Taylor’s breakthrough was her album’s lead single, I Do This All the Time, released in April. “All the things I’ve ever wanted to do seem to be happening. She ended it with multiple album of the year prizes for her brilliant second solo LP, Prioritise Pleasure, a pop statement broiling with rage, humour, truth and tunes. Unfortunately, 2:35 PM also has its share of material that is competent without being terribly memorable, but when Richardson does hit the mark, it is obvious that the R&B world should continue to keep an eye on the North Carolina native.Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, began the year hungover after hosting a New Year’s Eve charity raffle for Women’s Aid online, “getting privately pissed, alone in my room, locked down with my poor parents”. The album gets off to an impressive start with 'Keep on Pushin',' which recalls classic soulsters like Sam Cooke and Bobby Womack - and Richardson is equally convincing on 'Falling Out,' 'I Wansumo,' and 'More Than a Woman' (not to be confused with the Bee Gees/ Tavares hit of the late '70s). Kelly-ish moves here and there), and material that is more old-school in its approach.

The romantic slow jams on 2:35 PM fall into two main categories: radio-oriented tunes that have a strong Jodeci/ K-Ci & JoJo influence (with some R. However, the CD's best tracks demonstrate that Richardson is capable of excellence when he puts his mind to it. 2:35 PM, Richardson's second solo album, isn't in a class with Patterson or D'Angelo's best releases actually, it's mildly uneven and inconsistent. Like those singers, Calvin Richardson has a neo-soul perspective that owes something to classic soul as well as urban contemporary and hip-hop.

That said, the situation is far from hopeless - if it were, major talents like Alicia Keys, India.Arie, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, and Rahsaan Patterson wouldn't have broken through. Between the rigid, extremely tight formats of urban radio and the fact that major labels are so quick to drop artists before they have a chance to develop, modern R&B is bound to have an abundance of artists who go out of their way to be as generic as possible. There's too much working against it - at least in the United States.

It's doubtful that R&B will ever have another era as creatively rich as the '60s or '70s.

Calvin richardson playlist