Name: Black Messiah
Brand: D'Angelo and the Vanguard

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

88875056551

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Colour

black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2015-03-09

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Sony

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

888750565518

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2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

88875056552

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "88875056552"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

2014-12-16

888750565525

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "888750565525"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

D'Angelo and the Vanguard

Genre GB

R&B / Neo-Soul

Label GB

Essential

D'Angelo has made another album that invites comparisons to the purposefully sloppy funk of Sly &amp; the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On. It's more outward-looking, refined, and bristly than what preceded it, however, and has much in common with releases from retro-progressive peers like Van Hunt and Bilal. D'Angelo retains the rhythmic core that helped him create Voodoo, namely Questlove, bassist Pino Palladino, and trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and adds many players to the mix, including guitarist Jesse Johnson and drummers James Gadson and Chris Dave. Q-Tip contributed to the writing of two songs, but a greater impact is made by Kendra Foster, who co-wrote the same pair, as well as six additional numbers, and can often be heard in the background. The societal ruminations within the fiery judder of "1000 Deaths," the dreamy churn of "The Charade," and the falsetto blues of "Till It's Done," fuelled as much by current planetary ills and race relations as the same ones that prompted the works of D'Angelo's heroes, strike the deepest. Among the material that concerns spirituality, devotion, lost love, and lust, D'Angelo and company swing, float, and jab to nonstop grimace-inducing effect.

Black Messiah

Music GB