Black Dog has released the 1991 recordings by John Stirratt, bassist Tim Lee, and drummer Charles David Overton as "The Gimmecaps." It includes 11 John Stirratt originals and a cover of Richard Thompson"s "Streets of Paradise." The Gimmecaps sound like what they were--a talented band that wasn"t together long enough to establish a distinctive sound and personality of its own. Too many songs drift along in a midtempo lope, wrapped up in layers of ringing guitars and sounding like Jayhawks album filler. Nonetheless, when Stirratt grabs hold of a rousing chorus hook--as he does on "East Coast," "A Round" and "Doubt"--you can hear just how good this band might have been had they stayed together. And it makes you want to hear what"s going to emerge next from the fertile North Mississippi scene that produced Stirratt. --Geoffrey Himes