DEL DRAGONS
Southern Jumbo

    Hold the phone calls, letters, and e-mails; the "Austin Summer Jam Contest," 1997 edition, has a winner. It's "Sticks and Stones," five songs deep into the Del Dragons' first full-length, Southern Jumbo.

    Not only does it blast with all the groove and force of other classic summer jams, as in "Tumblin' Dice" and the Black Crowes' "Remedy," it makes the album's few shaky moments fly by all the more quickly.

    The band turns on the vocal axis of Troy Dillinger and Kim Patty, and if they've got their blues on, they're shit-hot and badass as Delaney and Bonnie. If not, they're Ann Wilson and Mike Reid (Loverboy, remember?), emoting all over the closing credits of some ill-fated Eighties romance flick -- mostly on "After the Rain" and "I Just Can't Fall." Jangleheads will like "Tomorrow," a slow-dance reworking of the Beatles' "Something" that isn't too obvious (well, maybe just a little).

    The rest of Southern Jumbo, especially "Crazy 'bout Tori," "I Must Be Dreaming," and "So Jaded," will sound great on the lake, by the pool, in the car, or any place loud, luscious jams turn up the summertime temperature.

3 Stars -- Christopher Gray