Jacob Fairley

Resurrected is the follow-up third release to Jacksoul’s 1996 debut, Absolute and Sleepless, released in 2000. Resurrected on this album is the early ’70s vibe of Al Green’s effortless lyricism — the first single, "Still Believe In Love,” is a subtle homage to that. One will also hear the never duplicated, often replicated melodies of Sly & the Family Stone, and the feel good grooves of a Stax Records set. To say that Haydrain Neale, lead vocalist and Jacksoul front-man is simply emulating an old school soul sound is to miss the point of this album. There’s a unique freshness and millennium realness to Resurrected, admittedly interwoven with a hard to ignore nostalgic aura. But the standout quality of this album is the earnest intensity of Neale’s vocals and the musicality of the accompanying band. There’s nothing sweeter than a soul album with funky beats, conscious and uplifting lyrics pared to down low, straight-talkin’ vocals apropos of the above artists. Resurrected is a heightening of the bar and a true resurrection of not just soul music as a genre but as a way of life in its totality.