vrijdag 1 januari 2016

360 records from 2000: 9. D’Angelo: Voodoo



Country: US
Artist: Male solo artist
Career: recording since 1995, 2nd album
Language: English
Genre: R& B



Did I ever tell you about the time I saw D’Angelo play live following this album? He had Ahmir Thompson on drums, and a huge horn section. Midway through he got out this ancient guy with a trombone, and the guy played this amazing solo on the trombone, and it was like D’Angelo had breathed the breath of life into this ancient shell of a human and granted him the life force for that solo.

Bullshit story? In the spirit of this album, see what you believe. The last minute of ‘Playa playa’ is all disembodied voices and backward percussion and it may get you spooked. There’s a monumental bass line in ‘Devil’s pie’ that slithers like a big fat snake crawling through thick bush. A couple of tracks later – ‘Chicken grease’, ‘The root’, ‘Spanish joint’ – you can see the drum circles, big guys dancing naked down to the waist, sweating, holding live chickens in their hands, girls dancing with their eyes rolled back in the heads (in case you think I’m indulging in racial fantasy, I’m just describing the pictures in the book).

After this album and the tour, D’Angelo disappeared. It’s hard to see where an artist can go after something as primal and spooked as this. But it’s like losing Sly Stone all over again.


At its best: Playa playa, Devil’s pie, Send it on, One mo’gin, Untitled (How does it feel), Africa

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