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Forums > Music: Non-Prince > D'Angelo and The Vanguard - Black Messiah - Out now! (Physical and Digital)
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Reply #180 posted 12/14/14 9:12pm

Identity

Available on Google Play. Downloading now... headbang


[Edited 12/14/14 21:14pm]

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Reply #181 posted 12/14/14 9:14pm

purplethunder3
121

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Damn, you mean I'll have to buy from Itunes for the first time? razz lol

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #182 posted 12/14/14 9:14pm

silkman

KingSausage said:

purplethunder3121 said:

So, what's your take on this highly anticipated album...was it worth the 15 year wait? biggrin

It's unfuckingbelievable. Amazing. A damn masterpiece. So so so so so fucking good. I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow.

I told y'all it was like, WHOA !!! lol !!!

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Reply #183 posted 12/14/14 9:19pm

tab32792

Listening now. Few things. This shit is better than AOA. That's my honest opinion & I still think P is the best ever. Also, it's hard to make out the lyrics. D'angelo I nedd a lyric sheet my man
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Reply #184 posted 12/14/14 9:22pm

Lammastide

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tab32792 said:

Listening now. Few things. This shit is better than AOA. That's my honest opinion & I still think P is the best ever. Also, it's hard to make out the lyrics. D'angelo I nedd a lyric sheet my man


There is one. I saw it on a review site earlier. typing Hmm... Lemme find it.

Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ
πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν
τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.”
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Reply #185 posted 12/14/14 9:25pm

purplethunder3
121

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KingSausage said:

purplethunder3121 said:

So, what's your take on this highly anticipated album...was it worth the 15 year wait? biggrin

It's unfuckingbelievable. Amazing. A damn masterpiece. So so so so so fucking good. I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow.

Downloading from Amazon now... smile

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #186 posted 12/14/14 9:26pm

Lammastide

avatar

Lammastide said:

tab32792 said:

Listening now. Few things. This shit is better than AOA. That's my honest opinion & I still think P is the best ever. Also, it's hard to make out the lyrics. D'angelo I nedd a lyric sheet my man


There is one. I saw it on a review site earlier. typing Hmm... Lemme find it.


Scroll to the bottom of this page: http://noisey.vice.com/bl...ning-party

[Edited 12/14/14 21:30pm]

Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ
πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν
τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.”
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Reply #187 posted 12/14/14 9:27pm

purplethunder3
121

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Lammastide said:

tab32792 said:

Listening now. Few things. This shit is better than AOA. That's my honest opinion & I still think P is the best ever. Also, it's hard to make out the lyrics. D'angelo I nedd a lyric sheet my man


There is one. I saw it on a review site earlier. typing Hmm... Lemme find it.

I couldn't understand the lyrics on Sugar Daddy... lol

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #188 posted 12/14/14 9:28pm

tab32792

THANKS
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Reply #189 posted 12/14/14 9:34pm

nd33

purplethunder3121 said:



Lammastide said:




tab32792 said:


Listening now. Few things. This shit is better than AOA. That's my honest opinion & I still think P is the best ever. Also, it's hard to make out the lyrics. D'angelo I nedd a lyric sheet my man


There is one. I saw it on a review site earlier. typing Hmm... Lemme find it.



I couldn't understand the lyrics on Sugar Daddy... lol



D is trying to make sure no-one can figure out these new songs for 14 years. Lyric sheets might foil his plan though...
Music, sweet music, I wish I could caress and...kiss, kiss...
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Reply #190 posted 12/14/14 9:41pm

Farfunknugin

avatar

purplethunder3121 said:

KingSausage said:

purplethunder3121 said: It's unfuckingbelievable. Amazing. A damn masterpiece. So so so so so fucking good. I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow.

Downloading from Amazon now... smile

Really? I can't seem to find it on Amazon

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Reply #191 posted 12/14/14 9:44pm

purplethunder3
121

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Digging Ain't That Easy... 1,000 Deaths is over the funky top. cool Wish I could decipher the words...slow th eimaginary vinyl down, eh? biggrin

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #192 posted 12/14/14 9:51pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

Farfunknugin said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Downloading from Amazon now... smile

Really? I can't seem to find it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Bla...ck messiah

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #193 posted 12/14/14 9:54pm

Phishanga

avatar

Damn. Download now and listen to it on crappy headphones on the way to work or wait until tonight?

Hey loudmouth, shut the fuck up, right?
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Reply #194 posted 12/14/14 9:55pm

scriptgirl

avatar

I think D done broke the internet. Okay, serious question: how does the Grammy nom process work-could he get noms for this next year and into 2016? Also, what are the chances he performs on the grammys this year?

"Lack of home training crosses all boundaries."
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Reply #195 posted 12/14/14 10:07pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

missfee said:

purplethunder3121 said:

So, what's your take on this highly anticipated album...was it worth the 15 year wait? biggrin

Hell yes! headbang Actually it makes me feel like this is the type of new music that P should be doing but be that as it may......the album was definitely worth the wait. You can definitely hear Jesse and Blackwell all over it. nod Best midnight surprise ever! And early Christmas gift to myself.

Just "wanna go back to the way it was..." wink

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #196 posted 12/14/14 10:12pm

babynoz

purplethunder3121 said:

Farfunknugin said:

Really? I can't seem to find it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Bla...ck messiah



Thanks.

I may as well mosey on over there to get it rather than some other site since they already own me. lol

Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
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Reply #197 posted 12/14/14 10:36pm

getxxxx

avatar

#8 on iTunes currently

Nick Ashford was someone I greatly admired, had the honor of knowing, and was the real-life inspiration for Cowboy Curtis' hair. RIP Nick. - Pee Wee Herman
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Reply #198 posted 12/14/14 10:46pm

thisisreece

Wonderful album. Seen as people are making comparisons... it's a much, much stronger album that AOA. 'Till It's Done' and 'Prayer' stand out the most on the first listen. Will be giving this another listen in the morning!

Hundalasiliah!
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Reply #199 posted 12/14/14 11:02pm

scriptgirl

avatar

What the hell is AOA?

"Lack of home training crosses all boundaries."
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Reply #200 posted 12/14/14 11:05pm

SanDiegoFunkDa
ddy

Great album. I give it 9/10. kinda hard to understand the lyrics sometimes. songs 1000 Deaths, Really Love, Til It's Done, Another Life are masterpieces. Til It's Done is one of his greatest songs, it should have been longer.

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Reply #201 posted 12/14/14 11:12pm

silkman

scriptgirl said:

What the hell is AOA?

Art Official Age, Prince's album.

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Reply #202 posted 12/14/14 11:46pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

D'Angelo's 'Black Messiah' Album Finally Drops: First Listen



By Elias Leight | December 14, 2014 11:37 PM EST

D'Angelo's 'Black Messiah' Album Finally Drops: First Listen

D'Angelo performs at the Brooklyn Bowl.

Kate Glicksberg

After 14 years without a full-length album, D’Angelo’s Black Messiah was released Sunday (Dec. 14) just before midnight. The 12-track set is available here via iTunes.

How can you possibly encounter an album like this? The weight of expectations looms large, and it cuts two ways. Because you get music from D’Angelo so infrequently, anything he releases feels like a blessing. At the same time, everything must be measured against Voodoo, a dense, relentlessly groovy record which came out in 2000, managing to both spawn hits and please critics. Voodooisn’t just the finest album of the neo-soul movement, it’s one of the landmark R&B records of the last two decades.

.

Few singers are as mercurial as D’Angelo, and few singers attract the same level of reverence. It’s hard to think of any artist whose release schedule has been more infrequent: the man has put out just two albums in close to 20 years. He released Brown Sugar in 1995, an album that mingled keyboard-driven soul with hip-hop's powerful beats. After that, the singer holed up in New York City’s Electric Lady Studios for five years. Voodoo came out in January of 2000, and it stretched and expanded his palette -- emphasizing guitar and horns courtesy of a loose-knit, funk-heavy band full of all-star players.

.

At the same time, D’Angelo submerged his voice, shrinking away from the powerful lead vocal that distinguishes the classic soul-men. Unlike Marvin Gaye,Al Green, or Luther Vandross, this artist favored layers of vocals stacked in subtle, unpredictable formations. Done correctly, this has a tantalizing, bewitching effect, and Voodoo’s influence is still rippling outward; you can hear it on Frank Ocean’sChannel Orange, Beyonce’s “Rocket,” and Jessie Ware’s “Kind Of… Sometimes… Maybe.”

In a way, these vocals also foreshadowed D’Angelo’s disappearance. The man never wanted to be out front on his records, so it’s not a surprise that he struggled with a world that wanted to put him on the top of R&B’s pyramid. The rest of the D’Angelo story has been well documented. He struggled with his new status as a sex symbol after the “Untitled” video. (A tough predicament to be sure, but a predicament that plagues every female performer every day, and they somehow manage to keep putting out albums.) He went into rehab. He got arrested. Questlove, who worked closely with the singer on Voodoo, continuously suggested that the album was close to done. Questlove has since debuted it at a listening session in New York City.

And now it’s done. People will write about the element of surprise in the album drop, but make no mistake -- this has been a long time coming. D’Angelo did not “pull a Beyonce.” He finally put together an album that has been hinted at and rumored for years. Several of the songs have also appeared in his live sets over the last 18 months.

.

How long has he been working on this material? Questlove said that he had conversations with the singer about this album as soon as the Voodoo tour ended. On the other hand, according to D’Angelo’s management, at least one of the songs on Black Messiah was finished only recently. Apparently several finished songs didn’t make the final cut (hopefully it will take less than 15 years for those to surface). The rapper Q-Tip and Kendra Foster are frequently credited for helping D’Angelo with the lyrics; most of the songs are credited solely to D’Angelo.

Black Messiah is soul and funk pushed to its very limit, the sound of a singer squeezing and warping the tropes of R&B in his effort to wring every ounce of meaning from them. D’Angelo and Questlove are noted fans of the hip-hop producer J Dilla; Questlove has fondly described his beats as “drunk” on several occasions. It’s hard to imagine beats more intoxicated than those on Black Messiah. The drums land like gun shots, sharp, weighty, and staggered. The bass is full and heavy but always dexterous, reaching back to the work of soul and funk legends -- except their bass lines were never as pronounced and in your face. The low end here is violent, a force to be reckoned with.

.

15 years will change a voice, and D’Angelo’s voice has shifted somewhat. When he sings a lone vocal line on Black Messiah, it’s tougher and scratchier than it once was -- worn, satisfyingly ragged, not as young. But those inimitable clouds of backing vocals, warm and meticulously plotted, are still present, drifting pleasantly into the foreground and agreeably clogging the ears.

Before playing the album, Questlove emphasized D'Angelo's political consciousness. The album’s lyric booklet alludes to Ferguson and climate change while drawing attention to one line in particular: “all we wanted was a chance to talk, ‘stead we only got outlined in chalk.” That’s especially poignant a day after demonstrations swept New York City in response to the recent grand jury decision not to indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner.

.

In conjunction with D’Angelo’s new political presentation, he brings some fiery, almost punky textures to his album. “1000 Deaths,” is the most cacophonous thing D’Angelo has ever done, with the singer coaxing a gnarled, gritty track back from the edge of ugliness. “The Charade” begins grimly, “crawling through a systematic maze to demise.” D’Angelo took up the guitar between Voodoo and Black Messiah, and he contributes many of the riffs on the new album.

Still, no matter how hard and pointy D’Angelo wants to be, he can never fully submerge his gift for melody. He’s a sonic innovator, pushing the percussion and the bass almost cruelly far apart. But he then fills that empty space with cascading volleys of soothing vocals, softening the bite of the drums and oozing over the rough edges of the guitar. At times, songs on Black Messiah sounded influenced by the sweetness of the Beatles; other moments, like the album closer “Another Life,” channel mid-80s Prince. (D’Angelo is an avowed Prince fan.) “Back In The Future” began with all the ruggedness of mid-90s New York hip-hop -- particularlyMobb Deep’s “Shook Ones Pt. II” -- before transitioning into wistful funk. And the lead single, “Really Love,” which will hit radio Monday morning, is light and lovely, with flamenco-tinged guitar and nonstop affirmations of affection.

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“Really Love” sounds like nothing else on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts right now. D’Angelo left the game at the peak of his powers as one of the faces of a movement; he returns as a lone-wolf, a self-proclaimed outcast with a style all to himself. But he’s ready to start gathering new followers. In “Another Life,” he sings, “I just wanna take you with me, to secret rooms in the mansion of my mind/ shower you with all that you need.” Don’t turn him down.

[Edited 12/14/14 23:47pm]

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #203 posted 12/15/14 12:00am

Papaj

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Enjoyable. I prefer Sly & the Family Stone though. I like the sparse, albeit dense production, how he messes around with the vocals, the drum sounds, some speckles of horns, but I would love to hear some more epic, melodic songs that could nail the album down as a masterpiece. In the current shape it is a strong offering but too much reminiscent of There's a Riot Going On. If I haven't listened to Sly a lot I would have been floored by the originality of this, because, ultimately, not much that is out there today sounds like D'Angelo. Would have loved more diversity in drum patterns and some more memorable melodies.
[Edited 12/15/14 0:34am]
We Can Funk
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Reply #204 posted 12/15/14 12:57am

Phishanga

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Not yet all the way through and way too early to really say somethng anyway, but "Prayer" sounds really cool.

Hey loudmouth, shut the fuck up, right?
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Reply #205 posted 12/15/14 12:59am

getfunked

avatar

Papaj said:

Enjoyable. I prefer Sly & the Family Stone though. I like the sparse, albeit dense production, how he messes around with the vocals, the drum sounds, some speckles of horns, but I would love to hear some more epic, melodic songs that could nail the album down as a masterpiece. In the current shape it is a strong offering but too much reminiscent of There's a Riot Going On. If I haven't listened to Sly a lot I would have been floored by the originality of this, because, ultimately, not much that is out there today sounds like D'Angelo. Would have loved more diversity in drum patterns and some more memorable melodies. [Edited 12/15/14 0:34am]


If you're looking for melodic focus, maybe you'd enjoy the stripped down version of Really Love he performed back in 2013 with Questlove.

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Reply #206 posted 12/15/14 1:05am

Papaj

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getfunked said:

Papaj said:

Enjoyable. I prefer Sly & the Family Stone though. I like the sparse, albeit dense production, how he messes around with the vocals, the drum sounds, some speckles of horns, but I would love to hear some more epic, melodic songs that could nail the album down as a masterpiece. In the current shape it is a strong offering but too much reminiscent of There's a Riot Going On. If I haven't listened to Sly a lot I would have been floored by the originality of this, because, ultimately, not much that is out there today sounds like D'Angelo. Would have loved more diversity in drum patterns and some more memorable melodies. [Edited 12/15/14 0:34am]


If you're looking for melodic focus, maybe you'd enjoy the stripped down version of Really Love he performed back in 2013 with Questlove.

Thanks. I've listened to some of the live takes and the songs indeed benefit from a live setup.

We Can Funk
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Reply #207 posted 12/15/14 1:09am

Phishanga

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The Charade needs to be longer, of course.

Hey loudmouth, shut the fuck up, right?
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Reply #208 posted 12/15/14 1:34am

Ego101

I'm enjoying 'Another life'. cool

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Reply #209 posted 12/15/14 1:36am

Ego101

lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

silkman said:

scriptgirl said:

What the hell is AOA?

Art Official Age, Prince's album.

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