RECORD REVIEWS

Snoop Dogg

Album: “Neva Left”

Grade: B+

There’s a strong whiff of the past on Snoop Dogg’s new album, starting with the cover: a throwback photo of the young rapper taken almost 25 years ago in front of a Route 187 sign in Los Angeles. The title is a nod to his endurance: “Neva Left.”

The D-O-Double G may be spending time on talk shows, designing soccer cleats or cooking with Martha Stewart, but he still seem to have lots to prove on his 15th studio CD, a deeply chaotic album that reflects hip-hop’s constant changes swirling around our ever-fixed Snoop.

The West Coast rap legend is aided by almost 20 guests, including KRS-One, Redman, Charlie Wilson, Method Man, Wiz Khalifa and up-and-coming October London. Whoever comes, Snoop keeps up.

“Go On” is an R&B treat and “Bacc in Da Dayz,” which samples early Tribe Called Quest, was clearly designed to make your car shake so hard the mirrors might fall off. “Big Mouth” doesn’t just sound like a blast from the past – it’s like listening to the Big Bang of rap.

The two public sides of the rapper are on show – the strapped thug ready to bust your door down as well as the pleasure-seeking host of hazy summer pool parties. His nasally voice is characteristically unrushed and distant, his lyrics precise, his flow coolly menacing.

It wouldn’t be a Snoop album without at least one ode to weed and “Neva Left” actually has two – the club-friendly “Mount Kushmore” and “420 [Blaze Up].” But there are a few lazy songs among the 16, including “Trash Bags,” “Swivel” and “Moment I Feared.”

Snoop, from his throne, doesn’t seem to like what he hears these days: “The party don’t rock like it used to rock,” he says. So the hip-hop kingpin, now a grandfather, is showing us how it’s done, once again, like he’s always done it. He never left, after all.

— Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

Harry Styles

Album: “Harry Styles”

Grade: B-

When listening to Harry Styles’ solo debut, it will be hard to not think of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Elton John and other rock icons who came decades before the former boy bander.

The good thing for Styles, 23, is some of his fans might be too young to recognize the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. But despite looking to the past for his sound apart from One Direction, Styles proves he’s worth checking out.

The 10-track album is a solid set that proves Styles has some direction: “Two Ghosts” is probably his strongest song; “Only Angel” and “Kiwi” is full of Jagger swagger; and first single and Top 5 hit, “Sign of the Times,” is dreamy and melodic.

Styles’ voice varies on each song – in a good way – as he emotes the lyrics like a seasoned star, especially on the simple piano tune “From the Dining Table” and album opener “Meet Me In the Hallway.”

The performance aspect of the album is where Styles truly shines. But the creative process? Not so much. The album relies too much on the sound of others: “Woman,” for example, feels way too much like “Bennie and the Jets.”

— Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press

Pokey LaFarge

Album: “Manic Revelations”

Grade: B-

Modern troubadour Pokey LaFarge has an old-time band, out-of-time sounds and themes both ageless and current on “Manic Revelations.” LaFarge’s voice is high in the mix and it is as unaffected as it is clear. You won’t have to rely much on the lyric sheet to understand his stories, which cover a lot of bases.

He is backed by the Southside Collective, a band whose many resources – including the tubax (a giant saxophone) and stylophone, a small keyboard that looks like an answering machine – is at the service of American sounds, from soul and swing to country blues.

The danceable beats of lead single “Riot in the Streets,” LaFarge’s take on the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in St. Louis, may distract from the narrative but his sincerity keeps the sentiments focused.

— Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press