BeBe Winans benefits from his new label home with some of the guests on Love & Freedom, but 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 voice. At its center Love & Freedom revolves around a similar double entendre of romantic love and the more spiritual variety. The new album’s first single, "Coming Back Home" typifies its slow jam majority. Winans and general market R&B 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 Stephanie Mills and sister CeCe travel similar thematic routes. Then 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.