Joe Ely may own the sad, craggy mug of a hungover mechanic, but it's about time he was made a gen-u-ine rock & roll star. His specialty is high-volume rockabilly, driven by three guitars (including a pedal steel), Texas-style organ and accordion, and a sax that echoes old Dr. Yakkety Sax himself. Onstage, he's awesome. Though Musta Notta Gotta Lotta can't match the Live Shots import, it's still a fine album.

The title track best showcases Ely's appeal. It's not "love" he musta notta gotta lotta, but the "sleep last night" he missed that has him in such a kick-ass frenzy. That and his whole self-immolating lifestyle, of course. In two and a half minutes, Ely exorcises the snarling nastiness out of his system like no one since the ancient days of roller rinks and flat-topped chaperones. "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta" is his manifesto, a textbook example of how to construct pure American rock & roll.

In the slower songs, Ely evinces a strong Roy Orbison intonation, most noticeably in the beautiful "Wishin' for You." But it's the fast tunes that you've got to watch out for, because this guy sounds spiritually (and unabashedly) hogtied to Jerry Lee Lewis. You can tell by the way he gleefully romps through words like "Loooooooooz -iana." He even pumps new life into the umpteenth version of "Good Rockin' Tonight," a rockabilly standard etched in stone somewhere near the foot of Mount Rushmore.

If the Clash have done their damnedest to champion Joe Ely, it's primarily for the purity of his rock & roll, since there's no overt political stance here. For many people, though, music like Ely's represents the real politics, the hidden agenda of the barroom most recently put forth by such foot soldiers as Delbert McClinton, Southside Johnny Lyon, NRBQ and even Bruce Springsteen, to some extent. Indeed, one can imagine Ely holding court at his Austin (or wherever) podium night after night, exhorting the troops with solutions for mental recession like "Hot dog, gotta buzz in my shoes!"

If, in the wave of the Reagan mandate, any of the old values from the first Cold War are brought back into favor, please, Lord, let it be this music. (RS 348)

ALAN BISBORT