RE: My last rites about Voodoo...

From: Dirk van den Heuvel (dirkv@groovedis.com)
Date: Thu Feb 24 2000 - 19:26:01 MET

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    Well I bought both the new D'Angelo CD and Angie Stone CD and overall I'm
    very disappointed by both of them. It's not anything as abstract as what
    their influences are or aren't, or that I am or ain't diggin' their
    vibe/sound/etc, it's just the songs aren't that good. Plain and f'ing
    simple. These are the kinds of CDs that compilation tapes (or mini discs in
    my case) were made for. Take the 3-4 great tracks off the D'Angelo album and
    the 2 tracks I like off Angie Stone and put them on a mini disc compilation.
    I hardly buy any music we don't distribute. When I do it's almost always
    r&b. I had high hopes for these records. I WANTED to like them. But,
    listening to them I was struck with the feeling that the songs just weren't
    at the level I expected. YMMV but that's my opinion.

    Dirk van den Heuvel (dirkv@groovedis.com)
    Groove Distribution
    http://www.groovedis.com
    Your Guide To The Underground

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Deep Soul [mailto:jjeudy@hotmail.com]
    Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 11:24 AM
    To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
    Subject: My last rites about Voodoo...

    I think that a lot of people who are downing the album have put themselves
    outside it's reach. To say that it doesn't encompass that old-skool soul
    flavor is to clearly miss the mark. Influences of greats like Sly, Marvin,
    and Prince are well apparent. However, D'angelo adds a jazzy yet still
    soulful spin to his expression. In comparison, a song like "Heaven Must Be
    Like This", or "Your Precious Love" done by both D'Angelo and Erykah Badu
    would probably be more palatable since it's more of a classic soul style.

    It's ironic that Stimp mentioned how much he disliked "Voodoo" and how much
    he liked "Black Diamond" by Angie Stone. Both artists have worked together
    for several years and are VERY close friends (close like D being the father
    of one of her children!) If you check closely, most of the songs written on
    Voodoo are co-written by Angie Stone. "Everyday" on Angie's album was
    co-produced with D'Angelo.
    Not surprisingly, I get similar enjoyment from both of these albums.

    Initially, I had reservations about Voodoo since hearing Devil's Pie which
    came out back in '98. For me, I thought this was what to expect of D's album
    and thus I wasn't pressed on getting it. Now that it's out, yeah there's
    tons of reviews, shots and praises about the album. My General Rule: why am
    I going to let the opinion of people swayed by winds of expectation and
    their own biases affect how I feel about an artist and his music.
    There are only two entities to really compare this album with: the generic
    radio tune from the various urban hit factories
    (BadBoy/Timbaland/DarkChild/etc); and D'Angelo's first album, Brown Sugar. I
    shouldn't have to explain the differences in the first category. But it's
    really into looking where D has been to what he's trying to do now that the
    real enjoyment comes. I loved Brown Sugar and it definitely stands out among
    less aspiring r&b albums, but it still left me wanting for something. Maybe
    someting personal that I DID get from Badu, or more recently Amel Larrieux
    (foreshadowing...) Even he admits in his liners that he could easily have
    used the same formulas and aproach towards this album and enjoyed similar
    success as he did previously. But this was personal project to expand his
    artistic self and to honor those possesive forces and people that drive him
    to make music. "Untitled" is out and out an ode to the now untitled artist.
    Instead of drum machines and snappy samples, you have talent the like of Roy
    Hargrove, Charlie Hunter, Ahmir Thompsoin of The Roots, and Raphael Saadiq
    to add a living spirit to the album. Listen to each song... Recognize that
    each is done without overdubs or looped orchestrations. This isn't radio
    playlist music for passive ears. Every cuts is a live jam that echoes in
    your mind when you open yourself to it. You can't just browse through it
    like you can a Marvin Gaye or otherwise more "formatted" album because the
    format is different. The same way you can just browse through Miles Davis or
    Sun Ra.

    What I would tell anyone about this album is to ignore everything that you
    have heard and remove all expectation. Listen and enjoy it like you would
    that smokey jazz club away from the pop life. See if you too get caught up
    in the voodoo.

    Deep_Soul
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