**** <i> Great Balls of Fire</i> *** <i> Good Vibrations</i> ** <i> Maybe Baby</i> * <i> Running on Empty </i> : BIRDS GO MEMPHIS

*** “HOT NUMBER.” The Fabulous Thunderbirds. CBS Associated. This veteran rockin’ Texas quartet has followed up the long-coming (and deserved) success of last year’s “Tuff Enuff” with a tribute to the music of Memphis, where the album was recorded. With help from the Memphis Horns and ex-Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who fill the role of the Bar-Kays and Booker T., respectively, the T-Birds do a good job of re-creating the sounds of that city--maybe too good, especially on “Stand Back,” a virtual rewrite of Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” and “Wasted Tears,” which parallels Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” It’s not that the band hasn’t always been derivative, but its models used to be more obscure artists like bluesmen Slim Harpo and Jimmy Reed.

The general familiarity of this record (which also includes a nod to Elvis with “It Takes a Big Man to Cry”) will probably appeal more to the band’s new fans than to the old faithful. But even to them it should be only a slight disappointment, as it prominently displays the T-Birds’ virtues, notably the rich singing of Kim Wilson (though he’s not really competition for Memphis’ classic voices) and the restrained, crisp guitar playing of Jimmie Vaughan (a sharp contrast to the up-front flash of his little bro, Stevie Ray). And on the non-Memphis-sounding Chuck Berry-ish versions of NRBQ’s “It Comes to Me Naturally” and Duke Robillard’s “Don’t Bother Tryin’ to Steal Her Love,” the band truly justifies the album’s title.