D'Angelo - Black Messiah (2014)

i will be seeing him at First Ave :)))))

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/singersongwriter-dangelo-part-1/

i recorded it, looking forward to watching!

he's not a very good interview, sadly.

:(

listening to this right now.
really love going back to albums like this after the hype has subsided and I can just really vibe out to this really cool, loose funky oddball R&B album without worrying about if it's a major "statement" or milestone or w/e

so many cool little details all over this

still listen to this all the time

Yeah it hasn't faded for me at all.

also, this is more urgent for me because of what's going on in Minneapolis right now but....

"All we wanted was a chance to talk
'stead we only got outlined in chalk"

from The Charade is like an all-time lyric, such economy, like on par with any Dylan or Woody Guthrie protest lyric ever.

otm

all things considered this is probly my favourite album of the last 12 months

same here, and it's had some very strong competition

I'm not sure anything else even comes close

some of the songs dont really work for me but yeah an incredible record

while there are definitely some songs that are standouts i guess i tend to just vibe out to the whole thing, it's a very cool sound world to be in

this and the Kendrick album been in p much constant rotation for me all year, a very complimentary pair

yah also has made me go back to both the New Amerykah albums by Badu which seem a piece with both those as well

So who of the professionals or p&j voters among us is including this in their best of 2015 albums?

I've been posting stupid shit about Neil Young and gangster rap on this site for years but I still don't get to vote in Pazz & Jop

this and the Kendrick album been in p much constant rotation for me all year, a very complimentary pair

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, November 24, 2015 1:13 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yah also has made me go back to both the New Amerykah albums by Badu which seem a piece with both those as well

― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, November 24, 2015 1:25 PM (33 minutes ago)

ditto to both of these. partly i know i'm just waiting for badu to release another album already but it meshes well w/ black messiah and tupab.

i listen to this all the time still but i hate The Door lol

who of the professionals or p&j voters among us is including this in their best of 2015 albums?

I can't bring myself to do it; too OCD about the "2015 albums have to have been released in 2015" thing. I feel like it'd also seem like a slight to everything that came out this year if my 2015 list were topped by a 2014 album

it won last year right?

I love this album so much, ums otm I play this all the time (voodoo too tbh)

I really dug this on first listen but honestly the more I've lived with it the better its gotten.

and yah, UMS told me I needed to go back to those Badu records and I'm glad I did.

So who of the professionals or p&j voters among us is including this in their best of 2015 albums?

Had to compile my 2015 Top 10 for MOJO last month, and Black Messiah was on the list of albums we'd reviewed in 2015, and I was like, some great, great albums this year but yes, Black Messiah is still the best album of that bunch.

I absolutely love just about over a third of this (The Charade, Sugah Daddy, Really Love, Betray My Heart, The Door, Back To The Future). The other parts I find either over-busy or a little bit too backgroundy for me to truly love.

yeah i voted for Black Messiah in P&J in 2014 but not for my local paper's year-end list that's due in November, and as i do the paper's list this year i'm sticking to 2015 releases. i'm not really worried about this album being overlooked!

I've thought about including it because I didn't last year (I've a vivid memory of downloading and listening to it on my way to jury duty on Dec. 15). I included Beyonce's album on my 2014 ballot. But I don't wanna deny a good album a spot.

it should still be on ballots (speaking as someone who has nothing to do with P&J). tail end of a year has always basically meant the next year, for these kinds of things.

It depends on the critic. If I've been assigned to review it, thus forcing me to concentrate for a deadline's sake, I'd have included it. I wasn't, so I absorbed it in leisurely fashion over the holiday.

even before Beyonce and D'Angelo dropped their buzzer beaters, i've always been pretty big on keeping my ears open to December releases on my year-end lists, some of my favorite albums in recent memory (including Last Train To Paris) got in under the wire on my lists that way. and that's partly because i know i'll have no desire to fit them into the next year's list.

depends when you (have to) make your EOY lists, right? most critics will prob submit multiple ones (i've submitted a couple already) but i don't really consider them ~official until my own final one on 31 dec. then that's it, done, not revisiting or thinking or carrying over

Coming back to this for the first time in a while, enjoying it even more now that the critical buzz haze has dissipated. The arrangements and production are just fucking masterful.

yea I've been playing this a lot lately, it's really really good

Also the rhythm section is so fucking sick, like on par with prime motown, stax, James Brown band, p much any groove rhythm section.

could see it wind up being my album of the decade

It's not as good as Voodoo but very few albums are.

literally none, imho

IDK, it's such a different feeling album to me, almost hard to compare

This is my 2nd favorite album ever.

Voodoo is my 2nd fav ever

<3

yup

Clicked on this hoping that Trump spurred him to finish his next album.

Chris Dave, the drummer on this album, has made an album of his own which will be out on Blue Note next month.

hmmm, i know Questlove, james gadson, and chris dave all played on Black Messiah, but i've never seen a track by track breakdown on who plays on what - until now.

https://storify.com/amaah/black-messiah-liner-notes

ain’t that easy - james gadson
1000 deaths - questlove
the charade - questlove
sugah daddy - gadson
really love - started with questlove, ended with gadson
back to the future, pt 1 - questlove
till it’s done (tutu) - unclear?
prayer - chris dave
betray my heart - questlove
the door - d’angelo
back to the future (pt 2) - questlove
another life - questlove

Tutu is unquestionably Questlove on drums.

Among other things (just the sound, and the press roll at the beginning), I think of that three note fill (that starts on the 4 and has a flam at the beginning) as one of his signature licks.

has a new song on the RDR2 soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obJuKmMjFG4