Still listen to this album on a very regular basis, perhaps more so than any other record released last year (although Bong's Stoner Rock and The Budos Band's Burnt Offering come close). Maybe not my absolute favourite album of 2014, but one of a very small elite group of albums (alongside Syro, Piñata, Workshop 19, Dark Comedy, the aforementioned Stoner Rock) that I can see myself returning to over and over again for the rest of my life, albums that at this stage I would say are among the best ever made. Probably the most varied album in D'Angelo's catalogue, both sonically and lyrically, and at times the most abrasive (if you can really call anything sung by D'Angelo "abrasive"), D'Angelo shot for the stars on this one, and got there comfortably, channeling a lot of the greats of soul and funk's past, most notably early '70s Sly Stone (the opener could have come straight from the Riot sessions, whilst lead single 'Sugah Daddy' owes everything to Fresh) and peak-era Prince ('The Charade' would be right at home on Around the World in a Day), but putting his own slant on it, uses heavy layers and plenty of vocal experimentation to create something woozy and disorientating, even at its most direct. And, to top it all off, it came pretty much out of nowhere to crown the year in the most perfect fashion imaginable. The last few years have seen some extremely impressive comebacks, albums much better than fans had any right to expect, from the likes of My Bloody Valentine and The Knife and Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin and most recently Dr. Dre, but you'd be hard pushed to find one quite as successful as D'Angelo's, which made a mockery out of everybody's premature best of 2014 lists. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
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