This is the record Keith Richards should've made – it's raw, ragged and risky. Eric Ambel (guitarist for the Del Lords) and friends spin out on a few inspired covers: Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now," Swamp Dogg's "Total Destruction to Your Mind" and Buck and Bonnie Owens's classic "Loose Talk," featuring Golden Palomino Syd Straw. The songs run from nasty (fellow Del Lord Scott Kempner's "Don't Wanna Be Your Friend") to giddy ("The Girl That I Ain't Got") and twangy ("Next to the Last Waltz," written with Peter Holsapple).

This is roots rock at the intersection of country and blues. The vocals are barked out, the guitars strung with barbed wire. The production is frenzied and loose. Yet Ambel and folks like Straw, Holsapple, Skid Roper and the reformed Morells sound both driven and dangerous, as if they were fueled by a couple of six-packs and a jug of moonshine.

Records don't sound like this anymore, and that's a shame. Soul has given way to slickness, and power to predictability, which makes Roscoe's Gang sound even more commanding. Though it won't outsell Poison, it hits harder and reminds us what rock & roll's all about. (RS 556-557)

HOLLY GLEASON