What’s Goin’ On (in R&B)?

If you're doing quality work within a genre, you don't tend to declare it dead. And then there's Maxwell, the R&B singer whose pouffy Afro and history-conscious music made him a leading sex symbol of '90s neo-soul. "Is there even such a thing as R&B anymore?" he asks. "Hip-hop has completely absorbed it. I have no problem with that." Even if this is a politic acknowledgement of reality, it's a good thing he doesn't mind. Maxwell just released his first new album in eight years: the awkwardly titled BLACKsummers'night. Turns out he's changed, too.

After his platinum debut in 1996 and a No. 1 record in 2001, Maxwell dropped out of the game. The explanation is human enough: he wanted a life outside the industry. "People who do get a great deal of success, they start to buy into the conditional aspect of that love," Maxwell says. "I'm so happy that I didn't lose the real idea of who I am." By the time he began recording new material, Maxwell was digging acts like Radiohead and Fleet Foxes. So while his music is still grounded in '70s soul, there are stray hints of expanded listening habits. The interplay between electric guitar and horns on the standout track "Help Somebody" goes beyond Green and Gaye, though you suspect the old masters would approve. And where his songs once seemed more jammy than rigorously composed, there's a pleasing tightness to Maxwell's latest. At 38 minutes, it's the rare return that's confident enough to be concise.

During Maxwell's hiatus, R&B went though its own evolution. Crooners delivered chorus hooks for club-banger anthems, and rappers repaid the favor by contributing hype-laden rhymes on the slow jams. The "get money" fixation of mainstream hip-hop was ascendant. Here again, Maxwell's new tunes play as if from an alternate reality. There are no star turns by MCs on BLACKsummers'night. Neither will you hear any IRS-style itemizing of valuables. This is important, since the appeal of baby-makin' music hinges on a certain universality—one that allows a slow-dancing couple to imagine itself as the subject of a song. "It's already got my name on it. I don't really need to beat you on the head with me," Maxwell says. "Music is a service."

Turns out the marketplace was hungry for some service-minded R&B. BLACKsumers'night hit the top of the Billboard 200 in its first week, and perhaps its success will spark a new movement. There are already signs that the digitized era of Auto-Tune vocals may be waning—with no less a trend-setter than Jay-Z proclaiming the pitch-bending fad over in a recent track titled "D.O.A." (for "Death of Auto-Tune"). It's good that the hip-hop icon joined the struggle against software's grip on soul, though his protest song wasn't totally satisfying. Should you be in search of more arousing material, look for the comeback kid.

© 2009