The State of the (Music) Nation: A Lament

Quick, name the last great R&B album? It would have to be Stevie Wonder's 1976 Songs in the Key of Life. Before that I would suggest two albums that came out in 1971: Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Going On and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Some may say: what about Prince's Purple Rain or Sign O' The Times or Al Green Let's Stay Together or I'm Still in Love With You. Okay it's subjective, but I begin by defining great R&B as the marriage between great music and great lyrics which is why I would rank Riot, What's Going On and Songs in the Key of Life as the last great R&B albums. Perhaps Bob Marley & the Wailers Exodus belongs in this elite group. Time rated it the best album of the 20th century.

Sly's fusion of R&B, soul, rock, funk and psychedelia with social and political commentary was ground-breaking and influenced a slew of artists and groups: Prince, Earth, Wind & Fire and Ohio Players. This was urban blues at its best.

What's Going On was a visionary and conceptual masterpiece with its broad lens focused on the environment ("...where did all the blue skies go?"), poverty, discrimination, corruption and drug abuse in songs such as Mercy Mercy Me and What's Going On.

One could argue that 1973's Innervisions was more socially conscious, but for my money Songs in the Key of Life was the more complete and greater album.

These three great albums were made more than thirty years ago and it has been uphill ever since. We have a lot of very good music: the stuff out of Philadelphia International, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Toni Braxton and Prince. But, now there is a dearth of good soul or R&B music. Destiny's Child? Ugh! Ironically, it was Philadelphia International which ushered in disco and was partially responsible for R&B's decline. Yep, disco killed the R&B star.

Where have you gone Smokey Robinson? A nation turns its bored and lonely eyes to you. Check out the lyrics to the next R&B hit, and don't even mention the music. I think it has to do with education or the lack of it: the drop-out rate in high schools in black communities everywhere - Britain, Canada, US or Caribbean is close to 40 per cent and lyrically black music has suffered because there isn't the competition - when Smokey was unable to produce hits for the Temptations, Motown turned to Norman Whitfield - among peers. There are no Smokey Robinsons, no Marvin Gayes or Stevie Wonders anymore. The well that produced those great artists and influenced other genres and artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones has gone dry.

The good thing is that all of that good music have been filed on my iPod and I can listen to Barbara Lewis' Hello Stranger and Baby I'm Yours or reminisce on Sly's If You Want Me to Stay.