The Amazing Rhythm Aces became less so on last year's Too Stuffed to Jump, and while they have yet to make wholly uninteresting music, their third LP continues the down trend. It wouldn't seem so bad but for their impressive start with 1975's Stacked Deck.

The ability is still there, maybe even developing, but it's becoming shrouded and dim. The delightful subplots are disappearing from the lyrics, giving us four straight spiteful love's-end songs on the second side, tempered slightly by the final "Two Can Do It Too," a bouncy island-flavored tune with a rock & roll break and generally unconvincing lyrics. Russell Smith, the guts of the Aces, has recently turned to a first-person confessional bent, and his own love life sounds less interesting than the tenuous advances of a third-rate romance.

Still, all is not lost. Billy Ear-heart's organ playing has been consistently natural and soulful over three albums. "I'm Setting You Free," a boogie shuffle of the sort Commander Cody would stumble over, is turned with flair, if not with Cody's abandon. Barry Burton is a good guitarist, but out of place in the slow gospel/country lament "Never Been Hurt," where he comes in with a stinging rock solo.

The Aces' first album succeeded as a difficult puzzle made to fit tight; the second and third haven't. The trick now is to rearrange the pieces and put it all back together. (RS 240)

DAN OPPENHEIMER