Check out Butler's sublime "Voodoo Man." A funky alley-preacher intro pounces onto a dizzyingly syncopated piano jive punctuated by Butler's cocky assertions: "...my recipes are made from the finest root." No doubt.

Vu-du Menz runs over with this kind of joyful comic arrogance, championed by Harris' cartoon blues sexual references: The milkman-- "...I'd fill your bottles to overflowing/ 'til the milk runs down your leg." The iceman-- "...I'd be sure to keep you cool." The pipelayer-- "...Got just the right length for you."

Of course, it's not all fun and games. A wry treatment of "Massa Tom" Jefferson's slavemastership ("Mulberry Row"), a doleful workman's lament ("King Cotton") and some traditional negro spirituals keep us in sight of the blues' true origins in the paradoxical heart of the African-American dilemma.

But the gems are in the jams, where Butler's unending Creole piano variations, Harris' slide resonator guitar and both men's soulful vocal wails are organically brewed into a potent homestyle gumbo. Glorious.

--Cripsy Duck ........................................................................................... up