This is perhaps the best Chicago jump band record since Elmore James passed on. Hound Dog is 55, has maintained the HouseRockers for more than ten years on the South Side tavern circuit, and plays a mean Japanese guitar — tight and from the spleen. One listening to the thoroughly evil original, "See Me in the Evening," puts away every billion-dollar British blooze band in creation. The incantatory mojo of "Take Five" and Elmore's "Talk to My Baby" makes strong men weep in the Ann Arbor and Cambridge saloons the House-Rockers frequent these days. This is the second album for this tiny Chicago blues label. Alligator records are not the easiest to find, and can be ordered from P.O. Box 11741, Chicago, Illinois 60611. (RS 160)

STEPHEN DAVIS