I first met Scott McLean in his role as a drummer in a blues band. So I wasn?Äôt sure exactly what to expect when he sent me a copy of his new album, the intriguingly titled "Rock and Roll Karma."

As a musician, Scott has a few tricks up his sleeve besides drumming in a blues band.

Away from his longtime collaboration with Angela D'Ambrosio in Angel Blue and the Prophets , Scott delivers a disc that features several musical styles - from guitar-driven jams to jazz/ funk fusion to hook-filled rock 'n' roll riffs. And beyond the drums, he plays most of the other instruments, to boot.

The six songs on "Rock and Roll Karma" impress the listener as well-planned and -executed, so it comes as no surprise that most of them have been in the works
for at least a decade. And he has some interesting stories to tell about them.

The opener, for example, starts with a child's "hello." That's not just any child; it's Scott himself, age 4, talking into the recording equipment set up for his
dad's band, the Musical Relations. More on them later.

The little boy's greeting segues into the heavy riff that drives "In the Glow of the Moon," a song that incorporates a variety of atmospheric sound effects. (Scott prides himself on developing his own, unique touches for recordings.) The outro is a lengthy guitar jam featuring contributions from his buddies Mark Harvey and Chuck Becker, who trade licks in an ever-changing variety of tones.

Scott pays tribute to one of his primary influences, guitarist Joe Satriani on the second track, "UFO." Again, Scott sets the tone with some totally original effects before breaking out a stinging guitar hook.

An original by the Musical Relations follows. Scott had heard the band, featuring dad Ford McLean and other family members, since he was small, and he asked if they wouldn't mind if he took a shot at a tune called "I Need Your Love." They told him to go for it.

"I was very true to coming up with the sound of the original song" Scott says. And as usual, he comes up with a few tricks of his own. A moody minor-key organ intro is followed by a "1-2-3-4" count-in taken directly from an old reel tape of the Musical
Relations.

Speaking of whom, one of the Relations, Bill Ankney, sings lead on Scott's version, and Ford McLean himself (lead singer on the original) adds harmony vocals.

And as another tribute to the band of yesteryear, Scott took excerpts from the vintage tapes of each member saying, "the Musical Relations," then combined the
voices and recorded them backward, dubbing the result in "like a set of
credits on the end."

A similarly thought-provoking aural collage occurs just before the final notes of the album's closer, a short blast of fusion called "The Monk of Funk." The
weird, seemingly random noises actually are a compendium of recordings of Scott over a period of many years.

"All the sound effects at the end are like a time capsule of my life," he says.

Which seems appropriate, given the album?Äôs title. "Karma," according to its definition, incorporates elements of destiny. And Scott believes his destiny is
tied to making music:

"If you do something with music and it's good, it's going to come back to you."

Plus, he sees elements in the title that can be drawn from from Joe Walsh's tongue-in-cheek classic "Life's Been Good." (You remember: "I have a mansion, forget the price/ Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice!")

Matter of fact, Scott had the cover photography for his album shot at the mansion to end all mansions, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. That's one of his favorite
places, as it served for the setting of one of his favorite movies, "The Private Eyes" (1981) with Don Knotts and Tim Conway.

If the contents of his CD are any indication, yes, Scott McLean is doing something good with music. We'll see how that affects his "Rock and Roll Karma."