Erykah Badu: C /D, S&D

I'm not going to say this is better in every way than Mama's Gun, but it's better in some ways than that album. Her first two albums were very much on a singular wavelength throughout most of the running time, which makes them GREAT albums for when you're in the mood for them, but a little impenetrable outside of that (Gun probably moreso than Baduizm). The new one is varied enough in texture that it's easy to slip into. Hence someone mentioning listening to it in top-down weather despite the album having really menacing stuff on it like "The Cell."

"The Cell" is one of the most top-down songs on the record! I figured out exactly which Stevie Wonder song it reminds me most of: "Too High".

Good analogy! Like "Too High," it's really dense musically but quite accessible.

Yes!

just saying that saying 'this is better in every way than mamas gun' seems weird. sort of like people saying the roots' game theory or even the new one are better than things fall apart.

-- titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, May 16, 2008 11:13 AM (Friday, May 16, 2008 11:13 AM) Bookmark Link

The "Their earlier stuff was better" fallacy is a classic. All I know is, hearing both albums for the first time concurrently, one strikes me as a pretty good, if slightly inconsistent, record (much like Baduizm, in fact), and the other strikes me as one of the best albums I've ever heard.

hay guyz, all three of her main albums are classic. no need to pick just one kthxbye.

I wasn't picking just one, I like all three of them.

Just by varying degrees, y'know.

"just saying that saying 'this is better in every way than mamas gun' seems weird. sort of like people saying the roots' game theory or even the new one are better than things fall apart.

-- titchyschneiderMk2"

except that the Roots earlier material is clearly far superior to their more recent, while Erykah has maintained a pretty high level across all of her records. i think that this one is the most interesting, daring, and quality of all of them though!

"the other strikes me as one of the best albums I've ever heard."

i am going to assume/hope you were referring to mamas gun. ;)

the whole album is quite righteous
now, Mama's Gun is an entire different ballpark for me

also: I want to know where she buys her wigs

xp: no

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2008/05/qa_with_erykah_badu.php

So excited.

My favorite album, Dark Side of the Moon, was meant to be a whole piece, just like mine.

o_O

I gotta say that ain't surprising!

i am seeing her show tomorrow! so excited you guys!!!

Tags: Erykah Badu, Joni Mitchell, Mos Def, Pink Floyd, The Roots, White Stripes

ooh, chris "the best drummer" dave is playing with erykah now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d9eydCfTdw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFYl3Ho41P0

i wish that band was on the record.

people, this show. omg omg omg. if erykah badu had an army i'd enlist.

ahhhhhhhhhh
two of my friends were at that show, i almost got the 2nd ticket but it didnt work out :( must have been amaaaaazing

I wanted to go see her, but she was playing with the roots who totally suck and tickets were like $60. I'll catch her next time she comes, which should be soon

the roots did kind of suck. :( i mean, i don't think they suck in general, but their live show is a mess. but badu alone was worth the price, seriously. i keep trying to describe the show, but can't. i feel like i'm 13.

she sang "green eyes" off mama's gun while performing some crazy rhythmic gymnastics routine.

the roots were terrible when i saw them about a month ago, but i just NEED to see Erykah at this point, i would have paid anything. what happened to the Roots BTW, they are really maybe 1/50th of what they were 10 years ago.

the roots' show is almost always a mess. FFS would it hurt to come up with a setlist for once?

im seeing erykah end of june. i cant wait. if i was a woman i think id want to be erykah.

"the roots' show is almost always a mess. FFS would it hurt to come up with a setlist for once?

im seeing erykah end of june. i cant wait. if i was a woman i think id want to be erykah.

-- titchyschneiderMk2"

when i saw the roots in 99 and 01, they were outstanding. of course they only had good material to work with at that point, plus their guests (black moon, jill scott, jaguar wright, etc) were all extremely exceptional as well which helped them out.

i wonder what Pittsburgh's energy field is like that she can't play anywhere even within driving distance of us? she could hit baltimore, cleveland, DC, detroit, toronto all within a 4 hour drive from me, but she isnt not playing any of those places. how weak. even philly could be doable maybe, but i dont see anything about her playing there either.

roots were great when i saw them around '02 i think

last time i saw them was when the phrenology album was out. saw them twice that year. once in NY and next in london. good shows. but they do ramble on a bit. their shows never have much form.

Damn, I really want to see her this Thurs. but no car + venue in Redmond is : |

I feel for you there, the Rev. :-/

great review of the record from nabisco in pfork btw!!!

i think you nailed the nuance needed for the parts (politix, history-of-post-civil-rights-black-music, etc) that seemed likely to end up sinking it but that she managed to pull off

ok I think this album finally clicked for me.

the only part of nab's review that i didn't like was the part about the duet with the trumpet player (ie roy hargrove). a) the vocals seem pretty obviously overdubbed, and b) roy sounds great, but she sounds kinda terrible here?

roy hargrove's tone always sounds so weeded, which is appropriate

tru

that dude's niche is really adding those awesome blazed lines to r&b albums, not being a jazz trumpet hero or heading a record (the tracks w/d'angelo, badu, common, etc. on his own records are so terrible compared to the reverse).

man i love this album tho:

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/images/local/250/79bf43d14163425496a6e34037ab8fca.jpg

"O My Seh Yeh"!!!

i was listening to this yesterday and was thinking that a lot of her 'conscious' rhetoric seems a bit too 'familiar'. like ive heard it a million times before ten years ago. its all that NWO-paranoia again but reworked.

http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/NO.gif

im not saying its a corny rehash, just saying im not sure shes really changed her stance on anything since then. shes probably just been relistening to a lot of hip hop from back then - the healer lyrics really remind of me old essays people used to write about hip hop in say, rap-pages (lol) back in 1998/99.

i haven't heard that roy album. and i am actually interested in his new quintet album. actually.

So new album next month, no? Details are still pretty sketchy. Has me worried.

and she promised, at the end of 'honey'

holy fuck erykah live. mind. blown. coming on stage to 'a milli' ("where is erykah badu at?" an hour late is where erykah badu was at), 'the healer' was incredible, that version of 'appletree' which sounded like some sort of insane cybotron remix, and just how triumphant was 'soldier'...the woman is a fucking genius.

i got to meet her afterwards <3 <3 <3

sounds good. she's playing the blue balls festival in lucerne later this month - if only it had been happening when i'd been there, would've been extra surreal seeing her play somewhere like that

did you interview her?

show was brilliant. she is amazing.

no, about 15 journos/fans just got to sit with her for a while, ask questions and so on. she's really serene in person. um yeah, one of the most powerful shows i've been to i think. always astonished at how much she belts it out on stage - she's so understated on record, to hear a song like 'the healer' sung like that was mind-blowing.

ooh im jealous. i love erykah. wish she did more from mamas gun but i want you, danger and otherside of the game were amazing. i liked how amerykah promise sounded so fierce. also liked when she was tapping out beats on her drum machine!