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Rotations: Bob Dylan, Black Eyed Peas, Neil Young offer new releases

By George Pelletier - Milford Bureau Chief | Jun 27, 2020

Bob Dylan’s new album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways” (Columbia) is enthralling. Six decades into his career, the Nobel prize winner delivers a record that lives up to its title. And if that wasn’t enough, he punches the point with the CD’s opener, “I Contain Multitudes,” softly crooning, “Got a tell-tale heart, like Mr. Poe/ Got skeletons in the walls of people you know.” The rebel poet is 79, and after a trio of cover albums of Sinatra standards, “Rough,” which borrows its title from an ancient Jimmie Rodgers perennial, is a sweeping achievement, flipping through the figurative pages of culture through assassinations, world wars, the births of nations, crusades and Biblical myths in order to plot his place in the great eternal scheme. Freewheeling and lyrical, Dylan is making music again that is both elusive and jarring by the pure simplicity of the songs which sound like chestnuts instead of new songs. On the single, “False Prophet,” he warbles, “Hello Mary Lou, Hello Miss Pearl/ My fleet-footed guides from the underworld/ No stars in the sky shine brighter than you/ You girls mean business and I do too.” Dylan is a treasure, not because he’s written some of the most memorable lyrics of the last century, but because he is still doing it. His words have been pored over, reinterpreted, ignored, taken as gospel, rephrased, reimagined and plagiarized so many times that trying to find out the length and breadth of the influence of just one of his albums on modern society would be an impossible task. “Rough” finds Dylan ultimately questioning his own fate, counting the years and even admitting that he’s outlived his own life. Good for us.

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On “Translation” (Epic), The Black Eyed Peas have fallen into a bucket of Latin-tinged influences and they’re soaking in it. Jumping on the Latin-pop bandwagon, minus Fergie, who hasn’t recorded with them for a decade (it shows), “Translation” misfires on so many levels. While some might view the album a BEP reboot, refreshed and inspired by reggaeton, trap and the broader umbrella of urbano music, they’d only be half right. “RITMO, (Bad Boys for Life)” the first track, significantly samples Corona’s “Rhythm of the Night,” from 1993. Why? The movie was tired and so is this cut. “Vida Loca” is probably the most radio-ready track, turning Rick James’ “Super Freak” into something pleasantly flavorful. But the bulk of this record might have been best suited for an EP and not a full-length album. Shakira joins the group on “Girl Like Me,” which like it or not, will ultimately become some dancefloor anthem worthy of any club on South Beach. And sampling the fake Latinx of Madonna’s new wave-era “La Isla Bonita” on BEPs’ hooky “Mamacita” is both a massive stroke of pop mimicry as well as a poke at Madge’s own heritage rip off, and hypnotic in a way that BEP knows well (repetition has always been BEPs’ favorite go-to). Perhaps after several listens, this album might sink in. Or it could be water torture. Either way, Black Eyed Peas get a little lost in “Translation.”

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After 46 years, the irascible Neil Young has unearthed a collection of stripped-back songs he began writing at what was arguably the zenith of his career. “Homegrown” (Reprise) is the rare missing link that lives up to the legend. Many lost albums are alluring; kind of like finding that missing sock from the dryer. The Beach Boys’ “Smile” and Marvin Gaye’s “Love Man,” are two worth mentioning. On “Homegrown,” there are acoustic guitars and even a few mid-tempo numbers. Young himself has said that “Homegrown” – which came about after he broke up with his girlfriend and mother of his first child – were too personal for public release at the time, and you can hear some of that vulnerability on display throughout. Young’s “Harvest” album actually accentuated its country-rock with songs about love and family; the country-rock here is a bit more scarred, scraping the remnants of a broken relationship from the surface wounds.

There’s a lot of sadness on this disc; there’s also a lot of kind words. Young doesn’t look back in anger, instead finding comfort in lasting memories and souvenirs. On the opener, “Separate Ways,” he sings, “Happiness is never through / It’s only a change of plan.” Young even went so far for apologizing on his archives website, saying, “This album ‘Homegrown’ should have been there for you a couple of years after ‘Harvest.’ It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it. I wanted to move on. So, I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind….but I should have shared it. It’s actually beautiful. That’s why I made it in the first place. Sometimes life hurts. You know what I mean.” Truer words were never spoken by the same man who once said, “The thing about my music is there’s really no point.” Give Neil a break. Give the album a listen.

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