The Rundown: D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah
A track-by-track look at singer's first album in 14 years.
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The Rundown: D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah - Singer D'Angelo's career is beginning to look a lot like funk pioneer Sly Stone's journey. Both ushered in brave new versions of R&B. Both were worshipped by fans. Both retreated inward from their phenomenal fame. And as Sly re-emerged with deeper and more cerebral music, D — after a 14-year wait— has resurfaced with a personal approach to soul music. Call Black Messiah D'Angelo's take on Sly's There's a Riot Going On, musically blending soul, funk, rock, jazz and psychedelia to speak to a new consciousness brewing. Check this breakdown of D's return. (Photo: RCA Records)
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"Ain't That Easy" - D'Angelo cracks opens his long-awaited return with a hazy funkadelic cut that melds Sly and the Family Stone's '70s introspective singing and musicality with the cross-over-to-me electricity of Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced." (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Photo By Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
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"1000 Deaths" - Armed with an other-worldly mix of off-putting bass drum pulses, a transformer scratched guitar and cosmic voices of activism, the neo-soul pioneer offers a cerebral soul music jazz journey that challenges listeners. (Photo: Rick Davis/Splash News)
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"The Charade" - Since Brown Sugar, D'Angelo's falsetto voice and sexy, attitudinal soul music has always mined Prince for inspiration. That is especially the case on this '60s backbeat-fueled track which finds the neo-soulster musing on faking it in love. (Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images For BET)
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"Sugah Daddy" - For this swaggalicious cut where D'Angelo plays rich suitor to a materialistic lady, the sound of big band jazz is stripped down to a rhythmic layering that is undeniably infectious. (Photo: C.M. Wiggins/WENN.com)
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"Really Love" - A crisp accoustic guitar lays easily over D's signature bass/rim snaps as the song tilts between instrumental and the soul crooner's throaty thoughts on true love. (Photo: Splash News)
Photo By Photo: Splash News
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"Back to the Future (Part I)" - "Traveling at the speed of light, and then..." D'Angelo starts this track, "at the same I'm in the same spot too." Once again, the singer reaches into Sly's introspective lyricism and sparse funk instrumentation to push this jazz-tinged track to its artsy edge. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images For BET)
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"Till It's Done (Tutu)" - As Sly quipped "if you want me to stay" to messiah-weary fans, D uses this heavenly track to ask "where do we go from here?" to listeners also going through a social awakening. The fuzzy funk instrumentation offers no answers but lets us float on the questions. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images For BET)
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"Prayer" - D gives the Lord's Prayer a funky and booming update. A fluttering electric guitar and droning Moog anchors within a crisp drum break. It's all about the music. (Photo: Nick Pickles/WireImage)
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"Betray My Heart" - D'Angelo declares he will never sell-out his creative or personal values over an infectious trotting rhythm and sliding horns. Once again, jazz meets the funk to push R&B's envelope. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images For BET)
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"The Door" - Switching gears to a hip-hopped version of 1930's folk music, D gives a basic message to those who haven't treated him right: hit the door and hit the road. (Photo: Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect)
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"Back to the Future (Part II)" - This part deux of "Back to the Future" continues the head-nodding funk factor, keeping things short and sweet with the instrumental.(Photo: WENN.com)
