Go to Almost Any Black Church in America and you'll find someone

with a gift for soulful harmonies on keyboards & or vocals. Chiors.. ect..

D was raised in that environment and Yes D is very Talented..

But.. (IMO)

He seems to 'Truly' wish to be mid to late 80's 'Prince.

**

I suspect Parade era and the bootlegs of that time.

When he 1st came out I felt he had 'real soul' & I still do..

But-

He's no Prince & I doubt he ever will be...

re: Black Messiah -

There's a Tremendous amount of Hype goiing on for this release..

But, I dont personally hear many memorable songs..

& it bores me & makes me wish for a well sung melody with one voice!

Best of luck to them both!

murph said:

The question is....Can one view Black Messiah as a strong, cool, and at times stripped-down-to-the-bone-soulful album and still dig AOA?

I believe it's possible. Hell, I REALLY dig Black Messiah....

I also believe that the usual suspects pulling the same 'ol "P should take notes from" (fill in the blank) are full of shit....

Nah, the question is will the aforementioned, full of shit suspects ever learn the difference between having an opinion and being opinionated...

brainchild said:

Prince after listening to "Black Messiah"

Funny, I posted the same thing on Twitter...picture and all.

But let's get to the point at hand. I will share my opinion, and please keep in mind, everyone who has chimed in has shared their opinion. There is no right or wrong. We can all share our opinions without the disagreements becoming personal attacks (yeah, but YOU'RE attacking Prince...I hear the fanboys saying already). C'est la vie...

So, I LOVE D's album. I haven't felt this way about any album in a long time. Yes, I've heard the complaints and such, but I am really feeling Black Messiah. In MY opinion, there's very little filler...maybe just one song.

Unfortunately I can't say that about many of Prince's releases over the past (fill in the blank here). I am definitelty digging a few of the cuts on AOA (although some of the production sounds a bit dated and out of place...The Breakdown, for example...which I LOVE live, but the studio version sucks---in MY opinion), haven't really dug into PE yet. Look, I buy Prince's albums to support him, but rarely do I ever listen to them from top to bottom. I still haven't listened to any of his albums fully since Planet Earth. In MY opinion, his saving grace is and always will be his live shows, and that's what I listen to the most.

Here's where I see the big difference between the 2 being. D'Angelo isn't afraid to surround himself with high caliber musicians. Prince, on the other hand, "discovers" some unknown and we as fans are supposed to believe they're the shit b/c Prince picked them. Please. I can't recall the last time a band challenged him...they're too busy trying to keep up with HIM!

That's probably the good thing in all of this. D'Angelo definitely brought some stank to the table. I'm know/ am hoping that Prince responds in kind.

Let the disagreements begin...

This I totally agree with.To me,3rdEyeGirl is a gimmicky,"cute" band.I wish that Prince would surround himself with some truly,talented funksters...maybe even some well-known musicians.I'm just not sold on 3rdEyeGirl and their album really isn't that good/interesting.

GheeWizz said:

Here's where I see the big difference between the 2 being. D'Angelo isn't afraid to surround himself with high caliber musicians. Prince, on the other hand, "discovers" some unknown and we as fans are supposed to believe they're the shit b/c Prince picked them. Please. I can't recall the last time a band challenged him...they're too busy trying to keep up with HIM!

brainchild said:

NouveauDance said:

lwr001 said:

band of beckies..

chchchch....

Miles said:

Geez, this D'angelo shit and Prince negativity is getting out of hand round here. Y'all asking Prince to come right over and bitch slap y'all .

yeah!!! I hope so! even Prince is releasing constantlymusic some people like me are desperately waiting for him to return with all his talent and creativity.

i'm waiting for him like i was waiting for D'!

I have listened to the whole thing 6 times now. I like it. But even if I dig D'Angelo, BM reminds me as well he lacks the crazyness, the power, the musical diversity, the happiness I love in Prince's music.

I can't see D'Angelo writing Expert Lover, Purple Rain, Dreamer, Housequake, SOTT, 1999 or Dirty Mind to name just a few.

But I appreciate the fact he is doing Music. He is a proper musician.

One thing that annoys me a little bit in his music though is the overuse of vocal layers (always the same tricks) and the awful mumbling. I really understand only 30% of the lyrics on BM!

I haven't heard it, but if he's the same D'Angelo I used to hear on the radio in the 1990s and early 2000s, there's probably not a fast ass shaker on the entire album and just some "smooth" midtempo neo stool. As horrible as "Fart Official Age" is, at least it has one ass shaker, "The Gold Standard". But if there are some ass shakers on D'Angelo's latest, let me know so I can check them out because ass shakers are rare these days.

.

.

.

[Edited 12/18/14 13:08pm]

vainandy said:

I haven't heard it, but if he's the same D'Angelo I used to hear on the radio in the 1990s and early 2000s, there's probably not a fast ass shaker on the entire album and just some "smooth" midtempo neo stool. As horrible as "Fart Official Age" is, at least it has one ass shaker, "The Gold Standard". But if there are some ass shakers on D'Angelo's latest, let me know so I can check them out because ass shakers are rare these days.

.

.

.

[Edited 12/18/14 13:08pm]

Nah....Black Messiah is far removed from those tired "neo soul" tags...The funk is strong on this one....

ohYeeeeeah said:

I have listened to the whole thing 6 times now. I like it. But even if I dig D'Angelo, BM reminds me as well he lacks the crazyness, the power, the musical diversity, the happiness I love in Prince's music.

I can't see D'Angelo writing Expert Lover, Purple Rain, Dreamer, Housequake, SOTT, 1999 or Dirty Mind to name just a few.

But I appreciate the fact he is doing Music. He is a proper musician.

One thing that annoys me a little bit in his music though is the overuse of vocal layers (always the same tricks) and the awful mumbling. I really understand only 30% of the lyrics on BM!

Good point. He is creative, but not really mad or charismatic enough to compete with Prince on those areas. Still his album is really freakin great though. Marvin Gaye was never mad enough he either, but did make some pretty solid records. Alot of talented artists does not have the mad professor brain that makes them truly avant garde. Sly Stone was pretty mad, George Clinton was mad, James Brown was mad but pretty one dimentional mad, Andre 3000 is creativly a bit mad imo... Being mad imo is about having guts, taking risks... no matter how much people hate Kanye in here. That dude is taking RISKS all the time. If he had a great singing voice and could play guitar, I promise you that more orgers would aknowledge him as a great musican also.

Conclution is D'angelo is great, but missing that little detail called madness. Ironically D'angelo bonded with Questlove because of the Madhouse drum beat Questlove played.

Black Messiah is a superb record, I just don't get why we have to bash Prince in the process just for fun.

Prince's body of recorded studio material and his amazing live work set him apart as an artist and make him the manto outperform musically, no matter what any chart says.

Here D'Angelo is masterfully evocating some of Prince's best work as well as Sly's and a bunch of other influences + HIS OWN UNIQUE STYLE, thank god!

D'Angelo is nowhere close to outPrincing Prince and you'd be a damn fool to think that is what he set out to do with this album.

There's no competition here. Prince is amazing, D'Angelo is wonderful, let's listen to AOA and Black Messiah back to back.

Aerogram said:

i've got AOA and BM running back to back and I'm in heaven... 2014 has been great imo

The popularity of the numerous D'angelo threads in this forum and in others is kind of sad. But I'm glad for D and maybe he will sell more copies than AOA. There have not been this many positive reviews for a Prince record in years. Picked up my copy of BM today and I must say I'm more interested in listening to it more than a few times. With AOA, I gave up after a few listens. By the way, for those that can't deal with the negativity toward Prince in this thread, I suggest you read the name of the website. It has Prince's name on it. Also, the title of this thread has Prince's name in it. Oh, and by the way. Prince recently released a new record which has not sold well. Why? BECAUSE IT SUCKS. Deal with it.

[Edited 12/18/14 17:38pm]

3rdeyedude said:

3rdeyedude said:

The popularity of the numerous D'angelo threads in this forum and in others is kind of sad. But I'm glad for D and maybe he will sell more copies than AOA. There have not been this many positive reviews for a Prince record in years. Picked up my copy of BM today and I must say I'm more interested in listening to it more than a few times. With AOA, I gave up after a few listens. By the way, for those that can't deal with the negativity toward Prince in this thread, I suggest you read the name of the website. It has Prince's name on it. Also, the title of this thread has Prince's name in it. Oh, and by the way. Prince recently released a new record which has not sold well. Why? BECAUSE IT SUCKS. Deal with it.

[Edited 12/18/14 17:38pm]

As if the history of music wasn't littered with great records that didn't sell as well as overhyped conventional fare that went straight to no. 1.

Go ahead and throw out all the records that were not Top 10 hits out of your collection and see what happens.

KingSausage said:

3rdeyedude said:

The popularity of the numerous D'angelo threads in this forum and in others is kind of sad. But I'm glad for D and maybe he will sell more copies than AOA. There have not been this many positive reviews for a Prince record in years. Picked up my copy of BM today and I must say I'm more interested in listening to it more than a few times. With AOA, I gave up after a few listens. By the way, for those that can't deal with the negativity toward Prince in this thread, I suggest you read the name of the website. It has Prince's name on it. Also, the title of this thread has Prince's name in it. Oh, and by the way. Prince recently released a new record which has not sold well. Why? BECAUSE IT SUCKS. Deal with it.

[Edited 12/18/14 17:38pm]

That is totally wrong. Factually incorrect. Prince released TWO records that sold poorly.

I could not care less if he sold poorly or not his cds. I love AOA. That's all what matters to me.

I hope you aware only music lovers know D'Angelo outside the USA. The masses know shit about him. But who cares?

Replica said:

ohYeeeeeah said:

I have listened to the whole thing 6 times now. I like it. But even if I dig D'Angelo, BM reminds me as well he lacks the crazyness, the power, the musical diversity, the happiness I love in Prince's music.

I can't see D'Angelo writing Expert Lover, Purple Rain, Dreamer, Housequake, SOTT, 1999 or Dirty Mind to name just a few.

But I appreciate the fact he is doing Music. He is a proper musician.

One thing that annoys me a little bit in his music though is the overuse of vocal layers (always the same tricks) and the awful mumbling. I really understand only 30% of the lyrics on BM!

Good point. He is creative, but not really mad or charismatic enough to compete with Prince on those areas. Still his album is really freakin great though. Marvin Gaye was never mad enough he either, but did make some pretty solid records. Alot of talented artists does not have the mad professor brain that makes them truly avant garde. Sly Stone was pretty mad, George Clinton was mad, James Brown was mad but pretty one dimentional mad, Andre 3000 is creativly a bit mad imo... Being mad imo is about having guts, taking risks... no matter how much people hate Kanye in here. That dude is taking RISKS all the time. If he had a great singing voice and could play guitar, I promise you that more orgers would aknowledge him as a great musican also.

Conclution is D'angelo is great, but missing that little detail called madness. Ironically D'angelo bonded with Questlove because of the Madhouse drum beat Questlove played.

Marvin was totally mad. Probably madder than Prince, Sly, George and all the others. Dude suffered his madness though and didn't necessarily make it so obvious in his art, but in the end, we're talking about someone who used to drop his pants down to his ankles during shows because he just couldn't help himself.

novabrkr said:

Replica said:

Good point. He is creative, but not really mad or charismatic enough to compete with Prince on those areas. Still his album is really freakin great though. Marvin Gaye was never mad enough he either, but did make some pretty solid records. Alot of talented artists does not have the mad professor brain that makes them truly avant garde. Sly Stone was pretty mad, George Clinton was mad, James Brown was mad but pretty one dimentional mad, Andre 3000 is creativly a bit mad imo... Being mad imo is about having guts, taking risks... no matter how much people hate Kanye in here. That dude is taking RISKS all the time. If he had a great singing voice and could play guitar, I promise you that more orgers would aknowledge him as a great musican also.

Conclution is D'angelo is great, but missing that little detail called madness. Ironically D'angelo bonded with Questlove because of the Madhouse drum beat Questlove played.

Marvin was totally mad. Probably madder than Prince, Sly, George and all the others. Dude suffered his madness though and didn't necessarily make it so obvious in his art, but in the end, we're talking about someone who used to drop his pants down to his ankles during shows because he just couldn't help himself.

We are talking about craziness in their music.

Yeah, but I had to correct that statement anyway.

Marvin did really crazy things. Like at one point he thought he could become a professional athele and forget all about music. He was over thirty by that point.

terrig said:

daingermouz2020 said:

terrig said:

I hate to admit it but as of today, Prince has been out-Princed. Black Messiah is all kinds of fire. Let's hope it spurs some healthy competition

I think that's so true but some fans don't want to admit it . That's not saying Prince isn't more talented, he clearly is and he has had a few songs that were cool on all of his releases but as a whole since D'Angelo's debut he's been out Princeing Prince. Brown Sugar,Voodoo and now Black Messiah have ALL been SUPERIOR to any album Prince has put out from 1995-present. I really don't expect Prince to be able to do what he use to. He's older now and with age we loose a little something. It happens in sports and it happens in music

Can't you admit people have different tastes simply?

I know many people who love mlusic but connot stand Prince and D'Angelo or only like one of the two.

Personally I am a fan of The Rainbow Children, One nite alone, The Truth, LotusFlower and AOA.

Not sure I understand the Dangelo mysitque anyway. For my money, TTD/Sananda has 10x the talent. Something very lazy and halfbaked about Dangelo's "sound". I'm not all that convinced he actually is knows what he's playing sometimes.

emesem said:

Not sure I understand the Dangelo mysitque anyway. For my money, TTD/Sananda has 10x the talent. Something very lazy and halfbaked about Dangelo's "sound". I'm not all that convinced he actually is knows what he's playing sometimes.

Go see him live........

blumer said:

Well, since the major complaint with Prince songs past 25 years is lyrics, maybe he should take a page from D and mumble them so nobody can understand. lolIm enjoying the album but if anyone honestly can understand half of the lyrics they lying. And I read the lyrics pages, "make a pussy fart" is more cringeworthy than P's worst line. haha

KingSausage said:

emesem said:

Not sure I understand the Dangelo mysitque anyway. For my money, TTD/Sananda has 10x the talent. Something very lazy and halfbaked about Dangelo's "sound". I'm not all that convinced he actually is knows what he's playing sometimes.

AGREED x 10!

I'll take TTD/Sananda any day over D'angelo.