Drop his last name, put his second solo album on a label synonymous with classic soul music, and you still have BeBe Winans. Winans benefits from his new label home with some of the guests on Love & Freedom. Listeners with especially good ears will recognize contributions from Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Debbie Winans Lowe, The Katinas and others.
Regardless of the glitter those friends may add, the spotlight shines brightest on BeBe’s warm, rich gruffness.His lyrical state of mind remains as familiar as his immediately recognizable voice. At its center Love & Freedom revolves around a similar double entendre of romantic eros love with the more highly spiritual agapé
variety, not far from the brand of adult R&B/gospel he perfected with sister CeCe. The new album’s first single, "Coming Back Home," typifies its slow jam majority. Winans and general market R&B vocal stalwarts Brian McKnight and Joe at first sound to be singing about returning to the love of a good woman, while a deeper reading shows a prodigal coming back to the Lord.His duets with the ladies—with Stephanie Mills on "Everyday" and "Tonight Tonight" featuring CeCe Winans—go similar thematic routes. More satisfying results could be when BeBe brings personal liberty and social responsibility into the picture, as on "Love and Freedom" and "How Do We." The eternal and political come into starker contrast on a cover of Stevie Wonder’s "Jesus Children of America," where Wonder and Winans’ preacher brother Marvin chime in for a trio on the set’s leanest, meanest groove. A cover of Donnie McClurkin’s "Stand" closes Love & Freedom with anthem-like encouragement, and it rivals the might of the time-tested original.