Not many people would have predicted that Dave Edmunds' post-Rockpile output would surpass Nick Lowe's. But while the sardonic zing seems to be missing from Lowe's latest efforts, Edmunds' Welsh-whelped Chuck Berry stylings sound fresher and more energetic than ever. For sheer sonic ebullience and track-to-track enjoyment, Information is the best Dave Edmunds record since 1977's retrorock landmark, Get It.

Even die-hard fans of Edmunds' high tenor and twelve-bar guitar would admit that his LPs occasionally lack variety. So, to toss a curve or two, Edmunds called in Jeff Lynne to produce two of Information's cuts, and the ELO synth man clips in some otherworldly effects on the title track and on "Slipping Away," the single, without blunting the foot-to-the-floor feel. Such standard Edmunds workouts as Moon Martin's "Don't You Double" and Edmunds' own "What Have a Got to Do to Win?" get a typically kickass rendering. Geraint Watkins' accordion makes Otis Blackwell's "The Shape I'm In" bop even more briskly than D.E. 7th's "Bail You Out." Best of all, bassist John David has contributed "Have a Heart," a wittily rousing raveup that can rightfully take its place next to Edmunds' quintessential recordings, "Girls Talk" and "Deborah."

Dave Edmunds will never make a record that will change the direction of rock & roll. He likes it too much just the way it is. Information is careerist rock at its very best. (RS 396)

CHRISTOPHER CONNELLY