Like Mark Farner and Alice Cooper, Edgar Winter understands that rock & roll is vaudeville; the goal is to keep the customers satisfied. What he lacks in charisma, Edgar makes up for in talent. In concert he has traveled the low hard road of loud, high energy rock, and his band stands alongside J. Geils as the prime American entertainers for what's left of the hard rock mob. His forte has been the instrumental solo, the shrieking vocal, and the endless deafening riff.

Edgar risks his bread and butter somewhat in this new opus, another surprise in what has been a career of surprises. His eclectic work has included R&B (White Trash) and near-symphonic orchestration (Entrance) as well as a faithful rendition of his popular live performance (Roadwork). Now he has combined his vaudeville consciousness with musical sophistication and, aided greatly by a new band and ace producer Ric Derringer, has created the kind of three-dimensional album that most rock artists just don't bother to make anymore.

The concept seems to be to take every type of music that has appealed to rock audiences in the last three years, and weave it all together into a cohesive album. As pure music, it provides a delightfully smooth roller coaster ride. As an artistic statement, like all of Edgar's work it is a bit disconcertingly impersonal, but he is redeemed by a sense of humor, best exemplified by the album cover, a full color photo of Edgar in make-up as if to include all of commercial rock's visual artifacts as well as the audio ones.

Only time will tell whether this ambitious work is truly great, but musically it is clearly excellent. Ronnie Montrose, whose guitar was so effective on recent Van Morrison albums, is given even more freedom here. Chuck Ruff on drums and Dan Hartman who sings and plays bass are new names to me, but they make for a solid punchy rhythm section. Edgar of course, plays piano, saxophone, percussion and synthesizer in addition to his throaty vocals.

The production is full of cute flourishes like shattering glasses and electronic sounds that float from one speaker to the other. The material includes a splendid country song. "Round and Round," a Crosby, Stills and Nash type ditty, "Alta Mira," an unbearably sweet "Autumn," several hard driving rockers and a couple of personal statements from Edgar. As to the latter, he is no Van Morrison, but his lyrics show great sensitivity at times, communicating loneliness, frustration and struggle as well as exuberance and joyous boogie. "My Time Has Come" is a very likable hard ballad that could probably be a hit single. "Frankenstein" is a crowd-pleasing five minute instrumental, marred by a worthless drum solo. These elements could have added up to pretension but Edgar delivers the multi-leveled album with an attractive offhand flair. Like a Stones album, you know it took hours of rehearsal and planning, yet it really does sound like it might have been produced in a single drunken evening of inspiration. Like Joe DiMaggio, Edgar likes to make the difficult seem easy.

"Undercover Man," is the best track, a nifty hard rocker that transforms Edgar's elusiveness into a seductive asset. It's the only track that really achieves a rock orgasm. Edgar is at his best when appearing slightly contemptuous of his audience, a time-honored pose. If he lacks the undefinable greatness of Jagger or Mitch Ryder, Edgar certainly knows how to entertain better than Mountain or Humble Pie. If rock & roll is still part of your blood and not part of your past, I can assure you this record will bring you hours of joy. (RS 126)

DANIEL GOLDBERG