After 12 albums, Foghat may be due the benefits of rock's full-circle effect. As one audience's clichés become another's classics, this LP celebrating the rave-up roots of four '70s survivors could be right on time.

Like Dave Edmunds, who produced some early Foghat sessions, the band's player's know the by-ways of rock & roll's past with an intimacy approaching the instinctive. In the Mood for Something Rude capitalizes on this familiarity by relying exclusively on non-band songs such as Rodney Crowell's "Ain't Living Long Like This." The album's muscular attack makes the strategy's advantages self-evident.

What's gained, however, is nearly lost through leaden production, muddying what should be brightened. Even beneath that burden, Foghat brings a rowdy spontaneity to chops nearly worn smooth with age.