A promising guitarist whose personal troubles have perhaps kept him from realizing his full potential, rebounded from an early-'90s nadir with the intense and sometimes bizarre , almost like a version of 's . The following was considerably more polished, but 1998's finds a workable middle ground between the two extremes. The songs, mostly by producer/rhythm guitarist and bassist with contributing only a pair of riff-based instrumentals, aren't as challenging as those on , but they're entirely credible; and have the hard-earned intensity to put themselves over even if they lack the earlier album's knife-edge immediacy and sometimes peculiar phrasing. 's solos are impeccable throughout, and his backing group, also including funky organist , is tight and admirably resistant to showboating. ~ Stewart Mason