**1/2 Magic Slim and the Teardrops

SCUFFLIN'

(Blind Pig)

Chicago guitarist Magic Slim likes his blues raw and unsalted. He and the Teardrops stomp out hard boogies and shuffles without frilly extras like a piano, a horn, or anything else to adorn their bare-knuckles, juke-joint style. Slim's high-energy holler and brittle electric guitar are front and center, charged by a churning three-piece rhythm section.

As with meat-and-potatoes Chicago predecessors Hound Dog Taylor and J.B. Hutto, it's sheer exuberance and volume that makes the 59-year-old Slim's ragged, relentless style work its voodoo. The title tune rumbles along in a rough-cut groove, and the swaying original "I'm Not the Same Man" is a sure-fire soul stirrer. As a guitar player, Slim ain't got the most licks of anybody, but those he knows fly off the strings like sparks off struck metal. Roadhouse blues, straight and solid.

-- Bill Kisliuk