Ndegeocello reclaims revolutionary soul on latest release

“Just cuz civil rights is law doesn’t mean that we all abide/Tell me are you free?” Ndegeocello asks in the opening track of her fourth album, “Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape” (in stores Tuesday) a striking return to her early role of revolutionary soul singer after focusing chiefly on the ups and downs of romantic relationships in her last album, 1999’s “Bitter.”

The singer-songwriter-bassist even employs the term “revolutionary soul singer” in the album’s second track, “Hot Night,” the aggressive R&B/funk tone of which also recalls her early work. Ndegeocello’s previous releases have definitely pioneered step in the neo-soul movement that has given us Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys.

At her best, in fact, Ndegeocello (pronounced N-day-gay-O-chello) is the most political of the ’90s crop of neo-soul singers, someone who speaks passionately about politics on various levels sexual, social, racial and economic.

There is much to admire in these tracks, whether Ndegeocello assumes the role of political orator, questions her own faith (the spiritually charged “Jabril”) or takes us into a sensual world of private passions (“Barry Farms” and “Trust”).

There is a tension and urgency in these moments that is as gripping as pop music gets.

If Ndegeocello had limited the album to, say, 50 minutes, she would have had her fourth straight four-star collection.

But the consistency of the 70-odd minute album is broken by tracks including the cosmic, new age “Earth” and “Better by the Pound” that lack the absorbing edge that makes Ndegeocello such a rare and valuable talent.