Roy Buchanan has problems. Playing from a broader stylistic base than most other rock lead guitarists, he has chosen to work with a narrow band just this side of hack barroom competence. Buchanan realized early he couldn't sing; but his replacement, an inept fellow named Billy Price, has compounded rather than alleviated the problem.

Price mauls every song he touches, which unfortunately includes most on this album. Buchanan's ringing tone still sticks out amid the vocal butchery. One of Roy's tunes, an instrumental called "Nepesh," closes the album on a hovering note of grace. But That's What I Am Here For generally sticks to a gloomy fare of gruesome singing and hackneyed "original" compositions. Roy's mostly instrumental second album fared better. (RS 160)

JIM MILLER