R.L. Burnside is the walking, cussing, axe- wielding embodiment of the blues. He is Robert Johnson back from the crossroads with one hell of a chip on his shoulder. When asked about time served twenty years ago for a murder, Burnside balks: "I shot him in the head. Him dying was between him and God."

The seventy- something Burnside has been dishing out his snarling, raw version of the blues from the hills of northern Mississippi for nearly a half- century, but has only been recording for Fat Possum since 1991. Although he seems to have stepped out of a distant past, his music is vital and fresh. In 1996, he teamed up with funk- punkers, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, for the ferocious A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, and now on Come On In, he collaborates with Beck producer, Tom Rothrock, and Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire.

On paper, this alliance sounds exciting and innovative. The cyclical, riff- driven repetition of the blues lends itself well to rhythmic tape loops and experimental remixes. On "Heat", Burnside and Empire give us a glimpse of this project's potential, but unfortunately, Come On In doesn't deliver on its promise. For the most part, Rothrock's remixes strip the sense of urgency from Burnside's music and lack the ingenuity that distinguishes his work with Beck. While the combination strikes gold with "Come On In (Part 3)", the album's excessive overproduction leaves one longing for the stripped- down venom of "Just Like A Woman" and the live title track.

Burnside should be applauded for his originality and vision, but Come On In is an experiment that never quite finds the solution.

-Neil Lieberman