Maxwell

blackSUMMERS'night

Maxwell's straight-up approach to soul music has both endeared him to R&B fans and solidified his standing with names like Marvin Gaye or Luther Vandross. It's remarkable how he's been able to continue crafting sounds that stay firmly within the contemporary R&B lane without coming off stale or dated.

The imperatively titled blackSUMMERS'night — bold the "SUMMERS" please — is his fifth studio album, second in a scheduled trilogy of albums and first in seven years. Yet here we are, with tracks evoking previous efforts while remaining fresh to the ear.

Consider the 43-year-old the male version of Sade, an artist who has countless times refined a particular musical mode into a gleaming diamond shine. Running at just under 50 minutes, and produced by longtime collaborator Hod David, blackSUMMERS'night represents a soul music practicum, a dose of modern R&B that resists deconstruction.

Sonically, the sound is purring percussion, soothing electronics and stirring orchestral vibes. Lyrically, the themes remain the same — the mysteries of love, emotion and regret — yet feature enough new twists to maintain engagement throughout. The breezy "1990x" comes off like it was created in the decade it's named after, a chill cut that sounds like it was left off his 1996 Urban Hang Suite debut. "Lake By The Ocean" is a blast of modern soul, deceptively simple in approach yet with resourceful impact. "The Fall" is potent in its fullness, "Gods" is effervescent yet down-to-earth and the serene "Hostage" dabbles with the irony of commitment.

Maxwell is R&B, evolved; one hopes that other artists are taking notes. (Sony Music)

This was my late friend's favorite singer. She was waiting impatiently for years for this to come out...

Nice one:

itunes version has leaked

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The breezy "1990x" comes off like it was created in the decade it's named after, a chill cut that sounds like it was left off his 1996 Urban Hang Suite debut. "Lake By The Ocean" is a blast of modern soul, deceptively simple in approach yet with resourceful impact. "The Fall" is potent in its fullness, "Gods" is effervescent yet down-to-earth and the serene "Hostage" dabbles with the irony of commitment.
****

jeez, music reviews have gotten so incredibly lazy. it's like they've spent about 5 minutes with the
entire album, skipping through tracks and then write 3 or 4 adjectives for 3 or 4 songs and that's
it really. why do we even bother reading them anymore? lazy, lazy, lazy.

'"The Fall" is potent in its fullness'

seriously, and these people get $ to come up with that kind of shit?

Gonna listen to it tonight...for Angel. She loved her some "Pretty Wings."

How many Maxwell tracks do you have in iTunes? I'm at 105 now.

purplethunder3121 said:

This was my late friend's favorite singer. She was waiting impatiently for years for this to come out...

Yeah, it was announced as a (completed) trilogy in 2009 (or was it 2008, and then delayed a year...). Could never understand why Sony handled Maxwell the way they do. Is the release stagger their decision or his? It's not like he's changed up writers, or band members. It's not like he hasn't been touring, because he has. Seems like they are constantly promoting his casino dates more than they are promoting Anthony Hamilton's casino dates. Just doesn't make sense.

UHS 1996

MTV Unplugged 1997 (1 year between releases)

Embrya 1998 (1 year)
Now 2001 (3 years)
Bsn 2009 (8 years)
bSn 2016 (7 years)

So, will bsN come out in 2023 or 2024?

Not even any soundtrack songs since 1999.

I remember when "Now" came out it was thought that the three years between it and the previous one had been a long break.

Is Maxwell R&B/Soul's most consistently "good" artist? What album has Maxwell released that was
panned by critics and/or I or you don't like? I enjoyed the first; I think the second is genius; the
third was okay, the fourth was really good; the unplugged was amazing; so I've no reason to sus-
pect that the new-new will not be excellent.

Embrya is up there with Parade, Popular, What's Goin' On, and House of Music for my most favorite
R&B/Soul albums of all time, imo. Oh yeah: Curtis too.

Listening to the new album now...so far "The Fall"...goodness, that is going to stay on repeat. I was right though, the album is super mello like the last one. Not necessarily a bad thing but I would prefer it to be more uptempo. His voice is absolutely amazing, I love love love the way he sings.

Just listened to "Lost". I'm floored by this track. Just the type of soul / rock ballad hybrid that I've wanted him to do. It's almost like late-period Bowie.

I thought the "big track" for me was going to "Gods", but I had no idea the final version was going to some sort of disco stuff. Most of the tracks have more interesting rhythms driving them.

The last track, "Night" is just 20 seconds of ocean sounds.

novabrkr said:

The last track, "Night" is just 20 seconds of ocean sounds.

yeah, that was a let down i guess it's to make sure you know that the NIGHT album
is beginning after it, when you put all 3 albums in a continuous playlist?

kind of like "phoenix rise" ends the BLACK album on an instrumental note, as a bit of a
palate cleanser / obvious book end?

anywho. all Night is doing for me right now is make me expect prince to say "come....."

Me, it just makes me want to go to the bathroom.

IstenSzek said:

novabrkr said:

The last track, "Night" is just 20 seconds of ocean sounds.

yeah, that was a let down i guess it's to make sure you know that the NIGHT album
is beginning after it, when you put all 3 albums in a continuous playlist?

kind of like "phoenix rise" ends the BLACK album on an instrumental note, as a bit of a
palate cleanser / obvious book end?

anywho. all Night is doing for me right now is make me expect prince to say "come....."

It's an absolute sin that "Phoenix Rise" wasn't made to be longer.

Yeah, this is another collection of soothing slow jams , but he's nimble enough to avoid a mawkish sentimentality. My one complaint, if I may so, is the long delay between albums. Maxwell and D'Angelo are alike in their non-prolific output.

[Edited 7/1/16 7:36am]

it's a solid album

duccichucka said:

Is Maxwell R&B/Soul's most consistently "good" artist? What album has Maxwell released that was
panned by critics and/or I or you don't like? I enjoyed the first; I think the second is genius; the
third was okay, the fourth was really good; the unplugged was amazing; so I've no reason to sus-
pect that the new-new will not be excellent.

Embrya is up there with Parade, Popular, What's Goin' On, and House of Music for my most favorite
R&B/Soul albums of all time, imo. Oh yeah: Curtis too.

Embrya is better than anything Prince put out since Lovesexy. And even then, I'd rather listen to Embrya.

Don't tell anyone I said that.

missfee said:

IstenSzek said:

yeah, that was a let down i guess it's to make sure you know that the NIGHT album
is beginning after it, when you put all 3 albums in a continuous playlist?

kind of like "phoenix rise" ends the BLACK album on an instrumental note, as a bit of a
palate cleanser / obvious book end?

anywho. all Night is doing for me right now is make me expect prince to say "come....."

It's an absolute sin that "Phoenix Rise" wasn't made to be longer.

I suspect that there's a longer version. I mean, how do you get in the studio and stop short like that? When the groove is that good?

It's finally here!

I'm hoping "Of All Kind" is a future single. Night is not as commercial as Black, but it's strong nonetheless.

Celebrating the release of blackSUMMERS’night, Maxwell performed "Lake By..." for an outdoor crowd on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night.

I would like to express my areciation for Max's drum tracks. Fantastic as always.

[Edited 7/2/16 7:33am]

Identity said:

What I've heard of the record sounds fine, but not interesting enough for me to purchase. I will likely pass on this album, despite owning all of his others.

In terms of Maxwell taking so long between projects- I can't imagine that he doesn't understand and accept the ramifications. He is a 43 year old soul artist who makes records once per decade. His fanbase is primarily adult women who are now likely into their 40s/middle age. In the same way that he takes breaks to "live real life", they are also living their lives and are likely not marking their calendars longing for his next project. If he puts out something good, and it gets heard by his audience, he will be sell some records. If not, those are just the breaks.

Went to the laundry and had this on. Whoa best album since "Now". I really dig he uses his falsetto more that the last outing. This is makeup music for sure. ahahaha, huh?

the back2back2back of '1990x'/'gods'/'lost'

By the Way, The album has gotten great reviews. Last I looked, an unusually high 87 of 100 on Metacritic. I know this doesn't always mean something, but still it sounds promising.

Sadly the album is only projected to sell between 55-60K copies first week according to Hits Daily Double.

I thought he would open with over 100,000 in sales easily. Yes, I know streaming is huge now, but I thought his fanbase was more dedicated.