after several recommendations from this site, i finally copped Maxwell's Embrya at a used record store here. I like it. I can see why critics panned it though (specifically VIBE). i think they were expecting him to do something more "accessible" to capitalize on his buzz at the time and catapault himself into crossover status. i respect him for following his artistic heart and musze and creating a very nuanced album. can't stop listening to These Things and Submerge. Oh, the CocoButter song has aged well too.

my copy is all scratched up

This Album IMHO is his best. I think it's brilliant.

datdude said:

That track just mesmerizes me!!

Embrya is some good shit.

I'm glad he did his own thing. May have been bad for his pocketbook, but good for our ears.

I just wish he'd release the dang "black summer nights" album already....

I got my ticket for the concert though.

P2daP said:

I saw the concert yesterday in Amsterdam. It was supposed to start at 8.30, but it didn't start until 9.55. It lasted 10 minutes shorter then the 85 minute wait at 75 minutes.

There's a 10 piece band that is very good, but Maxwell himself disappointed me live. His singing is out of tune quite a bit of the time and he is also a bit vulgar (asking girls in the public to take off their panties and throw them on stage for him to sniff; only one obliged, by the way).

I won't go see him again.

I bought Newpower Soul and Embrya on the same day in the summer of '98. Put NPS in the CD player and listened to it once, then put Embrya in and listened to it until it was four in the morning.

wow, that's something. one listen for NPS huh and repeats for Embrya apart from Stuart Matthewman, is there anyone else from Sade's band apart of the team that works with Maxwell? u can hear the "Sweetback" sound on Embrya.

i'm supposed to catch him here in Detroit in a couple weeks.

DirtyChris said:

I always burn of copy of my original cd's 2 avoid this problem.

Embrya is on regular rotation on my playlists

I'm so excited to see him in Oakland in a few weeks. I hope that the Amsterdam show was a fluke. I'm sure it was. In all of the live performances I've seen of him online, I've never seen him deliver a bad note.

hjd said:

I hope the Amsterdam show was a fluke. I've seen him twice and loved the shows. I have tickets for this Toronto show on Sunday and it's at one of Toronto's bestg venues. It better be good!!!!

pinkcashmere75 said:[quote]I'm so excited to see him in Oakland in a few weeks. I hope that the Amsterdam show was a fluke. I'm sure it was. In all of the live performances I've seen of him online, I've never seen him deliver a bad note.

hjd said:

Sounds great!! So he had one pantie to sniff-good for him. Maybe it has smelt kinda funky that´s why he missed some notes....

So in Amsterdam was his voice as good as in this performance?

http://www.youtube.com/wa...Y7rSgATo6Q

hjd said:

That's disappointing. My wife and a friend of hers saw him live a few years ago, and they said he was awesome. Great voice and very animated and playful, but not vulgar. I hope the show you saw was a fluke.

don't forget to try to listen to the "first track"


its entitled Gestation: Mythos.. most cd players will not play it.. you have to reverse track one.. and it is a 3:15 sound collage of those blips and voices..

iTunes actually has for sale.. or you can at least preview what i'm talkin about

Actually the title track is basically just a pretty boring synth-string instrumental played backwards. It's not really that experimental at all if you play it that way if we're honest about it - but it would be nice to see more "R&B" artist at least TRY their hand at including something else than verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus -based love songs.

hjd said:

Classy.

hjd said:

GAWD, I'm skipping the show here b/c the tix are just too expensive right now. THAT sounds disappointing

Lammastide said:

Yeah, I saw him back in '97 at the Greek Theater in L.A. and he was playful and devious. Great show, too.

I have had this since it came out and I have never listened to it all the way through Not because I'm not interested but I never feel in the right space for it

Drowndeep - Hula



with lyrics

[Edited 10/7/08 15:01pm]

monk76 said:

When he was in tune: yes. But he was out of tune quite a bit. Somebody pointed out to me this may have been caused by monitor problems. I must admit that when he was out of tune, it was usually to the side of the stage. Then again, doesn't everybody use ear-monitors these days? I wasn't close enought to see if he was wearing those, and the video-screens didn't work during the show (they did before the show, maybe the operators went home).

As stated before: the band was very good. Highlights for me Kenneth Whalum III on sax and Sean Michael Ray on bass (check him out on youtube!).

i need to read the liner notes but if this brotha wrote, These Things: Should Know from Embrya, i'm impressed with his skills beyond just singing. that's some poetry there. can't stop listening to it.