Graycap23 said:

Militant said:

I like D'Angelo, but yes, sadly I do think he missed his time in the sense of being a commercially relevant artist. The difference him and others with long absences like Dr. Dre, Kate Bush, Gun N' Roses, Lauryn Hill and Sade is that all of those artists had HITS. International crossover songs your average music fan of any genre would have heard. D'Angelo never had those, his success was almost entirely inside his genre. He was in a position to where he could have crossed over if he'd continued because neosoul was hot at that time. But it's not anymore.

That said, I'm looking forward to his new album and the videos from the shows looked pretty dope.

Hits don't make the songs any good. Rihanna has hits.....and host of folks that bore me 2 tears have hits.

Unfortunately the reality of the contemporary music industry is that you need hits to build that large fanbase that will sustain you independently afterwards.

D'Angelo is selling out his shows now, but is there enough interest for him to keep doing that? Not on legacy material, I don't think, which means he needs a new album that sells well enough to attract new fans. And if he's not in a position to have hits - he'll only be selling to the existing fanbase.

That's what I took the thread title to mean - has he missed his time as a contemporarily relevant artist that can break out of his genre. Of course he hasn't missed his time for making great music.

Mong said:

Well he sure didn't spend that missed time practising guitar - what the hell was Questlove on about him being on a Zappa level? So patently not.

He seems to be holding his own with guitar maestro Jesse Johnson in this clip from London.

D'Angelo performed a live concert at the O2 Academy Brixton in London as a part of his new Euro tour.

Militant said:

Graycap23 said:

Hits don't make the songs any good. Rihanna has hits.....and host of folks that bore me 2 tears have hits.

Unfortunately the reality of the contemporary music industry is that you need hits to build that large fanbase that will sustain you independently afterwards.

D'Angelo is selling out his shows now, but is there enough interest for him to keep doing that?

I'll take that bet.....provided he actually releases an album.

Graycap23 said:

Militant said:

Unfortunately the reality of the contemporary music industry is that you need hits to build that large fanbase that will sustain you independently afterwards.

D'Angelo is selling out his shows now, but is there enough interest for him to keep doing that?

I'll take that bet.....provided he actually releases an album.

To me it's looking more and more like there will definitely be an album. I have a feeling it'll be March.

I just LOVE D'Angelo here:

CynicKill said:

Graycap23 said:

I'll take that bet.....provided he actually releases an album.

To me it's looking more and more like there will definitely be an album. I have a feeling it'll be March.

I certainly hope so. I'll be BUYING a copy 4 sho.

CynicKill said:

Graycap23 said:

I'll take that bet.....provided he actually releases an album.

To me it's looking more and more like there will definitely be an album. I have a feeling it'll be March.

I think after seeing him live in London last night he is totally relevant, but perhaps not to the same audience. The musicality and craft last night was fantastic, but it did feel like the crowd we're divided. I think he's back with the album he wanted to make and whether that sells 30,000 or 300,000 doesn't seem to matter. I think that success is more about the work being good, not necessarily making everyone 'get' it. I want to pre-order my copy now and go see him live every weekend

Militant said:

Graycap23 said:

Hits don't make the songs any good. Rihanna has hits.....and host of folks that bore me 2 tears have hits.

Unfortunately the reality of the contemporary music industry is that you need hits to build that large fanbase that will sustain you independently afterwards.

D'Angelo is selling out his shows now, but is there enough interest for him to keep doing that? Not on legacy material, I don't think, which means he needs a new album that sells well enough to attract new fans. And if he's not in a position to have hits - he'll only be selling to the existing fanbase.

That's what I took the thread title to mean - has he missed his time as a contemporarily relevant artist that can break out of his genre. Of course he hasn't missed his time for making great music.

We're talking about D'Angelo, whose albums never sounded like what was on the radio.

Despite the hype and fanfare, Voodoo didn't even go 2x platinum - and this was in the

age of the N*Stink/BackStreetBoys pop explosion - I guarantee you that he will not

release an album chockfull of accessible pop radio friendly hits. Unlike his major influence,

Prince, he doesn't have a pop bone in his body; he writes R&B/jazzy-ed soul influenced

vamps.

So if you want to get technical, D'Angelo started missing his time since he released Brown

Sugar.

The thing is - nobody will remember Rihanna, Chris Brown or Katy Perry or maybe

even Lil Wayne - artists who are not missing their time - in about 20 years. But we

all know where we were when that music video came out; and I'm willing to bet that

I am not the only one in this org who can write an essay on the musical and cultural

merits of Voodoo. Trey Songz is built for today; Archer's music will last forever.

D'Angelo is an anachronism, but so what?

My point: yes, if you really assessed the cultural and musical landscape in which D'Angelo

has always placed himself, he's never positioned his music to be age-relevant. His

music is culturally relevant. And the last time I looked, fucken tweens, kiddies, teens (i.e.,

the youth) don't make culture. They just buy it. And they never bought D'Angelo anyways.

CynicKill said:

Graycap23 said:

I'll take that bet.....provided he actually releases an album.

To me it's looking more and more like there will definitely be an album. I have a feeling it'll be March.

I am extremely excited about it and looking forward to it. Shucks with all of these clips of his live performances I really feel like I'm missing out because I want to be front row!

duccichucka said:

Militant said:

Unfortunately the reality of the contemporary music industry is that you need hits to build that large fanbase that will sustain you independently afterwards.

D'Angelo is selling out his shows now, but is there enough interest for him to keep doing that? Not on legacy material, I don't think, which means he needs a new album that sells well enough to attract new fans. And if he's not in a position to have hits - he'll only be selling to the existing fanbase.

That's what I took the thread title to mean - has he missed his time as a contemporarily relevant artist that can break out of his genre. Of course he hasn't missed his time for making great music.

We're talking about D'Angelo, whose albums never sounded like what was on the radio.

Despite the hype and fanfare, Voodoo didn't even go 2x platinum - and this was in the

age of the N*Stink/BackStreetBoys pop explosion - I guarantee you that he will not

release an album chockfull of accessible pop radio friendly hits. Unlike his major influence,

Prince, he doesn't have a pop bone in his body; he writes R&B/jazzy-ed soul influenced

vamps.

The point you're missing is that "neo soul" was a LOT more "in vogue" back then, than it is now. D'Angelo was part of a larger movement when "Voodoo" came out, and he had peers and contemporaries. They shared fanbases, there were communities of neo soul fans and there was media coverage of the "scene". There was shared momentum.

Now there isn't.

Think back to that time, you know what the equivalent trend was with rock music? It was nu-metal - KoRn, Limp Bizkit etc. These are acts that also had shared momentum of a movement AND they had radioplay. Fast forward to now and they are struggling to sell records, too. Bizkit's comeback album barely made a dent, and this is a band that sold over 10 million records at their peak. Because, just like neo soul, nu-metal is not on vogue any more, and these acts are now nostalgia acts relying on the momentum of the hits they had 12 years ago.

I don't see a new D'Angelo record selling anywhere near enough to be sustainable. Frankly, I would bet that the current tour is just about breaking even.

So if you want to get technical, D'Angelo started missing his time since he released Brown

Sugar.

The thing is - nobody will remember Rihanna, Chris Brown or Katy Perry or maybe

even Lil Wayne - artists who are not missing their time - in about 20 years. But we

all know where we were when that music video came out; and I'm willing to bet that

I am not the only one in this org who can write an essay on the musical and cultural

merits of Voodoo. Trey Songz is built for today; Archer's music will last forever.

Outside of places like the org, okayplayer, and small contigents of soul music fans, nobody else even remembers D'Angelo. Because he never had a cross-over hit. If you look at other artists who took long breaks - walk down any street in any city and people can name a Guns N' Roses song, or a Kate Bush song, or a Sade song. Sadly I just don't think that's the case with D. I'm willing to concede this may not be the case in the US. It may be that he was much bigger there than he was anywhere else.

Hell, Lauryn had multiple cross-over hits and even she is struggling. And I know this, because we share the same manager.

Writing articles on the cultural merits of Voodoo isn't going to bring in new fans or make D'Angelo's new projects any more relevant. I could sit here and write articles on the cultural merits of Charlie Singleton's three solo albums, so what?

D'Angelo is an anachronism, but so what?

My point: yes, if you really assessed the cultural and musical landscape in which D'Angelo

has always placed himself, he's never positioned his music to be age-relevant. His

music is culturally relevant. And the last time I looked, fucken tweens, kiddies, teens (i.e.,

the youth) don't make culture. They just buy it. And they never bought D'Angelo anyways.

Culturally relevant..... to who? People that were fans of his in the first place?

The original post in this thread:

12 years ago Voodoo came out, and people started realizing that this guy could change music. Voodoo confirmed his potential as a heir to the greats

The momentum of the neosoul movement and the success of "Voodoo" could have been built upon and made D'Angelo a real star, an icon, one of the greats.

He lost that momentum when he disappeared for 12 years.

Again, I'm sure he'll make a great album, I'm looking forward to it. But it's not going to be like it was. I'd be surprised if a new album got anywhere near as much attention as "Voodoo". Obviously you can't gauge anything by sales because it's a different time now and nobody is selling albums. But I'm talking purely about interest from outside his core fanbase.

Does anyone know if he still has a deal and who might be releasing the new album?

Militant's words italicized in red:

The point you're missing is that "neo soul" was a LOT more "in vogue" back then, than it is now. D'Angelo was part of a larger movement when "Voodoo" came out, and he had peers and contemporaries. They shared fanbases, there were communities of neo soul fans and there was media coverage of the "scene". There was shared momentum.

Now there isn't.

Good point. Well taken.

I don't see a new D'Angelo record selling anywhere near enough to be sustainable. Frankly, I would bet that the current tour is just about breaking even.

The momentum of the neosoul movement and the success of "Voodoo" could have been built upon and made D'Angelo a real star, an icon, one of the greats.

He lost that momentum when he disappeared for 12 years.

Bad points. Not well taken. To be sustainable today does not persist upon album sales.

Nobody sells albums anymore (you admit that much below). Adele is a freak occurrence.

Today, sustainable (your word, not mine) musicians need real talent, real musicianship,

real songwriting and areal live show, in order to have a career that stretches beyond 5

minutes. If you haven't noticed yet, D'Angelo has all of those things in spades. He

also possesses that je ne sais quo - he's got a mystique about him. Again, what is on

the radio is not fallow ground for artist sustainability. Kate Bush, D'Angelo, Sade: these

artists have real, sincere, authentic musical talent and can get away with dipping out of

the scene for years because their fans know that they will release good music. Sade can't

ever miss her time because she's timeless - the same can be said of D'Angelo.

He lost momentum to be a big star, yes. But you're functioning under a false premise:

D'Angelo wanted to be big star. Clearly he did not. Because of this, you gotta eat

those 12 years. Don't hate the player - hate the game (of life).

Again, I'm sure he'll make a great album, I'm looking forward to it. But it's not going to be like it was. I'd be surprised if a new album got anywhere near as much attention as "Voodoo". Obviously you can't gauge anything by sales because it's a different time now and nobody is selling albums. But I'm talking purely about interest from outside his core fanbase.

Does anyone know if he still has a deal and who might be releasing the new album?

he momentum of the neosoul movement and the success of "Voodoo" could have been built upon and made D'Angelo a real star, an icon, one of the greats.

Some good and bad points here. Good point is that if he wanted to gather interest from out-

side his core fanbase, the 12 year hiatus wasn't a great idea. But again, we have a false

premise here: D'Angelo wanting to be a big star. You see his eyes cautiously glance to the

right in "Untitled?" He's uncomfortable being naked and a sex symbol; he's uncomfortable

with being a star. Fans (not you specifically, Militant) seem to think that celebrities spend

their time wondering how they can be even more popular or famous. D'Angelo ostensibly

remains unperturbed by not basking in perpetual popular adulation...

I kinda see what you are saying:

"If he really wanted to be a superstar, he should have not waited 12 years between

successive albums; the music industry has changed since then so if he thinks he can

pick up where he left off with Voodoo, he's sadly mistaken. In other words, D'Angelo

has missed his time."

I have two responses to those who would go as far as to make that assertion:

1. Who said D'Angelo wanted to be a superstar?

2. You're missing the forest for the trees: D'Angelo, with two albums to his credit,

with all of the mystique in the world, is already an icon. In the 12 year wait, he's

been surpassed by Van Hunt, who still struggles to get anybody to notice him. But

D'Angelo, the ODB lookalike with a penchant for booze, drugs and prostitutes, is The.

Choosen. One.

As for D'Angelo's new album, my benchmark is Van Hunt's Popular, which is the Parade of

our times.

Yikes,

I'm sorry about how my post came out.

Too lazy to fix it.

duccichucka said:

Militant's words italicized in red:

The point you're missing is that "neo soul" was a LOT more "in vogue" back then, than it is now. D'Angelo was part of a larger movement when "Voodoo" came out, and he had peers and contemporaries. They shared fanbases, there were communities of neo soul fans and there was media coverage of the "scene". There was shared momentum.

Now there isn't.

Good point. Well taken.

I don't see a new D'Angelo record selling anywhere near enough to be sustainable. Frankly, I would bet that the current tour is just about breaking even.

The momentum of the neosoul movement and the success of "Voodoo" could have been built upon and made D'Angelo a real star, an icon, one of the greats.

He lost that momentum when he disappeared for 12 years.

Bad points. Not well taken. To be sustainable today does not persist upon album sales.

Nobody sells albums anymore (you admit that much below). Adele is a freak occurrence.

Today, sustainable (your word, not mine) musicians need real talent, real musicianship,

real songwriting and areal live show, in order to have a career that stretches beyond 5

minutes. If you haven't noticed yet, D'Angelo has all of those things in spades. He

also possesses that je ne sais quo - he's got a mystique about him. Again, what is on

the radio is not fallow ground for artist sustainability. Kate Bush, D'Angelo, Sade: these

artists have real, sincere, authentic musical talent and can get away with dipping out of

the scene for years because their fans know that they will release good music. Sade can't

ever miss her time because she's timeless - the same can be said of D'Angelo.

The point is that without generating new appeal outside of his existing fanbase, will D be able to keep selling out shows, year after year? Of course D has a great live show and a great band, but do you know how much that costs? Like I said, I would be VERY, VERY surprised if the current tour is doing anything other than breaking even financially. I've done several world tours myself and studied tour management, and I don't see it happening with a band that size, the amount people like Jesse would charge, the size of the venues they are doing, and the ticket pricing. So either the band will have to be scaled down or they are gonna need to book bigger venues, which means they need more appeal than the existing fanbase.

There's no way this tour is profitable. The more likely scenario is that it's losing money - and that doesn't last.

So in a business sense, at the momet it ain't sustainable. He doesn't need to sell albums, per se - even Katy Perry doesn't really sell albums - but he needs exposure outside his core fanbase and TBH I don't see it happening.

He lost momentum to be a big star, yes. But you're functioning under a false premise:

D'Angelo wanted to be big star. Clearly he did not. Because of this, you gotta eat

those 12 years. Don't hate the player - hate the game (of life).

Again, I'm sure he'll make a great album, I'm looking forward to it. But it's not going to be like it was. I'd be surprised if a new album got anywhere near as much attention as "Voodoo". Obviously you can't gauge anything by sales because it's a different time now and nobody is selling albums. But I'm talking purely about interest from outside his core fanbase.

Does anyone know if he still has a deal and who might be releasing the new album?

he momentum of the neosoul movement and the success of "Voodoo" could have been built upon and made D'Angelo a real star, an icon, one of the greats.

Some good and bad points here. Good point is that if he wanted to gather interest from out-

side his core fanbase, the 12 year hiatus wasn't a great idea. But again, we have a false

premise here: D'Angelo wanting to be a big star. You see his eyes cautiously glance to the

right in "Untitled?" He's uncomfortable being naked and a sex symbol; he's uncomfortable

with being a star. Fans (not you specifically, Militant) seem to think that celebrities spend

their time wondering how they can be even more popular or famous. D'Angelo ostensibly

remains unperturbed by not basking in perpetual popular adulation...

I kinda see what you are saying:

"If he really wanted to be a superstar, he should have not waited 12 years between

successive albums; the music industry has changed since then so if he thinks he can

pick up where he left off with Voodoo, he's sadly mistaken. In other words, D'Angelo

has missed his time."

I have two responses to those who would go as far as to make that assertion:

1. Who said D'Angelo wanted to be a superstar?

2. You're missing the forest for the trees: D'Angelo, with two albums to his credit,

with all of the mystique in the world, is already an icon. In the 12 year wait, he's

been surpassed by Van Hunt, who still struggles to get anybody to notice him. But

D'Angelo, the ODB lookalike with a penchant for booze, drugs and prostitutes, is The.

Choosen. One.

As for D'Angelo's new album, my benchmark is Van Hunt's Popular, which is the Parade of

our times.

OK. If you work under the premise that D doesn't want to be a superstar, or even any more famous than he already is - then that's fine. But that's what I took from the title of the thread and the original posters questions - "Did D'Angelo miss his time? (to be a superstar, icon, commercially relevant, etc). So that's what I was answering in my posts. If you take your premise into account then it's becoming a different discussion completely.

And he's not an icon, no. Sorry, not outside of his genre. He's virtually unknown outside of people who are already soul music fans and people who were fans of his the first time around. That's what happens with no crossover hits. With crossover hits, you'd continually generate new fans and new generations of fans, as Prince does (We have more than a considerable amount of teenage posters over in Prince:Music and More). D'Angelo is not going to generate new fans because you'd have to specifically look for his music (at this point) to hear it. And of course, maybe he's totally fine with that.

Subjective, but in my book, you'd have to be able to go to any city in the world (or at least the western world), pick 100 people at random on the street, and have at least half of them know who you are and/or be a fan, to be considered an icon. Prince can do that. Michael Jackson, obviously. Jagger. The Beatles. Elvis. Bowie. They are icons.

But the question is.... where does he go from here? What are the expectations of his new album, from him, his label, the people that worked on it?

Again, none of this diminishes his ability to make amazing music, but like I said before, I'm just replying to the premise of the thread and how I interpreted the thread title question

Identity said:

Mong said:

Well he sure didn't spend that missed time practising guitar - what the hell was Questlove on about him being on a Zappa level? So patently not.

He seems to be holding his own with guitar maestro Jesse Johnson in this clip from London.

More like Jesse dumbing himself down playing wise so that D'Angelo can keep up with him. I think D needs to put in a lot more work before he thinks about playing guitar on stage. Only saying this as he's got such a great feel on keys - his feel is nowhere close on guitar.

Mong said:

Identity said:

He seems to be holding his own with guitar maestro Jesse Johnson in this clip from London.

More like Jesse dumbing himself down playing wise so that D'Angelo can keep up with him. I think D needs to put in a lot more work before he thinks about playing guitar on stage. Only saying this as he's got such a great feel on keys - his feel is nowhere close on guitar.

Ummm I think you're stretching your negativity out a bit. I don't believe for a second that Jesse would even waste his time on a performance if he had to "dumb it down" in order for the headliner to shine. If that was the case, he'd still be employed by Prince.

[Edited 2/5/12 9:40am]

missfee said:

Mong said:

More like Jesse dumbing himself down playing wise so that D'Angelo can keep up with him. I think D needs to put in a lot more work before he thinks about playing guitar on stage. Only saying this as he's got such a great feel on keys - his feel is nowhere close on guitar.

Ummm I think you stretching your negativity out a bit. I don't believe for a second that Jesse would even waste his time on a performance if he had to "dumb it down" in order for the headliner to shine. If that was the case, he'd still be employed by Prince.

missfee said:

Mong said:

More like Jesse dumbing himself down playing wise so that D'Angelo can keep up with him. I think D needs to put in a lot more work before he thinks about playing guitar on stage. Only saying this as he's got such a great feel on keys - his feel is nowhere close on guitar.

Ummm I think you're stretching your negativity out a bit. I don't believe for a second that Jesse would even waste his time on a performance if he had to "dumb it down" in order for the headliner to shine. If that was the case, he'd still be employed by Prince.

[Edited 2/5/12 9:40am]

Bull. Jesse's a sideman - you do what the front person wants you to do if they're paying you.

Just telling how it is.

Mong said:

missfee said:

Ummm I think you're stretching your negativity out a bit. I don't believe for a second that Jesse would even waste his time on a performance if he had to "dumb it down" in order for the headliner to shine. If that was the case, he'd still be employed by Prince.

[Edited 2/5/12 9:40am]

Bull. Jesse's a sideman - you do what the front person wants you to do if they're paying you.

Just telling how it is.

Oh my. How in the world can you view Jesse as just a "sideman"? If that was the case would we even be addressing him at all? Nope.

What I said is definitely not bull. Jesse is more than just a pushover "sideman" as you call him. Look at Jesse's interviews and his actions. He's outspoken, headstrong and KNOWS his talent is valuable. In fact, Jesse has a very present (and understandable) ego. Musicians with egos like that don't lay down for no one. I don't believe for a second that he would even confer to just doing what the "front" man tells him too. So we'll just have to end this discussion as just having a difference of opinion because I highly disagree with your view as you disagree with my view. And that my friend is okay.

[Edited 2/5/12 9:53am]

He missed his time as he could have changed the landscape of R7B (or music in general.) Voo Doo dropped in 99 right, he wasn't heard again until a few Ray Saadic releases like "Be Here."

missfee said:

Mong said:

Bull. Jesse's a sideman - you do what the front person wants you to do if they're paying you.

Just telling how it is.

Oh my. How in the world can you view Jesse as just a "sideman"? If that was the case would we even be addressing him at all? Nope.

What I said is definitely not bull. Jesse is more than just a pushover "sideman" as you call him. Look at Jesse's interviews and his actions. He's outspoken, headstrong and KNOWS his talent is valuable. In fact, Jesse has a very present (and understandable) ego. Musicians with egos like that don't lay down for no one. I don't believe for a second that he would even confer to just doing what the "front" man tells him too. So we'll just have to end this discussion as just having a difference of opinion because I highly disagree with your view as you disagree with my view. And that my friend is okay.

[Edited 2/5/12 9:53am]

Differences of opinion are fine. But Jesse is a sideman in the band. Sidemen are not there to take over the show unless the front person wants them to (as in a solo). That's how the dynamics of being a hired hand are...and Jesse is a hired hand in this situation.

Now if D'Angelo did a solo show at the piano, I'd be there like a shot. But it's cool that he's enjoying being on stage.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

He missed his time as he could have changed the landscape of R7B (or music in general.) Voo Doo dropped in 99 right, he wasn't heard again until a few Ray Saadic releases like "Be Here."

What's R7B?

missfee said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

He missed his time as he could have changed the landscape of R7B (or music in general.) Voo Doo dropped in 99 right, he wasn't heard again until a few Ray Saadic releases like "Be Here."

What's R7B?

He must've typed it fast. It's R&B lol

missfee said:

Lol a new word I created.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

missfee said:

What's R7B?

Lol a new word I created.

I thought you created a new genre. Naw I'm just messing, I knew it was a typo.

I'l say one last thing about the recent shows. Jesse being back in the band does make a world of difference. Sounds more rocky - messy and the band aren't gelling yet re taking it in this direction but it least it seems more like a progression instead of a Voodoo retread. Could be interesting once they are all on the same page musically.

I think Jesse (along with Jef Lee) is a nice addition to the group. I think Jesse is letting himself loose on "S.D.M" Sounds a little like Funkadelic's "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You".

And D's guitar playing is OK. Not in the league of Jesse and Jef but OK. I don't expect to see him on the cover of Guitar Player anytime soon.

duccichucka said:

Militant said:

Unfortunately the reality of the contemporary music industry is that you need hits to build that large fanbase that will sustain you independently afterwards.

D'Angelo is selling out his shows now, but is there enough interest for him to keep doing that? Not on legacy material, I don't think, which means he needs a new album that sells well enough to attract new fans. And if he's not in a position to have hits - he'll only be selling to the existing fanbase.

That's what I took the thread title to mean - has he missed his time as a contemporarily relevant artist that can break out of his genre. Of course he hasn't missed his time for making great music.

We're talking about D'Angelo, whose albums never sounded like what was on the radio.

Despite the hype and fanfare, Voodoo didn't even go 2x platinum - and this was in the

age of the N*Stink/BackStreetBoys pop explosion - I guarantee you that he will not

release an album chockfull of accessible pop radio friendly hits. Unlike his major influence,

Prince, he doesn't have a pop bone in his body; he writes R&B/jazzy-ed soul influenced

vamps.

So if you want to get technical, D'Angelo started missing his time since he released Brown

Sugar.

The thing is - nobody will remember Rihanna, Chris Brown or Katy Perry or maybe

even Lil Wayne - artists who are not missing their time - in about 20 years. But we

all know where we were when that music video came out; and I'm willing to bet that

I am not the only one in this org who can write an essay on the musical and cultural

merits of Voodoo. Trey Songz is built for today; Archer's music will last forever.

D'Angelo is an anachronism, but so what?

My point: yes, if you really assessed the cultural and musical landscape in which D'Angelo

has always placed himself, he's never positioned his music to be age-relevant. His

music is culturally relevant. And the last time I looked, fucken tweens, kiddies, teens (i.e.,

the youth) don't make culture. They just buy it. And they never bought D'Angelo anyways.

amen , agree to all that.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I think Jesse (along with Jef Lee) is a nice addition to the group. I think Jesse is letting himself loose on "S.D.M" Sounds a little like Funkadelic's "I Wanna Know If It's Good To You".

And D's guitar playing is OK. Not in the league of Jesse and Jef but OK. I don't expect to see him on the cover of Guitar Player anytime soon.

Exactly.