I give him credit for the great SISIA performance on Jimmy Fallon, but he's not really someone I've ever gotten into.

I like D'Angelo fairly well but thought he has not fully realized his potential. I remember right on the release of his first album there was some reference to being influenced by Prince, not just in recent years. I do think the absolute adoration gave his last album was overblown. It is not a bad album, and has some interesting songs, but I do feel that there seems to be too much of a studied vibe that tries to come off as the opposite (e.g., seemingly totally informal to the point that we might be lucky to hear his voice amongst the jabbering of others in the foreground yet probably working hard to get this effect). I think he and many in the neo-sould movement are talented and artistic yet seem somewhat remote emotionally in contrast to traditional soul music. At least they haven't seem crass in terms of just trying to make signles.

I think D'angleo is amazing, I have all his albums and I happy that he had a successful comeback

Goddess4Real said:

I think D'angleo is amazing, I have all his albums and I happy that he had a successful comeback

Do you also have the official live album? London Jazz Café ?

I´ve got it but I´m not sure if it was released outside of Japan. Mine is an import CD.

I think he's fantastic. Black Messiah is easily my favorite album of the past 5 years. I'm amazing that a song like Prayer was released in 2014. It's all around just fantastic.

And I love Prince. Seeing a great artist gush over and try and imitate the purple one in his music and performance is great to me lol. I plan to do the same thing.

I think Black Messiah is amazing, it's got nothing to do with my love of prince though. There's some similarity there but only because there's a bit of Prince in most artists that came after him

I also actively dislike many artists inspired by him.

where is the orger Anonymous???

has he left....?

NorthC said:

Or banned? He was getting a bit gniyonna.

yeah, you are right... just a bit too much lately (I guess)...

I didn't fully get into D'Angelo until his latest, Black Messiah, came out; I always dug his "vibe," but I actually agree with the OP, his first two records were sort of meandering and nebulous as far as the songcraft went. Black Messiah has way more hooks--and, yes, a few of the tracks ("The Charade" and "Another Life" in particular) remind me of Prince. Also don't knock him until you see him live: dude kills in concert, way more energy and soul than you'd expect if all you've seen is him standing there naked in the "Untitled" video.

If I could hear the vocals, my opinion would be different.

Replica said:

I've seen his live performances twice with my own two eyes, and I've studied his style. I truly love his music. But it's clearly not trying to hide the fact that he is the biggest fanboy ever. I respect that though. I wouldn't hide it too much either. I'd just probably try to add some more falvour to it

[Edited 7/5/16 15:19pm]

chrispsyaph said:

Here's my take on D'Angelo--he's my absolute favorite artist since he arrived. No one, not even Prince, has touched his work since 95. I'm a hip hop guy primarily. When D' came along I thought "FINALLY, a dude that's around my age, fully informed with hip hop, and who has the traditional musical chops to stand with the past greats." He has the Jazz and gospel sensibilities and can make some bangin ass tracks that fits with my Gangstarr playlists. THIS is what the future of soul music is gonna be. So as a Prince fan in 95, I saw the baton being passed. None of my favs from the 80s successfully incorporated hip hop into their arsenal. I didn't have to choose between Luther and Geto Boys--I could play D' in the car with my lady on a date, with my family on Sunday, and with my homeboys driving to school with the windows rolled down. To me, D' was the next evolution of what Native Tongues/Tribe were doing. That hip hop centered fusion--but this time with a guy that has the chops to compose/play what's being sampled...while also chopping breaks too. I mean, he got He Bob f'in Power to coproduce and play! And Ali produced a track. Put Tip and Phife on BS' instrumentals--there's the 4th classic Tribe album. And absolutely none of it sounded like Prince to me. Vocally I heard a little Phillip Bailey. Maybe some Sly and Al Green. Musically I heard Tribe, Marley, Pete Rock, Premier, etc. Some TTT maybe. Some Meshell. But no Prince, no Teddy Riley, no Jodeci, no Boyz II Men. Fast forward to the Voodoo era. We get a cover and a tribute. On "she's always on my hair" I can kinda sorta start seeing why the Prince comparisons are there. It sounded nothing like the original, though. I stretched my perspective a little and thought "well, kinda like Bambi, maybe". But it was waaay more raw, dirty, sparse, and abrasive than Prince would ever do. And Untitled--well, yeah! But it was internationally a Controversy-era (i.e. Do Me Baby) tribute. But nothing else referenced Prince in an obvious way. Black Messiah, kinda hear Prince in The Charade (claps and sitar patches) and Prayer (claps and the church/rock spirit). Those are reaching a bit, tho. That's it. But by this time D' has his own sound that I'm hearing referenced by newer artists (James Blake, Bon Iver, Kendrick, Frank, even Beyoncé). Sorry for meandering. Just wanted to provide my perspective as a D' and Prince die-hard.

His production never sounded very Prince like, and yes you can hear his other influences too. But I think most people would agree that Prince is his biggest influence. Even though you've heard enough music to dissect it down to as many pieces as you've shown here, it still is pretty damn obvious that Prince takes a huge part in his life and music. I'm a D'angelo fan too, or fam if you like. He is amazing. But c'mon. You just heard a few traces of Prince in him? Hmm... He is just as Princey, as Van Hunt has a tendency to sound like he is a child of Curtis Mayfield. D'angelo doesn't sound forced though. Atleast on record. However, some of his James Brown and Prince gimmicks on stage seems a bit forced to me. His piano medley before Black Messiah came out. That was taken out of the Lovesexy tour. He knows his Prince better than most people in here could dream of. He has maybe less bootlegs. I dunno. But him and Questlove communicated through a Madhouse track before they really knew eachother well. That's hardcore Prince fan to me. Untitled sounds like a Prince song with more mumbling and "sloppier" and "swampier" funk. He sampled I wonder U for the song Africa. He is using the linn inspired clap on the 8 in Aint That Easy...

My thoughts about him ripping off Prince, is that it might seem that way for those who are just listening to Prince in the rnb world. While those who have heard ALOT of rnb, soul, funk, jazz vocalist from the 60s, 70s, 80s... can hear the other influences you are talking about. They don't look at him as a total rip off. But we all hear the influence. It's clearly there.

After reading your post again, I now know that I answered a bit too fast though, and I totally agree that D'angelo has his very own sound .

[Edited 7/5/16 18:33pm]

GhostChick said:

ldmendes said:

I'm diggin Brown Sugar right now...D'angelo is ok with me..you can hear Prince's influence

I love that song!

purplethunder3121 said:

If I could hear the vocals, my opinion would be different.

they are quite muddy at times, especially on the latest release

There is so much hype surrounding D'angelo, and I don't really feel that the hype matches the artistry. Whereas with Van Hunt there is no hype, no five star album reviews in Rolling Stone, but his music, his songwriting, his versatility, is in a whole other realm.

[Edited 7/5/16 23:44pm]

vainandy said:

He bores me. Not just him, but also Maxwell and Eric Benet which are two others that I've heard people compare to Prince. The only Prince influence I've heard in any of their music is maybe songs like Prince's "Adore" but damn, there so many other styles of Prince music than just "Adore" type songs.

.

My exposure to these three artists has strictly been the songs that Ive heard on the radio or seen on the video channels so unless they have some album tracks that the media isn't playing, the only thing I've heard from any of them is strictly slow to midtempo stuff, not one hard fast uptempo jam, not even ONE. Prince was the exact opposite. On the majority of his albums, the majority of the tracks were all uptempo tracks with maybe two slow jams. I honestly don't know how artists can list Prince as one of their influences if there's not even a hint of funk in their music because Prince had more funk than anything else. And no, funk ain't something slow to midtempo that sounds like something you would sit in an uppity jazz club, sip wine, and bob your head to. Funk is something that makes you want to get out of your seat, get down and dirty, and shake your ass until you're out of breath. I hear none of that fun and energy in any of their songs. If you want to hear actual Prince inspired music, you have to go back to the 1980s and listen to Ebonee Webb or Bobby Nunn. Hell, they sound exactly like Prince from the synthesizers on down to the falsetto, especially Ebonee Webb.

This. Word for word.

Boring music for people who want to appear superior but are just pretentious and snobby. Ooops, did I say that out loud?

Just playing Black Messiah now, so good

Never really got into him, I kind of liked one song of his I head back in 95 as he had a smooth voice, but the foul gutter language he uses puts me off him. He had a song called "Shit, damn Motherfxxker and I thought, just another thug swearing his head off, probably singing about bitches and gats. The Nu soul sound was unoriginal and contrived and I kind of liked Brown Sugar, but it wa shardly the new Prince.

.

To me and you know this Matty, the only artist who even comes close to Prince in my eyes, is Michael Jackson, and D'Angelo, Goldie, Maxwell, Craig David and the Roshaan Patterson dude mean nothing to me. It is interesting people say these cats sound like and are the new Prince, just like they say that Bruno Mars and Chris Brown are the Michael Jackson, I mean are you even kidding me.

.

Prince and Michael Jackson were two highly talented original artists who will never be bettered or copied by any fool.

[Edited 7/6/16 3:22am]

Even though I enjoy Prince a whole lot more as a whole, I find both Black Messiah and Voodoo better as total packages than most of Prince albums. However, sometimes just one song by Prince is so groundbreaking that it's worth paying for the whole album. If Prince used 15 years on making every song fit perfectly as a whole on an album, I bet he'd do that quite well too . I must say though, that I much rather have a bit too many Prince albums with hit or miss material, than to wait 15 years between every album. Prince is too creative and fast working to spend that much time. It just doesn't fit his personality or work ethic at all.

Imagine D'angelo at school. He is supposed to deliver on his final exam... then finally 15 years after he manages to do so, and with an A+. How many years in between did he throw away on nothing? Thankfully his life is his choice, and we can't dictate his actions, just as we couldn't dictate the life and choices Prince did.

[Edited 7/6/16 3:32am]

Replica said:

MattyJam said:

Boring music for people who want to appear superior but are just pretentious and snobby. Ooops, did I say that out loud?

In my observation, most Prince fans have startlingly conservative tastes -- so this type of sentiment doesn't surprise me. (And I'm not even that into D'Angelo.)

Art for the masses is unappetizing, anyway. Exceptions aside, I'll pass on music made to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

herrherr said:

jaawwnn said:

Just playing Black Messiah now, so good

Voodoo and Black Messiah are amazing collections, bearing new revelations with each listen. Come to think of it, I haven't quit playing BM since its release. His songwriting abilities have expanded as he moves into more complex fare. Hopefully, he's got many more powerful albums in him.

He's never done anything for me........

EXCEPT his performance of "Sometimes It Snows In April" was one of the greatest musical performances I've ever seen. I will always respect the guy immensely just for that performance. It was trancedent.

CalhounSq said:

It's so funny - some of you wont give this dude the time of day, but dug his tribute on Fallon.

Yep. I laughed when I read this.

Has he done anything as good as Andres' 'The Love Below'? Nope. That gave me more of a Prince vibe. Content, humour, sound. Still one of my favourite albums this millenium. Why he inducted Prince at the Rock hall. Yeah?