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sp4cetiger
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- #1
- Posted: 02/08/2015 17:32
- Post subject: BEA's Year-End List #3: Black Messiah
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Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Black Messiah by D'Angelo
Despite being released with only two weeks left in 2014, D'Angelo's return from a 14-year hiatus was widely discussed on the forums. Most (but not all) of the talk was positive and the voting was the same.
| WindowAbove wrote: | | This is already one of my favorite albums of all time. It's definitely the best R&B/Soul album I've ever heard, and by far my AOTY. There's not a single track that isn't mindblowing and elevating. I liked his first two albums a lot, but this definitely trumps most albums ever released. #10 on my overall chart. |
| sp4cetiger wrote: | | I love this album. I've been resisting the urge to put it on my overall chart after less than a week, but it's so enraptured me since it came out that it just feels wrong for it not to be there. I could compare it to a lot of things... What's Going On? is an obvious one, since both are political statements with a grand scope. Probably the best comparison for my experience, though, is Loveless, just because of D'Angelo's obsessive attention to every little detail in the music. Sometimes I want to sit back and let it carry me away, but other times I just want to study it and try to get even the smallest insight into the workings of his insanely honed musical mind. |
| satiemaniac wrote: | | everyone i know across a variety of different musical tastes is obsessed with this record, but two listens have left me completely cold. nothing feels immediate to me, and the fun and pop of Prince at his best or even Andre 3000's peaks on The Love Below pack a lot more punch for me. the political sentiments are very vital, and this album is definitely gonna benefit from being very of the zeitgeist while simultaneously having a nearly universal aesthetic appeal. i really want to like it as much as everyone else cause everyone seems to be having a great time, but it just hasn't clicked at all. |
| Mercury wrote: | | This album is amazing! On many levels. I love how when I listen to it I am kind of reminded of similar vibes from earlier greats like Sly Stone and Prince and Al Green. At the same time I am looking at a whole unique evolution and somewhat woozy experimental album at times too - an album that doesn't sound like the past but something NOW and into tomorrow. And at the same time the issues and the subjects at times totally reflect a vital "NOWness". It's a beautiful balance. And his vocals are just so strange at times. And at other times so traditional and affecting in either mode he goes into. |
| Skinny wrote: | | Definitely getting major Sly Stone and George Clinton vibes, but Prince sounds like the overriding influence to me. Some of the sweeter songs in that middle section sound like they could've come from Around the World in a Day. Anyway, the album is excellent, been listening to it quite a lot since it dropped. Difficult to say where it ranks among D'Angelo's other albums, but they're all of very high quality. I feel this album's greatest strength is the way it manages to sound so relaxed and spontaneous and yet still feels like it has been painstakingly slaved over, with every sound adjusted and readjusted down to the tiniest detail, which is exactly the same feeling I get from Aphex Twin's Syro. The mixing's fantastic, from the relentless unease brought about by '1000 Deaths' to the way 'Really Love' slowly unfurls from very little to feel like a lived-in classic. 'Another Love' is practically a Delfonics song, which I can definitely dig. Anyway, album is dope, easily Top Ten of the year, good to have D'Angelo back. |
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goeie-oko
Gender: Male
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- #2
- Posted: 02/08/2015 17:37
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yay!
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Goodsir
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- #3
- Posted: 02/08/2015 17:41
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Really didn't get anything out of this one, honestly. It was enjoyable, but nothing stood out for me. Don't understand the high praise at all.
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Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call
Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis
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RepoMan
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- #5
- Posted: 02/08/2015 17:50
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Bought this for my car last week - my car is old & doesn't have an aux jack - and it hasn't left the cd player since. Masterpiece level on par with the R&B/soul heavyweights of the 70s. The richness of this album is amazing. It's a teeming city come alive. I never expected D'Angelo to make anything even close to this level. Consider me schooled.
Seriously, our top ten list may be the best out there! Despite NONE of my choices making the cut (thus far)! 
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pa
as it happens
Gender: Male
Age: 43
Location: Italia
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- #6
- Posted: 02/08/2015 17:53
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well at this point I must give this album a spin...is it really so nice ??
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Hayden
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- #7
- Posted: 02/08/2015 17:56
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| pa wrote: | | well at this point I must give this album a spin...is it really so nice ?? |
Yeah, it's fantastic. His best album in 14 years.
I've only listened to it in full twice so far, but it's just an amazing album. It isn't on par with Voodoo, but it's pretty close. Fantastic way to follow up. Best R&B album since Channel Orange, which I think it rivals.
_________________
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satiemaniac
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- #8
- Posted: 02/08/2015 18:03
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| Hayden wrote: | | His best album in 14 years. |
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pa
as it happens
Gender: Male
Age: 43
Location: Italia
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- #9
- Posted: 02/08/2015 18:07
- Post subject:
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| Hayden wrote: | Yeah, it's fantastic. His best album in 14 years.
I've only listened to it in full twice so far, but it's just an amazing album. It isn't on par with Voodoo, but it's pretty close. Fantastic way to follow up. Best R&B album since Channel Orange, which I think it rivals. |
ok...downloading... 
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RepoMan
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