As much as I enjoy Voodoo, you have to admit D'angelo spends most of the album doing his best Prince impression......
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Catanzaro
To: acid jazz
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 6:33 PM
Subject: Hefner, Badu, D'Angelo etc. Reappraisals
I've had Hefner, Residue around for a few months now, and it never did much for me. I didn't care much for the shuffly beats, or the vocal cuts f. Josee Hurlock. However, lately (since I moved my hi-fi to the living room in front of the couch) I've really been getting into it.
It's not funky, but it's got mad sonic textures that unfold in incredible wierd and cool ways, and some of the tracks have that haunting quality that, after 2 or 3 listens, you start jonezing for when you're away from them a bit. A great comedown album, with real musical depth. (And, ok, the track Fish Head almost moves the funk meter slightly... or maybe that's just my blurry eyesight.)
Also, I've been relistening to Badu's second album, and I know it well enough now to say I prefer the first. The songwriting is stronger there, and her voice somehow went from having a soulful, serious, quasi-tragic quality to a kind of a too-cute perky '20's flapper quality. It's reverse evolution ala Wynton Marsalis! She went from 1940's Billie Holiday to 1920's Billie Holiday! Guess 5 or 6 million record sales will tweak everyone's voice up just a bit. Anyone else notice that?
This brings up the question of second albums in general. When the first is a big hit, the second is often a disappointment, commercially speaking. (Just think Hootie, Alanis, Maxwell, now Badu...) Yet, it can't always be said that the sophomore effort is inferior to the original creatively, can it? Which makes us anxious to hear what's going to be up with Lauryn Hill. How long's it been now?
Oh by the way, just to piss some of you off. The ultimate sophomore effort? D'Angelo, Voodoo. Just been listening it to it again for the first time in a few months. Get a pumping system and just concentrate on the low end from start to finish (OK, fast-forward devils pie, the method man track and a few others). That is the funky funky shit. Mmm, bangin... rock and roll could never hip hop like this...
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