is not a man you want to be cross with you. After two decades of occasionally uneasy give and take between and , seemed on the verge of imploding when, after making himself scarce during the recording of 1986's made it clear he not only wasn't going to tour with the band, but he was going to devote his time to promoting his second solo album, 1987's , including playing some shows on his own in Japan. If threw down a gauntlet, could be said to have picked it up and slapped hard with it, going into the studio to cut his solo debut, 1988's . To the surprise of absolutely no one, often resembles a album ("Take It So Hard" could pass for the best single since "Start Me Up"), but part of its charm is that even when it strays far from the band's template -- such as the churning funk of "Big Enough" or the tribute/rip-off "I Could Have Stood You Up" -- it still beautifully captures what brought to the band as a guitarist and songwriter, only in different surroundings and fresh contexts. It always sounds like , even when it doesn't sound like , and he's passionate, engaged, and effortlessly cool on every track, with his trademark rhythm-as-lead guitar front and center throughout. The stellar band that accompanies -- including , and -- has a mind and an approach of its own, but they understand that the root of what does is about the groove, and they don't let him down for a moment. was good, raucous, high-attitude fun in a way a album hadn't been since in 1981, and if unwittingly revealed wasn't entirely sure what his musical identity was outside of , this album made it clear all needed to do to make a good record was to be himself. ~ Mark Deming