Refugees of the Heart' is Steve Winwood's second album since Back in the High Life, in 1986, brought Caribbean rhythms and soulful rock into the CD age and made Winwood a pop star. This album, like Roll With It, in 1988, grounds Winwood's unerringly musical tunes in, as the graceful choruses of "Running On" put it, "that sweet R&B." On "Come Out and Dance," Winwood offers a slyer cousin of "Roll With It," that crack re-creation of Memphis soul. A fast glissando of Hammond organ, a few words sung in Winwood's peerless voice, the first anchoring beats of Jim Capaldi's drums, and the new tune's ready to roll itself, complete with a hot four-man brass section and guitarist Larry Byrom, who punches out funky parts.

Most of Refugees of the Heart, which sustains a balladic tone, hits in less-predictable ways. A collection of eight tracks recorded in England and Nashville, this album is concise, but it's not going after catchiness on the order of, say, "Valerie" or "While You See a Chance." Winwood wants to let the warmth, power and freedom of old R&B take him to spiritual places.

When the album succeeds – as on "You'll Keep On Searching," whose rock-jazz atmospherics give Winwood's voice the support it needs to sail away – that happens. On "One and Only Man," a celebration of monogamy, Winwood and Capaldi fashion a dynamic dance piece bursting with walking bass lines, smartly percussive keyboards and guitar heat. As uptempo as it is, the song taps the same passion that Winwood brings to "I Will Be Here," an ambitious attempt at a James Ingram-style romantic ballad, and to "Every Day (Oh Lord)," a pulsing pop-gospel track.

It's not faint praise to call Refugees of the Heart a satisfying Steve Winwood album. Never too interested in clever scenarios or fast-talking lyrics, Winwood still lets his voice and his playing speak volumes. But as naturally as Winwood's legendary abilities adapt to and play variations on classic U.S.-soul styles, a contradiction does exist between Winwood's good taste and his Traffic-bred flair for groove and risk. Those latter impulses distinguished Back in the High Life far more than its multiplatinum sales did; they helped yield a great single ("Higher Love") and a totally alive album that was a masterful product of both Winwood's talents and the rhythm decade during which he applied them. His good taste – his hunger for the enduring candor of R&B and gospel but his simultaneous affection for the familiarity and balance of those genres – makes Refugees of the Heart a transitional album, an honest and rewarding work that precedes Winwood's next venture into the high life. (RS 592)

JAMES HUNTER