It’s been a whopping 40 years since Barrence Whitfield & the Savages were first formed in Boston by a couple of garage-rock veterans (who’d just exited local legends the Lyres) and a newly discovered, wailing maniac of a lead singer. In the time that’s passed the band has split and returned in a few guises, influenced some of their peers (Los Lobos took “Georgia Slop” from their trick bag), and lately reformed around the same two ex-Lyres (guitarist Peter Greenberg and bassist Phil Lenker). Whitfield’s spent time in New Orleans (he was a Ponderosa Stomp fixture), branched out a whole lot (he’s done a Sun Ra-themed album and a couple of acoustic Americana ones), and gradually revealed himself as one of the most soulful voices that Boston ever produced.

This is the largely original band’s fourth reunion album, and each one’s been true to the wild abandon of their ’84 debut. The band’s sweaty grooves are dependable by now, as is Barrence’s full-throttle vocalizing. So, what’s different about this one? For one thing, the recording: Producer Mike Mariconda (another garage-scene vet) makes it sound like an exciting mid-’60s recording; everything is live and vivid. For another, the songwriting: They ran out of obvious cover material a long time ago, so they’re now uncovering great tunes that absolutely nobody knows about (Prime example: “I’m Ready! I’m Ready!,” a call to arms that James Brown wrote for forgotten protégé Beau Dollar). The emotions also go a little deeper, particularly on the band originals: “Killing Time” is about those times when life gets truly lowdown, and the finale “Flyin’” is quite literally about rising above; Whitfield does his best gospel preacher on the latter.

It adds up to one exhilarating half-hour (on the dot) of rock and roll. In fact, I’ll take their track “Cape May Diamonds” over the lately fashionable kind from Hackney.