D'Angelo & The Vanguard: Black Messiah ALBUM REVIEW

I'm a huge fan of R&B music. I just love to hear a smooth instrumental with a powerful voice over it, talking about love or maybe even something a bit more political. Guys like Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, and Prince, while radically different from each other, all occupy a similar place in my heart. Sadly, the latest resurgence of R&B has been, in my opinion, a little aimless. While we have great new artists such as Miguel and Janelle Monae, the vast majority focus on hedonism over synthesizers rather than anything truly soulful or meaningful. 

D'Angelo is an R&B singer who made a name for himself in the mid to late 90s with his first two albums, Brown Sugar and Voodoo; he is a well respected and incredibly talented singer who after the release of Voodoo, seemed to shy away from his new found fame and slowly faded away from the limelight. It has been nearly 15 years since the release of Voodoo, and he has finally graced us with an album that not only shows that he can still pen an amazing LP, but also shines a light on the future of the current R&B scene; this album is true art, through and through. 

This album kick off with the infectiously soulful "Ain't That Easy", a track that gets me excited every time I hear that noisy intro and the steady thud of the bass line. In fact, this album is full of incredibly funky moments, not that that is very surprising considering D'Angelo's past material, but what is new is his fondness for more psychedelic passages and impeccably layered vocals. Those layers include voices from the incredibly talented band, The Vanguard who definitely deserved top billing on this one. The band gives this album a sense of life that is simply lacking in R&B music these days.In a way, the mixture of live instruments, D'Angelo's soulful falsetto, and the subject matters that range from sensual to socially aware reminds me of Prince, especially on tracks like "The Charade" and "Till It's Done".

I could go on and on about each track here, but I'll keep it short and reiterate the statement I made at the beginning of this review, D'Angelo and The Vanguard have created an album that simultaneously revives a long missed artists career, but also hope in a genre that I haven't been excited about in a long, long time. 

I know I'm a bit late on this one, but I just felt the need to share my feelings!

9.5/10