZZ Top producer Joe Hardy, James was left alone to showcase his brilliant playing, and he rose to the occasion. The record wastes no time in establishing priorities – the first thing you hear is James playing an acoustic delta-blues passage, then breaking into squalling electric-guitar lines on the fiery "Just Came Back."

James shows a predilection for ZZ Top-style pyrotechnics on the hammering boogie "Keep On Loving Me Baby" and the hard-rocking "T for Trouble." Jerry Williams, who has recently written for Eric Clapton and B.B. King, contributed four songs to the set: the power pop "Show Me"; the lilting "Give It Up," which features a guest vocal by Bonnie Raitt; the jazzy ballad "Crazy Over You"; and the Stonesish rocker "Just One Love."

James pays homage to Vaughan on the galvanic "Cross My Heart," mines pop-gospel roots for "If You Lean on Me" and closes the set with the title track, a moving Hendrix tribute. If Colin James is mapping out a course to establish himself as a guitar hero for the Nineties, Sudden Stop is a step in the right direction. (RS 584)

JOHN SWENSON