Blades Sings With the Fire of Truth

*** 1/2RUBEN BLADES. “Antecedente.” Elektra.

After a disappointing detour into pop, rock and doo-wop sung in English earlier this year, Blades has come back home to Spanish and produced some exciting surprises.

In past albums like 1984’s “Buscando America,” Panama’s singer-songwriter-film star could be counted on for urgent storytelling fused with Latin political and aesthetic passions. In 1987’s “Agua De Luna,” he stretched salsa’s good-time, dance-dominated lyrics even further by creating literary salsa based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s stories.

But though his lyrics were revolutionary, a sameness began to permeate his melodies and synthesized, jazzified salsa. In “Antecedente,” Blades still sings with the fire of truth in his gut. But there’s convincing tenderness now--especially in “Patria,” an anthem of hope to a country mired in venal dictatorship.

“Contrabando,” a song about Venezuela’s Orinoco River, reminds us that Blades still paints on a broader canvas. The song not only gives us the river as the middle ground where soldiers and guerrillas are reconciled but also alludes to Alejo Carpentier’s novel “The Lost Steps” by asking whether Latin America can invent the path back to a true, New World identity.

The lyrics don’t do all the work, though. Since this album’s emotions are colored by memory, Blades reinvents his youth through the Cuban son, circa the ‘40s, when its funkier, pre-New York sound made Panama and the world dance. It’s Blades’ turn now.