If you’ll forgive the obscure reference, everything from the bass line to the cadence to the tone of this album’s powerhouse opening track – “Starvation” – echoes “Trouble,” a smoldering Bob Dylan blues buried on side two of his 1981 album, Shot of Love. And that’s good-nothing like indignation rooted in the appetites of the body to put bite in one’s bark. What’s even better is that, to one extent or another, “Starvation”’s burnished groove runs through each of these 10 tracks. Unlike ’80’s Dylan, Young knows how to use backup-singing women and horn-playing men without turning them into mere gimmicks (check out his Stax-worthy treatment of Willie Henderson’s “Got a Hold on Me”). Also unlike ’80’s Dylan, Young can sing well enough to qualify as more than a side dish on his own menu. And although he’s not Bobby Bland enough to completely bring off “Bring It On,” he’s also not bland enough to sink it: “Turning Point,” “End of the Line,” “Wishy Washy Woman” – even at 70, he sounds mighty and young enough for another decade at least.

–Arsenio Orteza