Music Review: Black Eyed Peas bring a disco groove and summer dance fun with ‘The E.N.D.’

Music Review: BEPs bring summer fun with ‘E.N.D.’

Black Eyed Peas, “The E.N.D.” (Interscope)

The Black Eyed Peas want you to dance, and “Boom Boom Pow” is just the beginning.

The smash single sets the tone for the dance-party vibe on the quartet’s first new album in four years, “The E.N.D.,” which stands for “the energy never dies.”

Will.i.am, Fergie, Taboo and apl.de.ap — who ruled summer radio with “My Humps” and “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” from their Grammy-winning 2005 album “Monkey Business” — look toward the future on “The E.N.D.,” with 15 disco- and electro-inspired tracks sure to be the soundtrack to many a summer party. It’s a record all about love, youth and having a good time.

On “Imma Be,” the foursome raps about their fly-ness and prowess for partying. “I Gotta Feeling” is an optimistic track with an auto-tune refrain of “I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night.” The happy vibe and auto-tune continues on “Party All the Time,” marked by a chorus anyone can get behind: “If we could party all night and sleep all day and throw all of my problems away, my life would be easy.”

Fergie is prominently featured throughout. She pines for a lost love on “Missing You,” sings through vocal effects over a Rob Base sample on “Rock That Body” and grooves reggae-style on the thumping “Electric City.”

Listening to “The E.N.D.,” it’s clear to see the group’s break did them good: It may be the Peas’ best album yet.

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: The band’s message of unity, heard in past hits such as “Union” and “Where is the Love,” continues on “One Tribe,” a track that urges listeners to “catch amnesia and forget about all that evil that they feed ya” and affirms “we are one people.”