L. Michael Gipson - Soul 2016: A Largely Disappointing Year In Review
(December 28, 2016) Around sometime this summer, I began to believe that, with few exceptions, this was going to be among the worst years in Black American Music. As a critic who has reviewed for 15 years, you can’t help but characterize some music years as good years and some as bad. Of course, it’s all terribly subjective, as any critique of the arts can be. And yet, some years astonish you with how incredible the output can be like 1967, 1971, 1975, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1997, 2000 – years that just are an unrelenting assembly line of genius level releases. In recent years, followers of the underground and independent music scene have also become incredibly spoiled. SoulTracks Best of the Year Lists from 2012 to 2015 became harder and harder with every passing year to keep at 30 or 50 (depending on the year), so much was our bounty of musical riches, especially 2014 and ’15. Whew! And, then came 2016.
The year started with big, major, gut-wrenching deaths like Natalie Cole, who died as 2015 was literally turning into 2016, and ended with the death of George Michael just as we thought we were all done crying and posting YouTube videos of hits past. It all has fans asking to bubble wrap any R&B, soul, and crossover pop icons over the age of 50 until 2017. Month after month, the death march was unrelenting, with David Bowie in January, Maurice White gone by February, Daryl Coley come March, Prince in devastating April, and on and on, leaving a trail of tears and dusted off CDs. Death hovered over the year, coloring every music fans perspective, and that was before the election made us wonder if a new Medieval times had truly dawned.
It didn’t help matters when several highly anticipated releases didn’t measure up to past efforts. Not that any of the projects were particularly bad; generally, they were listenable, if underwhelming. From front to back, most of them simply didn’t measure up to what these artists had shown themselves capable. And, that included critical darlings like: Joe, Perri, Jo Jo, Az Yet, Usher, Jaheim, Troop, Maxwell, Incognito, Bernhoft, Angie Stone, Alicia Keys, Keith Sweat, Emeli Sandé, Craig David, Jordan Rakei, Anthony David, Marc Broussard, Gregory Porter, Chrisette Michele, Rebecca Ferguson, Mayer Hawthorne, and even the earworm yet juvenile writings of the poptastic Bruno Mars (yes, I know I’ve chosen a fave of yours somewhere in there, but most of these albums were total bores, stretches in curious directions, or beneath these folk’s talent—sometimes all three). Of course, each album had a great song or three on their long awaited projects here and there, as to be expected by the caliber of artists listed. Still, none delivered what could even come close to being considered a cohesive classic to add to their catalog arsenal. Collectively, they made 2016 feel like a further let down and inspired us to feel like those icons who were dying at a steady clip were not being replaced by their equals or betters.
It was the unexpected releases that ruled the day, like Beyoncé (Lemonade) and her sister, Solange (A Seat at the Table), in what were mature, personal, and political turns for both in ways timely and necessary. Following Kamasi Washington, Miguel, Angie Fisher, Luke James, Jarrod Lawson, and the Internet’s amazing turns in the years before, it was the refreshing classic and hybrid works of KING, BSlade, The Suffers, Alex Isley, and a particularly prolific Anderson.Paak, that resoundingly declared that the new soul kingdoms and queendoms no longer lay in the East or South, but in the West. Despite the failings of the usually reliable Rakei, Bernhoft, Hawthorne, and Broussard, blue-eyed soul had a banner year with new releases by Milk, Lawrence, Tom Misch, Jamie Lidell, Mario Biondi, Eryn Allen Kane, Lindsey Webster, Young Gun Silver Fox, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones, each with their own unique sounds and cadences. These artists all helped save the year.
The bigger surprises came in the way of veterans who delivered what Troop and Az Yet failed to do in their returns: make us remember why we loved them to begin with. After 7, two-time winners of the SoulTracks Readers Choice Awards, deserved every accolade for Timeless, because the album was exactly that. But, so were new releases by Silk and Surface (now ReSurface), groups I only liked in spurts during their prime, but who delivered albums that could be played through from start to finish and unquestionably enjoyed. The same could be said for the particularly auspicious returns by Eric Benét, Regina Belle, Frank McComb, Theo Croker, Eddie Levert, William Bell, Brian McKnight, Anthony Hamilton, Musiq Soulchild, Dave Hollister, Will Downing, Robert Glasper, All Cows Eat Grass, Kindred The Family Soul, BJ the Chicago Kid, Corinne Bailey Rae, and the very, very left of center I, Ced and Esperanza Spalding, respectively. With a stripped down acoustic set, Macy Gray, always an acquired taste, delivered her best album since 2007’s woefully unsung Big, one properly titled Stripped. Eric Roberson and Phonte of The Foreign Exchange and Little Brother fame also stunned everyone with a near perfect Tigallero duet project.
Relative newcomers and sophomore artists like H.E.R., ABIAH, MAJOR., Ro James, D’Maurice, Snoh Aalegra, Laurin Talese, Chantae Caan, The Jack Moves, Daniel Caesar, October London, Tavonna Miller, Aaron Abernathy, Michael Kiwanuka, and The Dangerfeel Newbies each in their own way proved all was not lost. They, along with stunning single producer compilation projects like South Africa’s The Greg Dean Project, Michael Goldwasser’s Goldswagger, and Zo!’s Skybreak helped make up the difference for a year of far more disappointments than joys. Even among the relatively uneven albums of otherwise incredible talents like Heston, Fantasia, Leon Timbo, Laura Mvula, John Legend, Kandace Springs, Ashleigh Smith, and a long-anticipated Christie Dashiell, there were bursts of light to be found for the future of music among their offerings.
In a painful year like 2016, music helps make it possible to endure and offers hope to those hanging by a thread. In a year where the curmudgeon critic found more to disdain than embrace, it was hard to watch hip hop make some of the more relevant soulful offerings of the year, from Chance The Rapper and Childish Gambino to Common and A Tribe Called Quest, especially over the soul based music that makes his heart sing. That includes the rap/sung Hamilton Mixtape of songs from the Broadway hit. But, then there would come a moment out of nowhere like Cleveland P. Jones’ go-for-broke, no-holds barred performance on his epic, “Mistakes,” and I would be reminded that despite everything that’s come to past, there is still plenty to hope with the dawning of each bright, new day; something unexpected and pregnant with the promise of something good to feed our soul. Here’s hoping, 2017.
By L. Michael Gipson