Sex and faith have always been the twin heads driving soul music. From Marvin Gaye to Prince, R&B's giants have proven time and again that communion with God and communion with a warm body aren't incompatible goals.
So when R. Kelly opens his new album with an organ-laced plea for deliverance, then segues directly into slammin' bedroom funk, he's not being inconsistent. Rather, contemporary soul's love man of the moment is simply trying to reconcile the carnal impulses that have fueled his previous work--most notably 1994's "12 Play"--with his obvious spiritual longings.
