Entertainment, Music - Army Times

Dylan gives ‘Signs’ of continued success

Bob Dylan

“Tell Tale Signs”

Less a time capsule of vault remnants than a fresh summation of Bob Dylan’s modern times, “Tell Tale Signs” reveals the 67-year-old legend at the peak of his powers, ruminating on lost love, pondering mortality and trying to make sense of a broken society.

The eighth installment of Dylan’s “Bootleg Series” is a rich cache of unreleased studio recordings, demos, alternate takes, live tracks and rarities spanning 1989 to 2006, the renaissance era that yielded “Time Out of Mind,” “Love and Theft,” “Modern Times” and “Oh Mercy.”

The collection, available as a 27-song two-CD set or a lavish three-disc deluxe version with a 150-page hardcover book detailing his singles artwork, opens a fascinating peephole into Dylan’s sonic sanctum. “Signs” brims with pearls: the beguiling “Red River Shore,” epic “‘Cross the Green Mountain,” live “High Water,” “Dreamin’ of You,” piano demo “Dignity.” Dylan’s attachment to America’s musical roots are evident throughout, from “32-20 Blues” (his first release of a Robert Johnson cover) to a Ralph Stanley duet. But this is no museum archive. It’s another side of a master songwriter and spellbinding performer.

Download: “Red River Shore,” “Dreamin’ of You,” “Mississippi,” “Dignity,” “Marchin’ to the City,” “The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore,” “32-20 Blues,” “Ring Them Bells”

Pretenders

“Break Up the Concrete”

Chrissie Hynde may have spent the past three decades in London, but you wouldn’t know it on this energetic and smart set of scrappy rockabilly and rootsy American rock ‘n’ roll. Flanked by competent hired hands, she’s the sole original on her band’s ninth studio album in nearly three decades, which isn’t an issue since Hynde was always the great Pretender. She continues to project a tough, wise and vulnerable personality in bracing songs that dare to reach beyond the yearbook sentiments of love-struck teens. Her pain-revealing poignancy can startle, but she’s at her best when snarling, as in the militant title track’s call for environmental activism, set to a thumping Bo Diddley beat.

Download: “Don’t Cut Your Hair,” “Boots of Chinese Plastic,” “Break Up the Concrete,” “One Thing Never Changed”

Consider: “Love’s a Mystery, “Rosalee”

Michelle Williams

“Unexpected”

After two gospel/inspirational albums, this turn to vapid electro-pop is hardly what would seem to naturally come next. The former Destiny’s Child singer may find an audience in the clubs, but it’s hard to see these soulless grooves and indistinct vocals having a lot of impact elsewhere. That Williams would seek to stylistically separate herself from Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland is perfectly understandable. But given her previous body of work, you’d expect something more substantive — or even fun — than this.

Download: “Stop This Car,” “We Break the Dawn”

Skip: “Lucky Girl,” “Till the End of the World,” “Thank You,” “Hungover”

Rachael Yamagata

“Elephants Teeth Sinking Into Heart”

Yamagata breaks away from the pack of wispy voices popping up in commercials and on TV and film soundtracks with this split-personality two-CD mini-opus. The often haunting, sometimes creepy acoustic pop on “Elephants” and the more jarring, jaded fare on “Teeth” are tied together by a graphic candor and an ineffable sense of loss that make for anything but easy listening.

Download: “Elephants,” “Horizon,” “Faster”

Consider: “Over and Over,” “Sidedish Friend”