D'Angelo - Black Messiah (2014)

Now, see, Sharkey has chops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJgMBUCxg9g

i love that a dude in The Who is one of the stars of the new D'Angelo album

Um he is an amazing piano player. Have you ever heard that solo version of Spanish Key? Also the videos from those duet gigs where he's playing Rhodes w/left hand bass are ridiculous.

Sorry Spanish Joint. I don't usually post from a phone, it's weird.

Just saw a promoted tweet for this album lol

ah, i see. i figured it was unlikely that he went from zero to hero (guitar solo-wise), even in a decade or so.

(responding to earlier posts about the various folks playing guitar on this record)

feel like it's possible. The guitar on most tracks isn't that crazy. 10 adult years is a lot of time.

i saw him live like...2 months ago? he played piano and guitar very capably. There were a lot of musicians on stage though, maybe 6 or so plus 3 backing singers iirc.

There's no way the tasty licks on this new album are him playing guitar. I'm not even sure a lot of the piano playing is him, tbh, but that's at least more plausible.

― Josh in Chicago,

Some of the comments in here getting ridiculously ignorant now! Doubting D@ANGLOS keys skills? hell are you talking about or you're trolling? No one is playing keys on this album other than D.

the solos on the album are trying to be eddie hazel/michael hampton, the rhythm guitar parts are much better, and i suspect those are by dangelo. ive not heard anything by him guitar-wise that blew me away. hes obv a much better piano player. wished he stuck with that actually. could have had the album a lot earlier. i know he wants to do everything prince can do but even so.... nothing wrong with the tradition of piano greats in soul (stevie, ray charles, etc).

and hey, if chris martin can deliver an energetic show on piano, why cant dangelo???

Oh, don't get me wrong! D'Angelo is a very talented musician. I'd just never heard any key playing that particularly blew me away, not that there was anything wrong with it. But D'Angelo's not, like, some Stevie Wonder virtuoso, regardless. But he's super tasteful, so it's hard to tell. I did always think the "he can play anything!" thing was a little overblown. Most of "Brown Sugar" is pretty simple (to its credit). D'Angelo is not Prince in that regard, and does not need to be.

But yeah, some of the more technical jazzy guitar licks on this album, no, 10 years of adult time will not get you there.

I'm not even sure a lot of the piano playing is him, tbh, but that's at least more plausible.

― Josh in Chicago,

he gets all the credit on the sleeve

well yeah theyve been trying to sell him as a virtuoso for years but im not sure i really buy it. the credits on this album are suspiciously non-specific.

On one of the older D threads I loled at the Voodoo credits saying Questlove played the drums, x played guitar, y played bass, and "all other instruments by D'Angelo."

The important thing is, when you have Questlove, and Pino, and Sharkey et al, you do not need to be a virtuoso. That is why those cats get gigs. The other important thing is that D'Angelo has an amazing ear for vocal harmonies, a la Prince. Those are his greatest strengths. But no, I'm not sure I would drop D'Angelo in the middle of some jam session and just expect him to fit in and cut loose, not the way someone like Pino or Sharkey can. Which is not a bad thing! D'Angelo can be great without being some flash next level player. And he is. He's the glue that keeps it all together (probably).

He's pretty funky on keys here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVmwS7OjPU

"well yeah theyve been trying to sell him as a virtuoso for years but im not sure i really buy it. the credits on this album are suspiciously non-specific.

― StillAdvance,"

You're still spouting I see. D won 3 consecutive Harlem Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest while still a teen, no mean feat especially back then in front crowds that were often hostile to any weakness.

He also won his recording contract off the back of an impromptu 3 hour piano recital in front of a rec exec. But yeah you and the rest can keep "doubting it's actually him on piano". This place, seriously. Noobs!

raccoon tanuki mowing people down in a thread about the actual new d'angelo album what a damn world

^^^ noob!

I think for someone naturally t talented as he is, 10 years of adult time - adult time where I assume he's not worked a day job - is more than enough time to get great at guitar

here's that piano version of Spanish Joint (actually from a radio performance iirc):

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

this is the dumbest convo ever

plz go see him live

btw i always wondered about some of the guitar parts on Voodoo...obviously Charlie Hunter and others are on there, but there are some tracks with guitar where no one is credited, and the sleeve says something like 'all other instruments by D'Angelo'.

I think D'Angelo also plays Racoon.

not as well as Travie McCoy Scott

d'angelo plays the human being on 'Sugah Daddy'. he held a dude's arms from behind and then smacked them together in time to the music.

and then he tooted the horn parts on a MIDI flute at the same time

Since 2005, the part of D'Angelo has been played by a rotating cast including Cate Blanchett, Omar from "The Wire" and all members of Tony Toni Tone.

Also, this album is great.

I agree it's a silly discussion, but I think some of you are confusing "knows how to play" with "he's a virtuoso." That dude he has playing guitar, you could not learn to play like that in 10 years unless you are currently only 10. Piano, yeah, I've seen D'Angelo live, and obviously he knows how to play piano. But I'll defer to those who know the complexities of piano to tell me if he's a particularly great piano player. The way, say, Pino is a particularly great bass player.

but Pino is a particularly great bass player because of his sound & feel (and the choices he makes), ie what really matters. anyway.

charlie hunter said dangelo could play some difficult miles davis stuff, but then he probably felt compelled to say something like that at the time as he was on voodoo. i think dangelo is obviously good, but probably within certain constraints. hes got a particular style/mode he plays in, and hes good in that, im just not sure how versatile he is. also not sure what winning some talent shows proves. the apollo audience arent exactly there to grade you like a music teacher. theyre looking for other stuff.

the main problem is really why we NEED him to be a virtuoso. cant he just be good?

Josh wants to hear him cover "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson before we hand down a decision.

thought i heard Tony Macapline and Gary Moore play some guitar on the record, p cool

Josh wants to hear him cover "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson before we hand down a decision.

― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, December 19, 2014 10:55 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

goldberg variations

Be hilarious if in 14 years, when he releases his next album, he chalks the delay up to immersing himself in the music of Eric Johnson.

Clearly the dude does not need to be a virtuoso, and it doesn't matter if he is or isn't. He is exactly as good a D'Angelo as I or anyone needs. I'm just trying to figure out something that's always nagged me, with D'Angelo and plenty of other acts, too, where people make a big deal of ZOMG, they play everything on the record, or OMG he's a musical genius, but I can't quite put my finger on exactly what would make someone say that. Like, D'Angelo is great, no need for people to get defensive on his part. I'd still like to know what the guy can or can't do, since I find that interesting. It's always been a person fascination how certain acts who clearly can play everything (like Prince, or McCartney, or whomever) nonetheless usually delegate and why.

even Stevie...sure, he could play drums (and everything else) on every tune if we wanted to, but sometimes you just want another person's sound or ideas (or maybe efficiency, but that's probably not the case here, ha).

yeah, i don't know if the polymath thinks another musician is "better" or "worse" but maybe just different - something the polymath could possibly play but wouldn't come up with on their own.

you also can't play live in the studio with yourself, outside of a michael keaton multiplicity type scenario

prince has always seemed like a dude who was equally happy just layering every single part himself in his home studio or bringing in guests when he felt they could add something he couldn't.

xpost

that wasn't in response to imago specifically! although if prince cloned himself it'd be kind of neat. he could put out ten albums a year instead of just two or three.

xxxp unless you string up and control the motions of some michael jordan cutout and mannequin bandmates

actually prince cloning himself would be a good explanation for how prolific he was in the 1980s.

^^^the sooner dangelo stops wanting to be like prince, the better. much as i love this album, and i adore it, i feel like the problems for him have come from the gap between what hes great at, and what he isnt great at (at least, not yet), but really wants to be great at. like, i dont really think he has a feel for pop/rock like prince does, and im cool with dangelo doing a token song or too like that, but i hope he doesnt feel he NEEDS to be some sort of funk rock guitar god. which seems to have been part of the buzz the last five years, how hes coming back and playing like zappa (per questlove).

Still on this eh, I'll check back tomorrow

what "problems" does d'angelo have? ... as a musician i mean, obviously he has or had some personal demons. i think we'd be wise to separate the "buzz" (very little of which actually originated from d'angelo himself) from the record and how it sounds, which is pretty fucking assured/confident IMO.

in my imagination i feel like D learning guitar was a way for him to keep being a dynamic frontman (not sitting behind a keyboard) while having something musical to do, ie without having to dance or ooze sex appeal 100% of the time onstage.

good point. never felt he was really comfortable as a song and dance man, so anything that keeps him more in the musician role is probably for the better. re: problems, yeah, i meant personal demons.