KoolEaze said:

Yes as stated it's just a bonus short DVD that comes with deluxe edition. Although only 23 minutes long, I thought it cool and informative. Nice to see the players involved on the album as well. Worth it for me. Maybe not others.
Btw, I agree with what others are saying that the last track "Phoenix Rising", the instrumental jam, sounds like a segue to part 2 of the trilogy. Great way to end/begin parts 1 and 2. Imo.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Thanks for the detailed info. I will definitely buy the deluxe edition.
I still wish he´d record with some of those people who played on his first album.I dig his new stuff, too, but that old team....you know, never change a winning team. Him and Matthewman were a very good combo.

KoolEaze said:

I agree they made a great team. This is perfection to me.

daPrettyman said:

Oh HELL yes. That was the sh$&. I turned so many people on 2 that in DC.

That whole album is great.

Giovanni777 said:

Yes the album is excellent.

Can someone post Maxwell's performance at the 2009 BET awards? That was simply magical-he was great.

daPrettyman said:

Oh yes that song is Which Sweetback album was this on?

The first one..it also had You will rise with Amel Larrieux and Au Natural with Bahamadia..damn..i use to always play that album..

daPrettyman said:

Co-sign!

missfee said:

The one that's on the pic in the youtube file.

Maxwell Tops Billboard 200
July 2009


Maxwell makes big news on the Billboard 200 albums chart, entering at No. 1 with "BLACKsummers'night" and a career-high sales week of 316,000.

http://www.billboard.com/...3668.story

YAY Maxell for entering at #1! After all this hype and spreading the word, I didn't get my copy of the cd/dvd until Friday. It's way too short in length, and even the songs overall are short. I'm enjoying it though and probably grade it a solid B. I love the dvd because I like looking at him and hearing him speak. He could read or sing from the yellow pages and I can watch him do that all day.

Copycat said:

Now that is impressive.

Copycat said:

Congrads Maxwell! Job well done. I've really grown to love this album, but I want to see how long it will be on top of the charts.

Graycap23 said:

Very. I think a lot of it had to do with the tour he did late last year and early this year. It was a great way to reintroduce himself to the fans.

Copycat said:

According to the email I got from his site, it was 316,499. We wouldn't want him to have to audit later on...

Rogue588 said:

DAMN HE SOLD 316,000 IN HIS FIRST WEEK,HOLLY SHIT,I SAWI T ON WIKIPEDIA,HES GOUNG TO SELL ATLEAST 700,000

Kudos to Maxwell for debuting number one on the Billboard chart! Somebody on the charts I can actually stomach? Thank you Jesus. I kiss the cross.

He did better than Prince.

Who's the idiot who dissed Help Somebody? Great song. That alternative rock sound really helps this time.

Pitchfork write-up.. http://pitchfork.com/revi...mersnight/

7.8/10.0

Heartbreak is a constant in popular music, and with good reason; Maxwell is among the billions across the globe who have had their hearts broken at one time or another, but his latest record, BLACKsummers'night, is a deeply moving and evocative record that finds the singer expounding on this universal feeling like few can. The record misses frequent collaborator Stuart Matthewman and initially has an almost underwhelming live-performance feel when compared with his older records. But while it lacks the iconic significance of his debut, BLACKsummers'night is a record more than worthy of Maxwell's talents, because it trades the physical sensuality of his earlier work for a deep emotional resonance, the performance of an artist whose focus and attention to detail gives his expression a singular veracity.

Maxwell's debut, Urban Hang Suite, is one of the top R&B records of the 1990s. Back then the young, precocious singer wielded an introverted, understated persona; he seemed to have a profound understanding of himself with a quiet-spoken reserve that, when blended with incredibly crafted songwriting, came across as confidence. Here was an artist who seemed to have shaped every chord change for maximum emotional effectiveness. Maxwell was also a performer who knew that songwriting was not simply writing melodies and chord progressions, but could be structurally ambitious, with the kind of consistent unpredictability and subversiveness of the song form, embracing the unexpected, like the sudden crash after the long pause in the middle of Urban Hang Suite's "Dancewitme". His latest record finds these kinds of details, this external, broad-perspective view of what "composition" really means, the love of intricacies, its best songs balancing compositional excellence, development, and tension, with carefully designed moods that reflect or complement each work's lyrical focus.

Take "Help Somebody", for example: Maxwell begs the listener to show love, turning such feelings into a moral imperative, tension ratcheting with a gradual build, musically searching for release that never comes, a long hopeless cry to force logic to intrude over irrational feeling. Maxwell's power is least effective when he loses this composed structure; "Stop the World" reaches for raw, unrehearsed expression, but without organization, it feels listless. By contrast "Fistful of Tears" is anchored by a Prince-inflected quarter-note harmony waltz; not coincidentally, it's also the album's most immediately affecting track.

Although Maxwell has always seemed preternaturally mature, there is something new here, a depth of emotion appropriate for this level of heartbreak. "Pretty Wings", the lead single and album centerpiece, doesn't work in simple binaries or reductive ideas; it lays out a fair yet confused examination of a relationship's fall. Maxwell even acknowledges his own mistakes after an indictment of his partner's, creating a realization of loss and all of the intricate personal responses that implies. But what is truly powerful is that it is just as musically complex as a relationship's disintegration is emotionally. Maxwell's patience allows him to effectively write such peons to devotion; it is as if he wanted to catalog every aspect of this very human breakdown, identify each strand to create a song that fully captures, laid bare, the complex emotional terrain that wells up during such an exceptionally difficult and human experience. This level of detail carries with it a lived-in feeling, a convincing truthfulness simply because the emotions are too specific to be anything but real. Music this effective is difficult, and only someone as passionate about music as they are the human heart could so successfully produce work that reflects well on both.

— David Drake, July 10, 2009

love the cd.

Loving "Stop The World" more and more with every listen

Milty said:

Hmmmmm...and anyone else playing 'Phoenix Rise'...over and over?...

funkyandy said:

WHY didnt he lay some vocals on that one!?!?!?!?

Anyway the album is good. Its easily listenable, not as catchy as some of his other tracks however the musicianship and the voice all arrange the album perfectly. There isnt a distincive song that stands out from the rest other than Phoenix Rise, because it is very funky and has an 80's vibe. The rest blend together smoothly and more so ...goes with the flow of things rather than a couple songs reaching out to be different. Its so good to hear his voice. We need him in the industry now and Im glad he is back!

Congratulations on the #1 album Maxwell! Well deserved.
[Edited 7/17/09 17:20pm]

daPrettyman said:

People really missed him and good R&B music.

Maxwell Enters Billboard Top 200 at #1 With Long-Awaited New Album BLACKsummers'night





Modern Soul Master Achieves Second Consecutive #1 Album Debut, And Best Career Sales Week,With First New Studio Collection In Eight Years




NEW YORK, July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern R&B and soul master Maxwell is entering the Billboard Top 200 at #1 this week with his long-awaited fourth studio album, BLACKsummers'night, one of the year's most heavily-anticipated event records.


With first week's sales of 316,499, according to SoundScan, BLACKsummers'night is enjoying the highest debut sales week, and best overall sales week of Maxwell's career. BLACKsummers'night is #1 on the SoundScan Album Retailer chart and is #1 on the Current R&B chart.


Released on Tuesday, July 7, on CD and in a Limited Edition Deluxe CD/DVD set, BLACKsummers'night is the first full-length Maxwell release since Now, his critically-acclaimed third studio album, also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in August 2001.


Maxwell recently returned to the top of the nation's singles charts when "Pretty Wings," the first single from BLACKsummers'night, rocketed to the #1 slot on America's Urban Adult radio stations less than eight weeks after its release after completing an earlier run as the nation's #1 Greatest Gainer/Most-Added song at the Urban Mainstream format. "Pretty Wings" has spent four weeks in the #1 slot of Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart, where it's closely followed by "Cold," another single from BLACKsummers'night.


Each a chart-topper on iTunes, BLACKsummers'night reached #1 on the iTunes R&B Albums chart while "Pretty Wings" hit #1 on the iTunes R&B Singles chart.


"Bad Habits," the lead track and second single from BLACKsummers'night, is the nation's #1 Most Added song at Urban Adult radio according to Mediabase, the music industry's first mass-airplay monitoring service.


BLACKsummers'night is the sensuous opening installment of the artist's monumental BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT trilogy. (The trilogy's subsequent chapters, blackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT, are slated for release in 2010 and 2011 respectively.)


BLACKsummers'night reunites Maxwell with long-time collaborator Hod David, who serves as co-producer and co-writer of the album. Striving for an emotional authenticity and real world sound for the album, Maxwell and Hod recorded the entire album live in the studio with an a-list ensemble of elegantly sympathetic musicians.


Advance word from the press on BLACKsummers'night has been ecstatic:


"Grittier, more grown-up, and more experimental with an album of soulfulness and substance." - Jon Pareles, The New York Times


"His mostly laid-back music remains potent, mixing introspection, melancholy, and desire."- Chris Farley, Wall Street Journal


"BLACKsummers'night finds Maxwell smoothly picking up where he left off, his moves familiar yet still irresistible. Silky vocals ... make this one exquisite listening experience. What the hell have people been making love to since Maxwell went away?" - Chuck Arnold, People


"A powerful dose of heartbroken soul" - Simon Vozick-Levinson, Entertainment Weekly


"BLACKsummers'night reminds you why Maxwell is the premiere R&B vocalist of his generation." - Ken Capobianco, Boston Globe


"BLACKsummers'night evokes the complex late '70s albums of Marvin Gaye, when the singer was making his most deeply personal music" - Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune


"Few modern singers put so much soul and feeling into such righteous grooves"- Matt Pais, Metromix


Maxwell is currently on the road with a major North American tour in support of BLACKsummers'night.


"Wednesday ... was the right time (and) DeVos Performance Hall was the right place," wrote Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk in his review of Maxwell's tour opening concert The Grand Rapids Press:


"...The DeVos Hall audience was primed and ready to sing along, and at length, on songs such as '... Til the Cops Come Knockin' plus several more hits, including an a cappella version of 'Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)' ... the audience erupted for his opening song, 'Get to Know Ya'... The cheers were even bigger with the opening notes of 'Fortunate,' his biggest hit ... Grand Rapids, in short, showered the soul singer with love."


Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night North American Tour - Summer 2009


Wed-Jul-15 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
Thu-Jul-16 Cleveland, OH Allen Theatre
Sat-Jul-18 Pittsburgh, PA Heinz
Sun-Jul-19 Buffalo, NY Sheas PAC
Tue-Jul-21 Albany, NY The Palace
Wed-Jul-22 New Jersey NJPAC
Fri-Jul-24 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata
Sat-Jul-25 Foxwoods Foxwoods
Mon-Jul-27 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall
Tue-Jul-28 Savannah, GA Johnny Mercer
Thu-Jul-30 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Fri-Jul-31 Miami, FL Waterfront Theatre at the
American Airlines Arena


Additional tour dates & information TBA


Maxwell began redefining classic soul music for a new generation with the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, in April 1996. Fueled in part by the RIAA gold single, "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)," the Grammy-nominated Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was certified platinum in March 1997, less than a year after its release, and achieved double platinum status, in recognition of sales of more than 2 million copies in the US alone, in 2002. Maxwell followed up with his MTV Unplugged EP, released in July 1997 and certified gold in September 1999. His second full-length album, Embrya, was released in June 1998 and certified platinum in May 1999. Another Maxwell single, the hit "Fortunate," was certified gold in June 1999. His third studio album, Now, entered the Billboard 200 at #1 in August 2001. To date, Maxwell has achieved 10 gold and platinum certifications from the RIAA for his albums and singles.


musze.com

myspace.com/maxwell

twitter.com/_maxwell_


columbiarecords.com





SOURCE Columbia Records

good to see and hear my man Maxwell back.... we missed you dude

excellent excellent excellent album... I don't know if hes ever sounded better vocally

As stated before I really like this album.
It truly does get better with repeated listenings.
It's more mature, some of the grooves are really deep and it feels really honest. You can't say they about a lot of music these days. Imo.
Congrats Max. Glad you're back. You have been missed.
Also, I'm kinda diggin the short length of the album. Makes me appreciate what is on there more. Can't wait for parts 2 and 3.

I finally picked it up, diggin' it. Pretty Wings my fave, other nice ones are Stop the World, Fistful of Tears, 1 or 2 others. The whole album is decent, but about half of it really hits me. & really folks, he may never make another Urban Hang Suite, just like P will never make another P or SOTT. People have their moments, doesn't mean the rest of what they do isn't worth listening to. I think it's a solid album, looking forward to the next installments