D'Angelo And The Vanguard - Black Messiah

The album was finished and shelved, scheduled for sometime in 2015, until a grand jury declined to indict the officer who killed Michael Brown. D'Angelo pushed it out instead, and Black Messiah landed with almost no warning on December 15, 2014, more than fourteen years after Voodoo. In the liner notes he explained the title: it is about people rising up in Ferguson, in Egypt, at Occupy Wall Street, anywhere a community has had enough. Not one charismatic leader, he wrote, but thousands of them.

The sound matches the urgency. Twelve tracks recorded entirely in the analog domain, no digital plug-ins anywhere in the chain, tracked to tape on mostly vintage gear, and it shows in how thick and unruly the whole thing feels. D'Angelo plays with the Vanguard alongside Pino Palladino on bass, James Gadson and Questlove on drums, with Q-Tip and Kendra Foster contributing lyrics across several songs. "Ain't That Easy" opens it in a haze of overdriven guitar, "The Charade" turns protest into a slow burn, and "Really Love" builds from Spanish guitar and strings into one of the most gorgeous things in his catalog.

The awards followed a year later. Black Messiah took Best R&B Album at the 58th Grammys, and "Really Love" won Best R&B Song and was nominated for Record of the Year. More than a decade on, it stands as the last full statement from one of the essential voices in modern soul, and it has lost none of its charge.

This CD edition presents all twelve tracks. Play it loud, then play it again.