****Excellent ***Good **Fair *Poor : COMPACT DISCS

“The Best of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.” Polydor. Along with Sam’s two immortal pop-trash hits--1965’s “Wooly Bully” and 1966’s “Li’l Red Riding Hood”--the party animals strut their gritty Tex-Mex stuff on a wild variety of covers, including Billy Lee Riley’s “Red Hot” and (are you sitting down?) the rock-blues standard “Mystery Train.” With only 12 songs and 30 minutes playing time, it’s a bit skimpy, but that’s counterbalanced by a budget price ($9.98 in some stores). And besides, for anyone who can handle more than 30 minutes of Sam the Sham in one sitting, there’s always the repeat button. Sound quality: good. ** 1/2