Soul Revival

Maybe the classic soul era of the ’60s was a once-in-a-lifetime epoch, but don’t tell our Soul Revival artists; they know that when music comes from that deep-down, no-holds-barred place, labels — not to mention time and tide — just don’t mean a thing. That’s why we can swing and sway to the full confession of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” and know that, in her way, the late-lamented chanteuse will live on forever. Why years from now, listeners will tune in to Adele’s “Chasing Pavements” and still feel her soul-searcher ache. And why, on “Compared to What,” John Legend & the Roots can blend smoke and satin as seamlessly as they do past and present.

The great soul revival keeps on keeping on, in Next Steps.

Ray LaMontagne keeps it classic with an ode to a special someone and the great come-on crooners of yore with “You Are the Best Thing,” but our Soul Revival standouts each tend to the spirit in his or her own one-of-a-kind way. So while Eli “Paperboy” Reed keeps a sweet chunk of bubblegum going on the pop-soul shouter “Come and Get It!,” super-producer Mark Ronson joins forces with the Daptone Horns for the instrumental blast of “God Put a Smile On Your Face,” and neo-soul songbird Leela James goes low, slow, and sultry as she lays it on the line in “Tell Me You Love Me.”

Dig the whole, wide, wonderful world of Soul Revival revelry in Deep Cuts.

Modern-funk Afrobeat by way of England? It’s all part of the great Soul Revival as British band Baby Charles dives into R&B’s present-day pool on “Treading Water.” Aussie acolyte Daniel Merriweather adds a dash of Wonder-ful brass to flavor the freshly baked groove of “Still Got Me,” while NoCal guitar whiz Eric Lindell lets the bluesy slow-jam seduction of “Lay Back Down” plead his empty-bed case for him. And because they know what’s important, The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker get straight to the point, asking the crucial soul question “Can You Feel It?”

If it’s true that soul music never really goes away, it’s also a fact that every generation needs to discover the past on its own, and then pay it forward via its unique perspective. Our Soul Revival Essentials isn’t about yester-trend copycats; it’s about artists bringing their influences along as they capture the essence of a sensation, expressing the contents of their hearts and minds, be it amorous expectation (courtesy of blue-eyed soul sensation Robin Thicke’s “Magic”), lovelorn confusion (“100 Days, 100 Nights” from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings), day-to-day struggle (Aloe Blacc’s “I Need a Dollar”), or even just the need to get out on the floor and shake it all loose to a big, shiny beat (Cee Lo Green and the glittering skyline of “Bright Lights, Bigger City”).