R&B

Then, it was all about the soul. Now, that core has been supercharged with 21st century pop, hip-hop, dance, and more . . . but whatever the era, there's no mistaking the electrifying mind-body connection only great R&B can create. You can sense it in the feel-great roof-raising of "Respect," written by Otis Redding but given anthemic power by Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin in '67, and in the "uh-oh, uh-oh" overload of Beyoncé's 2003 global chart-buster "Crazy In Love" with its sampled Chi-Lites brass and move-bustin' brilliance. And it blows you away whether Marvin Gaye is heatin' up his 1973 plea for love and understanding, "Let's Get It On," or whether Alicia Keys is defying gravity with the irresistible emotional force field of her 2001 signature, "Fallin'." James Brown brings the heat, and Corinne Bailey Rae keeps it cool, in Next Steps.

Great R&B has a way of ingraining itself into popular culture, so that it becomes timeless, whether the original recording belongs to your generation, or your grandpa's — take James Brown's 1965 dance-floor funk-fireball, "I Got You (I Feel Good)," which hits the spot every time, whether you first heard it on vinyl, on The Simpsons, or on the soundtrack to Transformers. Or how about "Soul Man," which was given a late-'70s revival by the Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live more than a decade after it was a hit for Sam & Dave. And maybe your introduction to "Put Your Records On" came courtesy of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, but Corinne Bailey Rae's 2006 original will go down a classic blast of summertime soul. Decades may come and go, but great R&B stands the test of time, in Deep Cuts.

Our all-time outstanding collection of R&B Essentials continues to span the decades here in Deep Cuts, as we trace a line of excellence from Wilson Pickett's monumental, soul-fired 1965 classic "In the Midnight Hour," through Minnie Riperton's birdsong-backed "Lovin' You" — the global hit from 1975 that takes the high note even higher — to Cameo's supreme chunk of mid-'80s hip-hop/funk, "Word Up!" Sam Cooke's Civil Rights anthem, "A Change Is Gonna Come," sounds as vital now as it did back in the '60s, thanks to an election victory name-check from President Barack Obama, and Amy Winehouse injects the spirit of old-time R&B into her multiple GRAMMY Award-winning "Rehab," proving that talent is truly timeless.

Classic or contemporary; yesteryear or here-and-now; fast 'n' hot or slow 'n' smooth — however many variations on the R&B formula you'd like to sample, there's one thing we can guarantee: every song here carries the stamp of greatness. Collectively, this Essentials playlist makes up the very DNA of R&B, that magical formula connecting talents as diverse as those of Barry White and Alicia Keys, Percy Sledge and Sade, Etta James and En Vogue. Sound the alarm for a perfect storm of R&B ecstasy, as Usher slow-jams his way through the sweet pain of "Burn," Smokey Robinson & the Miracles lay down "The Tracks of My Tears," Rihanna is joined by Jay-Z on "Umbrella," and Ben E. King distills love and friendship into the three-minutes of R&B perfection with "Stand by Me." These are, quite simply, songs that are destined to last forever.