By Lorrie Irby – Dallas South News Entertainment Contributor

“Where Is the Love?,” a bittersweet ballad sung by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, was released the year I was born. With lyrics about rejection and unrequited love, it became an instant smash and remains one of my all-time favorites.  In fact, the song seems to play like a subliminal soundtrack every time I encounter what passes for modern soul music.

Don’t get it twisted: at 30-something, I’m far from what’s considered old, but I certainly feel that way when I get a glimpse of what’s on the Billboard charts or when I happen to see and hear what passes for ‘love songs’ in this day and time.  C’mon, “I Invented Sex”? “Bangin’ The Headboard”? “Sex Therapy”? Is this the best that the new generation can do, especially considering the golden examples that came before them?

I remember my youth, teen and early adult years as being flush with spine-softening, toe-tingling ballads that warmed the heart, spoke to the soul and even now, still have the capacity to make the listener stop when they hear it, pause them in their steps or remain in the ride as the memories transplant them into a sweeter place and time.

Whatever happened to the live instruments, the lush orchestral feel, the insightful lyrics that told a story and conveyed emotions rather than simple lust? What about the passionate vocals that were accepted at face value, no matter the age or the appearance of the individual they originated from?

Let’s face it, true soul maestros like Bill Withers would be considered ‘too old’ and not ‘camera-friendly’ enough, even though his lyrics and sonorous delivery are now time-tested classics. Sex appeal and mass marketability have come to mean more than the music and the message, and we are all suffering in that narrow void.

I consider myself lucky that my parents both loved and exposed us to true talent in my early years: I was practically spoon-fed the greats from infancy, such as Earth, Wind & Fire, The O’Jays, The Isley Brothers, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, The Jacksons, L.T.D., Teddy Pendergrass , Al Green, New Birth, Ashford and Simpson, Chaka Khan, Norman Connors and countless others who made me anticipate the moment where I could experience a love that made me feel the way they sung.

Monogamy was a destination, not a deal breaker, and if it didn’t work out, enough optimism remained to love on another day. Yes, sex was a part of the equation, no doubt (none of us got here by accident after all), but the artists who came of age back then wielded a sophistication and subtlety about expressing it.  After all, one doesn’t need an advanced education to figure out what “Close the door, and let me blow you mind” means.

It’s unbelievable that many of the 20 and 30-something set don’t know what a pure falsetto sounds like, what a baritone is or what harmony is capable of, but if you’d like a quick Valentine’s Day primer on songs that are guaranteed to the get the mood right, allow me to offer you my personal Fifteen Favorite 70’s Era Gems and Goodies (not in any particular order)….

• “Golden Lady” –Stevie Wonder
• “Just To Be Close To You”-The Commodores
• “Love’s Train”- Confunkshun
• “Close the Door”- Teddy Pendergrass
• “You’re As Right as Rain”- The Sylistics
• “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”- Donny Hathaway
• “Yearning For Your Love”- The Gap Band
• “Don’t Say Goodnight (It’s Time For Love)” The Isley Brothers
• “Love Ballad”- L.T.D.
• “Love’s Holiday”- Earth, Wind & Fire
• “Let Me Make Love To You”- The O’Jays
• “I Do Love You”-GQ
• “Always and Forever”- Heatwave
• “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up”-Barry White
• “I’ve Got Love On my Mind”-Natalie Cole

In the meantime, I try to remain optimistic: a lot of new school folks are bringing that old school sensibility back (Raheem DeVaughn is one example who comes to mind), and this vapid, “outstank one another” mentality can only last so long….I hope. But if you ever encounter me humming that immortal “Where Is the Love” refrain, at least, going forward, you’ll know why.

Lorrie Irby Jackson is a freelance journalist based in Dallas and has covered entertainment professionally for several years, writing many articles for The Dallas Morning News. Her e-mail address is lorrie.irby@gmail.com.