namepeace said:

It's his prerogative to release if and when he wants to.

It's his audience's prerogative to react how it wishes.

He's promising a summer release. We've seen that promise before. We may see it again. But hey, people are paying good money to see him perform. Maybe that's enough for him.

But, he's been more prolific than D'Angelo, with releases in 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2009.

43 years....7 releases between them.

Lol.......unreal.

Graycap23 said:

namepeace said:

It's his prerogative to release if and when he wants to.

It's his audience's prerogative to react how it wishes.

He's promising a summer release. We've seen that promise before. We may see it again. But hey, people are paying good money to see him perform. Maybe that's enough for him.

But, he's been more prolific than D'Angelo, with releases in 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2009.

43 years....7 releases between them.

Lol.......unreal.

It is hard to imagine that, 20 years since Brown Sugar and UHS dropped, we only have 5 albums between them both.

They were 2 of the most highly talented and commerically viable young artists in R&B/Soul music and they disappeared. Imagine Prince and MJ both disappearing after 1979.

[Edited 2/12/16 13:51pm]

[Edited 2/12/16 15:04pm]

namepeace said:

Graycap23 said:

43 years....7 releases between them.

Lol.......unreal.

It is hard to imagine that, 20 years since Brown Sugar and UHS dropped, we only have 5 albums between them both.

They were 2 of the most highly talented and commerically viable young artists in R&B/Soul music and they disappeared. Imagine if Prince and MJ both disappearing after 1979.

[Edited 2/12/16 13:51pm]

MJ would be remembered as 'little Michael' and Prince would have been a one-hit-wonder. Probably a Rick Astely-like meme too.

namepeace said:

Graycap23 said:

43 years....7 releases between them.

Lol.......unreal.

It is hard to imagine that, 20 years since Brown Sugar and UHS dropped, we only have 5 albums between them both.

They were 2 of the most highly talented and commerically viable young artists in R&B/Soul music and they disappeared. Imagine if Prince and MJ both disappearing after 1979.

[Edited 2/12/16 13:51pm]

Prince would be where Shuggie Otis is now.

sexton said:

namepeace said:

It is hard to imagine that, 20 years since Brown Sugar and UHS dropped, we only have 5 albums between them both.

They were 2 of the most highly talented and commerically viable young artists in R&B/Soul music and they disappeared. Imagine if Prince and MJ both disappearing after 1979.

[Edited 2/12/16 13:51pm]

Prince would be where Shuggie Otis is now.

Indeed.

bluegangsta said:

namepeace said:

It is hard to imagine that, 20 years since Brown Sugar and UHS dropped, we only have 5 albums between them both.

They were 2 of the most highly talented and commerically viable young artists in R&B/Soul music and they disappeared. Imagine if Prince and MJ both disappearing after 1979.

[Edited 2/12/16 13:51pm]

MJ would be remembered as 'little Michael' and Prince would have been a one-hit-wonder. Probably a Rick Astely-like meme too.

likely so.

Geez, 20 years since his debut....that's hard to believe. Well....no telling when this alleged album will be released but I'm sure it will be fantastic.

.

[Edited 2/16/16 13:39pm]

KoolEaze said:

Can´t wait to hear it. I hope it is as cohesive and concept-laden as Urban Hang Suite and its follow-up masterpiece Embrya. I didn´t really get into his Now album (bought it but didn´t really grab me) and I still haven´t bought the first part of BlackSummerNight´sDream. I think the whole trilogy idea was a bit silly, and wasn´t there also some sort of typo or grammatic error in the title?

-

Artists often try to either recreate a certain sound by using the same staff and equipment, or they try to come up with a whole new concept but in Maxwell´s case, as much as I like his newer stuff, his newer stuff never really grabbed my attention the way Urban Hang Suite and Embrya did.

.

He used to show up in my newsfeed quite often and we even got into a heated little debate a while ago due to some misunderstanding....but these days he is rarely in my newsfeed anymore.

He´s spent quite some time on cruiseships the past couple of years.

Is that a good or a bad thing? I wonder what that´s like from the audience´s point of view and for the artist.

.

As far as the hiatus goes, I don´t really care. If he needed his time and he comes back with an interesting album, that´s all I care for.

Look at D´ Angelo......he disappeared for such a long time but he came back with a masterpiece.

Good things need time.

Expectations are very high.

I thought "Black Summers' Night" sucked. It was very horn-embellished and lacked the Neo-Soul grooviness of "Urban Hang Suite" and "Embrya." The grammatical thing revolves around the misplaced/misused apostrophe. There's a difference between "Black Summer's Night" and "Black Summers' Nights" Somehow, somebody didn't realize that the apostrophe being employed had 2 be in agreement with the subject(s) that followed. I caught it early on and it STILL drives me insane that no one in the final proofing ever caught it. It borders on illiteracy 4 me. It's one thing 2b poetic. It's wholly another thing when the grammar is off and is passed as being correct when in fact, it's not. e.g. The car's red fender vs. the cars' red fenders. In the first example, we're talking about a SINGLE car's fender. In the second example, a GROUP OF cars' red fenders. Peace.

i never cared too much about BSN either, but you have to admit that "pretty wings" is a FINE song.




spellingedit:falloff:

[Edited 2/16/16 18:12pm]

IstenSzek said:

i never cared too much about BSN either, but you have to admit that "pretty wings" is a FINE song.




spellingedit:falloff:

[Edited 2/16/16 18:12pm]

The radio stations just went into overdrive with playing Pretty Wings so that kinda ruined it for me. I think Bad Habits and Fistful of Tears were superb!

whitechocolatebrotha said:

KoolEaze said:

Can´t wait to hear it. I hope it is as cohesive and concept-laden as Urban Hang Suite and its follow-up masterpiece Embrya. I didn´t really get into his Now album (bought it but didn´t really grab me) and I still haven´t bought the first part of BlackSummerNight´sDream. I think the whole trilogy idea was a bit silly, and wasn´t there also some sort of typo or grammatic error in the title?

-

Artists often try to either recreate a certain sound by using the same staff and equipment, or they try to come up with a whole new concept but in Maxwell´s case, as much as I like his newer stuff, his newer stuff never really grabbed my attention the way Urban Hang Suite and Embrya did.

.

He used to show up in my newsfeed quite often and we even got into a heated little debate a while ago due to some misunderstanding....but these days he is rarely in my newsfeed anymore.

He´s spent quite some time on cruiseships the past couple of years.

Is that a good or a bad thing? I wonder what that´s like from the audience´s point of view and for the artist.

.

As far as the hiatus goes, I don´t really care. If he needed his time and he comes back with an interesting album, that´s all I care for.

Look at D´ Angelo......he disappeared for such a long time but he came back with a masterpiece.

Good things need time.

Expectations are very high.

I thought "Black Summers' Night" sucked. It was very horn-embellished and lacked the Neo-Soul grooviness of "Urban Hang Suite" and "Embrya." The grammatical thing revolves around the misplaced/misused apostrophe. There's a difference between "Black Summer's Night" and "Black Summers' Nights" Somehow, somebody didn't realize that the apostrophe being employed had 2 be in agreement with the subject(s) that followed. I caught it early on and it STILL drives me insane that no one in the final proofing ever caught it. It borders on illiteracy 4 me. It's one thing 2b poetic. It's wholly another thing when the grammar is off and is passed as being correct when in fact, it's not. e.g. The car's red fender vs. the cars' red fenders. In the first example, we're talking about a SINGLE car's fender. In the second example, a GROUP OF cars' red fenders. Peace.

-

If that error irks you, you should take a closer look at the Purple Rain album cover´s flipside.

"There´s this purple suspicion that lurks in the anals of my mind...."

Anals instead of annals.

I think Maxwell´s trilogy concept is a bit of a burden, artistically, because he announced it years ago, not much has happened ever since, and it is going to look awkward if he doesn´t follow it through after announcing it. But if he does, many people might say it´s a lame idea.

I think UHS and Embrya were great concept albums, very cohesive and wellstructured.

It´s going to be difficult to come up with that kind of brilliance again after such a long hiatus.

SeventeenDayze said:

IstenSzek said:

i never cared too much about BSN either, but you have to admit that "pretty wings" is a FINE song.




spellingedit:falloff:

[Edited 2/16/16 18:12pm]

The radio stations just went into overdrive with playing Pretty Wings so that kinda ruined it for me. I think Bad Habits and Fistful of Tears were superb!

no such problem here since i don't listen to radio anymore

Sounds amazing!

bluegangsta said:

How about a Urban Hang Suite 20th Anniversary Edition? There were so many great releases from this album...

Disc One: The Album

1. The Urban Theme
2. Welcome
3. Sumthin' Sumthin'
4. Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
5. Dancewitme
6. Til The Cops Come Knockin'
7. Whenever Wherever Whatever
8. Lonely's The Only Company, Part 1 & 2
9. Reunion
10. Suitelady (The Proposal Jam)
11. The Suite Theme

Disc Two: The Singles

1. The Urban Theme (Unfaded)
2. Ascension No One's Gonna Love You, So Don't Ever Wonder (The Tribute Uncut)
3. Seguranca
4. Mellosmoothe
5. The Mantra (Uncut)
6. Whenever Wherever Whatever (Espanol)
7. ’Til The Cops Come Knockin’ (PT 1)
8. ’Til The Cops Come Knockin’ (PT 2)
9. ’Til The Cops Come Knockin’ (PT 3)
10. Lock You Up N' Love Fa Days

Disc Three: The Dubs & Performances

1. Sumthin' Sumthin' (LP: Unsung)
2. Ascension No One's Gonna Love You, So Don't Ever Wonder (Unsung)
3. Lock You Up N' Love Fa Days (Unsung)
4. Til The Cops Come Knockin' (Unsung)
5. Whenever Wherever Whatever (Unsung)
6. The Mantra (Unsung)
7. Ascension No One's Gonna Love You, So Don't Ever Wonder (The Tribute Unsung)
8. ...'Til The Cops Come Knockin' Encore (Live)
9. This Women’s Work (Live)
10. Ascension (Dub Ever Wonder)

Throw in the FULL MTV Unplugged performance and you've got my money!

KoolEaze said:

I think Maxwell´s trilogy concept is a bit of a burden, artistically, because he announced it years ago, not much has happened ever since, and it is going to look awkward if he doesn´t follow it through after announcing it. But if he does, many people might say it´s a lame idea.

* * *

It´s going to be difficult to come up with that kind of brilliance again after such a long hiatus.

Badu has a similar dilemma with her New Amerykah trilogy, but she released the second installment 2 years after the 1st.

namepeace said:

KoolEaze said:

I think Maxwell´s trilogy concept is a bit of a burden, artistically, because he announced it years ago, not much has happened ever since, and it is going to look awkward if he doesn´t follow it through after announcing it. But if he does, many people might say it´s a lame idea.

* * *

It´s going to be difficult to come up with that kind of brilliance again after such a long hiatus.

Badu has a similar dilemma with her New Amerykah trilogy, but she released the second installment 2 years after the 1st.

Never knew that that was also supposed to be a trilogy, and I own both parts. I thought it was just meant to be two parts, New Amerykah I and II.

Thanks for the info.

daingermouz2020 said:

I never got into BSN but I did think the whole trilogy thing sounded interesting I never really expected it to happen. Shouldn't make the promise if you don't actually have all three in the can. He shoulda just released it as a 3 Cd set. But I'm a greedy fan. Maxwell, D'Angelo and Bilal could satisfy me with all double or triple albums. That would hold me over for about 10 yrs until they come out of exile.

I hear you, but Bilal is well out of his exile.

He's come out with 3 albums in the last 5 years -- Airtight's Revenge, A Love Surreal and In Another Life -- so he's easily the most prolific of the 3.

daingermouz2020 said:

I never got into BSN but I did think the whole trilogy thing sounded interesting I never really expected it to happen. Shouldn't make the promise if you don't actually have all three in the can. He shoulda just released it as a 3 Cd set. But I'm a greedy fan. Maxwell, D'Angelo and Bilal could satisfy me with all double or triple albums. That would hold me over for about 10 yrs until they come out of exile.

was it before NOW came out, or before BSN part 1 came out that they kept saying

Maxwell had recorded an album that sounded like prince. then all of a sudden that

album was scrapped for some reason and either Now or BSN came out a bit later.

i'd still be very interested in hearing that 'prince' like album. does anyone know if
stuff from that ever made the rounds?

namepeace said:

I think the record labels have to share some of the blame for this. I remember reading at the time of the release of BSN that the follow-up was ready to go for the following year. I wouldn't be surprised if the record label decided that the sales of the first installment didn't justify a quick follow-up or they weren't satisfied with the product. Certainly Bilal and Van Hunt have struggled with this -- Popular, in my opinion Van Hunt's best album, was rejected by Blue Note (I think) and Bilal was forced to pull Love 4 Sale (close to if not his best album in my opinion) at the last minute. Both of those guys have had to experiment with different labels and distribution methods in order to get stuff out more regularly. There's not a lot of risk-taking in the business these days, and soul/r&b artists seem to get a rougher deal than most.

I think BSN is the best album in his catalogue. I think he really outgrew his influences on that one.

And "Pretty Wings" is better than anything released by his contemporary neo-soulsters in the last 10 years.

I remember reading that the label were overwhelmed with the response to BSN so wanted to milk the first installment more before releasing the subsequent sequels. Having said that, I very much doubt that's been the reason all these years.

fairmoan said:

I think the record labels have to share some of the blame for this. I remember reading at the time of the release of BSN that the follow-up was ready to go for the following year. I wouldn't be surprised if the record label decided that the sales of the first installment didn't justify a quick follow-up or they weren't satisfied with the product. Certainly Bilal and Van Hunt have struggled with this -- Popular, in my opinion Van Hunt's best album, was rejected by Blue Note (I think) and Bilal was forced to pull Love 4 Sale (close to if not his best album in my opinion) at the last minute. Both of those guys have had to experiment with different labels and distribution methods in order to get stuff out more regularly. There's not a lot of risk-taking in the business these days, and soul/r&b artists seem to get a rougher deal than most.

I think BSN is the best album in his catalogue. I think he really outgrew his influences on that one.

I remember reading when BSN came out that all 3 had been recorded. Guessing he felt the need to revisit them(?)

daingermouz2020 said:

I never got into BSN but I did think the whole trilogy thing sounded interesting I never really expected it to happen. Shouldn't make the promise if you don't actually have all three in the can. He shoulda just released it as a 3 Cd set. But I'm a greedy fan. Maxwell, D'Angelo and Bilal could satisfy me with all double or triple albums. That would hold me over for about 10 yrs until they come out of exile.

Many times, these delays are due to label politics, espeically when it comes to R&B artists who aren't singing about smut.

fairmoan said:

I think the record labels have to share some of the blame for this. I remember reading at the time of the release of BSN that the follow-up was ready to go for the following year. I wouldn't be surprised if the record label decided that the sales of the first installment didn't justify a quick follow-up or they weren't satisfied with the product. Certainly Bilal and Van Hunt have struggled with this -- Popular, in my opinion Van Hunt's best album, was rejected by Blue Note (I think) and Bilal was forced to pull Love 4 Sale (close to if not his best album in my opinion) at the last minute. Both of those guys have had to experiment with different labels and distribution methods in order to get stuff out more regularly. There's not a lot of risk-taking in the business these days, and soul/r&b artists seem to get a rougher deal than most.

I think BSN is the best album in his catalogue. I think he really outgrew his influences on that one.

Yeah I love "Bad Habits" and "Fistful of Tears"....timeless!

[img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/typjetO.jpg?1[/img:$uid]



Coming soon: "Lake by the Ocean"

Albums doesn't sell anymore, so why make them? If you have a bunch of good songs, you can tour with them for a while before people need a refill. Also, artists can make money on alot of other stuff these days. Actually they often have to. Movies, comercials etc... It's not just about talent. It's about what people care about. If you don't deliver what people care about, noone will bother to buy it.