Third Post-Feline Effort for Lee Rocker Is Cat’s Meow

And no dogs, either. On his third album as a front man, the former Stray Cats bassist has grown immensely. “No Cats” struts a full album’s worth of first-rate stuff, all of it beautifully played, deeply felt and winningly roots-based but pop-savvy.

Rocker’s two credible but unspectacular albums with his mid-’90s trio, Big Blue, now seem like warmups for this main event. If Rocker, a Laguna Beach resident, has been shadowed by the Stray Cats’ history as rockabilly revivalists, or by Brian Setzer’s stature as that hit band’s front man, then this CD promises to cast him as his own man with his own ideas and style.

Whether it’s a case of divine intervention, magic potions, deals with the devil or something more humdrum, like practice-makes-perfect, Rocker has gone from a singer struggling to make up for his limitations to one of confident aplomb, with wide emotional reach.

On song after song, he smoothly carries attractive original tunes, often stretching or curving a note or phrase to add a soulful touch. His singing falls a bit short on “Hard Rain,” the album’s warm, climactic valediction about facing a life of trouble and struggle; it’s the kind of song that demands a Bonnie Raitt or John Hiatt, and Rocker isn’t in that lofty company yet.

Elsewhere, though, he finds the right combination of smoothness, swagger or subdued regret. As a lyricist, he always aims to avoid root-music cliches, and frequently succeeds. At the album’s creative core are two fine, mood-weaving songs. “Memphis Freeze” is a soulful elegy that benefits from a sparser arrangement and a much stronger vocal than the original version Rocker cut in 1995. “Mr. Newman,” by Rocker’s former Big Blue sidekick, Mike Eldred, is a fine enigmatic mystery, told from the point of view of a perceptive but confused child who doesn’t know what to make of a strange neighbor. Eldred, an unheralded guitar star, caps the nervous, ominous song with a wild, taut solo.

Also contributing are some of Rocker’s better-known buddies. Leon Russell wrote or co-wrote two tracks (one of them, “Screaming Hunger,” is a good, Chris Isaak-style bit of steamy, silk-sheet romantic drama) and kicks in some signature piano rollicking. Former Cars guitarist Elliot Easton excels, as do Adrian Demain, who plays lead guitar in Rocker’s current live lineup, and drummers Jimmy Sage and Steve Duncan, whose playing is crisp and emphatic. Rocker upholds his rep as a nimble thumper on the bass fiddle, proposing in the inventive lyric of “Rumblin’ Bass” that the fundamental forces of nature are God’s own way of playing in the lower register.

Rocker is negotiating U.S. distribution of “No Cats.” Meanwhile, fans can get copies by mail, or at his gigs--including his birthday bash tonight at Linda’s Doll Hut. With this album, he can celebrate getting better as he ages. (Available by sending certified check or money order to Lee Rocker CD, 30872 S. Coast Highway, Suite 190, South Laguna, CA 92677).

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* Lee Rocker and the Rhythm Shakers play tonight at Linda’s Doll Hut, 107 S. Adams St., Anaheim. 9:30 p.m. $8. (714) 533-1286.

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Ratings range from * (poor) to **** (excellent), with three stars denoting a solid recommendation.