D’Angelo live @ Brixton’s O2 Academy 3/2/12

Would he or wouldn’t he? That was the question I kept asking myself as soon as D’Angelo’s European tour was announced.  There was a time the announcement of a D’Angelo gig would have had me prepared to crawl through broken glass for a ticket, to dance over hot coals, to jump from a tall building, to… well, you get the point, but the announcement of this particular gig didn’t have me prepared to do those things.  I guess, as I say, I didn’t fully believe it would happen, and maybe I’ve just lost a little faith in D’Angelo, ‘the artist’.

To quickly address the things we already know: ‘Brown Sugar’ comes out in ’95, births a new movement for contemporary soul artists, the Grammy-winning ‘Voodoo’ is released five years later and in the 12 years between then and now, all fans have had to tide them over is a handful of collaborative songs and news reports of arrests, drug addiction and ballooning weight.

It’s all very sad really.  I have no wish to comment on the man’s personal life, of which I know nothing about, but what makes me sad is what he could have achieved in those 12 years – there could have been multiple albums, collaborations, tours – my iPod salivates at the music it could have listed under his name.  one part of me thinks he could have become a soul music legend, but thinking about it, I think he already has.  I can’t come up with any other names of artists that could have released two albums over the course of 17 years, and after a 12-year gap, have generated this much excitement and interest in their return.

I didn’t initially jump at the chance to go along to see D’Angelo in Brixton, but I’m really glad I changed my mind.

He looked good, he sounded great, and the leaked list of musicians forming the band went a long way to further rejuvenating my interest and reassuring me that this is something he was taking seriously:  Pino Palladino (bass), Jesse Johnson (lead guitar) and Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave (drums), all masters in their own right and all shone on the night.  With a guitar strapped around his shoulder for most of the night, D’Angelo displayed a great energy about him throughout the night and threw himself into the songs as much as he needed, even going as far as to hurl the mic stand behind him during a rockier take on ‘Devil’s Pie’, to screams of delight from the crowd, all happily feeding off of his enthusiasm.

Perhaps even more surprising was the amount of new songs that made the setlist – all of which currently doing the rounds on YouTube, and as great as they sounded, it’s a shame that they came at the expense of established classics: ‘Me and Those Dreaming Eyes of Mine’, ‘Untitled’ and ‘Cruisin’ were only allotted a few minutes each during a solo piano medley.  ‘Lady’, shockingly, didn’t even make the cut in any fashion!?  ‘Brown Sugar’ was repackaged with incredible new ‘funky’ life breathed into it and made for a fantastic encore, and other songs like ‘Devil’s Pie’ and ‘S##t, D#mn, Mother F###er’ had equally innovative and welcome new takes delivered on their performances as well.

Without getting too ahead of myself, hopes are currently high for new material this year, and, fingers crossed for another supporting tour, but I guess attention will then inevitably turn to the already long overdue FOURTH album(?)!

best of: 2011

In our 'best of' show that aired 1st January 2012, here's a run down of what we thought were some of the best songs of the year.  It's always a tricky list to compile because most years I tend to find myself midway in to the following year picking up more stuff from the year before and realising all the things that slipped through your fingers. 

Currently, I can shamefully say that Anthony Hamilton's 'I'm Ready'' should have made the list, but in the meantime, the below is one sexy list...

'The Moon and The Sky' [Remix] - Sade f/t Jay-Z
'I Hurt You' - Anthony Hamilton f/t Tarsha Macmillan
'Just Don't' - Raphael Saadiq
'Let It Go' - The Liberators f/t Roxie Ray
'Love and Revolution' - Nicola Conte f/t Melanie Charles
'The Bronx' - Booker T Jones f/t Lou Reed
'Patience' - The Baker Brothers
'Stone Rollin bonus track' - Raphael Saadiq f/t Larry Graham
'You Make Love Real Easy' [Remix] - Dojo Cuts
'Give It Up Or Turn It Loose' [Live] - Soulive f/t Nigel Hall & Questlove
'Mama Done' - Zara Macfarlane
'The Telephone Song' - Charles Bradley
'1960 What' - Gregory Porter
'Brighter Day' - Nick Pride & The Pimptones f/t Susan Hamilton
'Time Will Reveal' - AAries
'Progress' - Booker T Jones f/t Yim Yames
'Sun Will Rise' - Shuya Okino f/t Divinti
'Love From The Sun' - Nicola Conte f/t Jose James & Nailah Porter

Tune in the Blue-in-Green Sessions every Sunday 8-10am on Starpointradio.com

‘Back To Love’ – Anthony Hamilton

2011, RCA Records

With an incredibly sneaky entry into 2011, Anthony Hamilton delivers ‘Back To Love’ just in time, 12th December to be exact.  Following the precursor to the album – the massively welcome online mixtape we covered here previously, ‘Soul’, my expectations were certainly high; and on paper, ‘Back To Love’ should deliver everything expected, with production tackled by heavy soul-hitters, James Poyser, Salaam Remi, Babyface, Kelvin Wooten, etc. as I say, my expectations were definitely high.

It’s a little difficult to be able to put my finger on exactly what doesn’t hit home with me though.  I take great pride in declaring myself a solid fan of Anthony Hamilton and remember being very excited at the eventual release of a major-label full-length album, in the form of the brilliant ‘Coming From Where I’m From’ in 2003. [I remember playing ‘Hold Your Head Up’ where he provided backing vocals for Heltah Skeltah back in 1998 and trying to find something official from him since then.]

Subsequent album releases have all paled in comparison to the gritty Southern soul he captured in his debut, which I wouldn’t say he’s been close to surpassing since then.  Although it’s undeniable, each follow-up album has contained some stunning songs within them (see ‘The Truth’ and ‘Pass Me Over’ from ‘Ain’t Nobody Worryin’; ‘Please Stay’ and ‘Soul’s On Fire’ from ‘The Point Of It All’), the total package of ‘Coming From Where I’m From’ and the timeless pieces of perfect soul captured in songs like ‘Charleene’, ‘Lucille’, ‘I’m A Mess’ and ‘Chyna Black’, as I say, have yet to be surpassed. 

I earlier described the music as ‘gritty’ and that definitely feels like an apt description, particularly when comparing the finished product of, in particular, ‘Back To Love’ and just how ‘neat’ and polished it sounds.  There’s almost a paint-by-numbers approach involved in the album being put together and what’s even more confusing for me, is that he’s working with all the right people, yet something from the formula seems to be missing.

A huge source of disappointment for me was the head-scratching absence of Jack Splash, whose previous collaborations with Hamilton have delivered the aforementioned gem ‘Please Stay’, and ‘You’ from the ‘Soul’ mixtape.

This all sounds very negative but that’s really down to the immensely high standard I hold Anthony Hamilton to.  I do want to stress that there really is brilliance to be found here, namely the title track itself, ‘I’m Ready’, ‘I’ll Wait To Fall In Love’ and ‘Who’s Loving You’, and he still is – and will likely be for a very long time to come – a true leader of the pack.

11 Songs... #2

I knew it would take me a while to complete this series but I didn't think things would get this bad!?

Part 1 explored my favourite Marvin Gaye songs of ALL time and this one is actually a two-song entry which I hope will make up for the stupidly long gap in presenting Part 2.  This one (or two) are interesting choices for me as they both represent songs that made we want to delve deeper into music and start to expand beyond what I was listening to.

This entry's selection is The Roots' 'What They Do' and Method Man & D'Angelo 'Break Ups to Make Ups'.

So we're in 1998/9.  I'm in uni.  Luton of all places(!)  And my music tastes are predominately R&B and hip-hop, as was the case with nearly everyone I knew.  Thinking back, I still hold a genuinely strong affection for a lot of 90s R&B and every few months, I tend to immerse myself with as much as I can get my hands on from people like Babyface, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, R Kelly.  I was a complete stan for Bad Boy Records and almost everything that they put out, and I really don't think they/Puffy get the credit they deserve for their quality output over the years but perhaps that'll be another entry from me for another time.

'Break Ups to Make Ups', I will always credit for introducing me to so much more than I was listening to.  I knew who D'Angelo was obviously and knew of 'Brown Sugar', but it didn't mean anything to me at the time.  I had heard his voice on so many different songs but there was something about his pairing with Method Man that just had me hooked.  The way he sung that chorus - he was so fu#king cool.  He knew it and so did everybody else.  It was released 1999 before 'Voodoo' came out and this song had me chomping at the bit to get my hands on it.  'Voodoo' was the first soul album I owned and 'Brown Sugar' subsequently became the second.

The experience with 'What They Do' was almost similar.  I had never heard of The Roots and in many ways, this could be described as their breakout song.  It was certainly one that made a lot of people pay attention anyway.  Raphael Saadiq's sweet chorus isn't even what steals the show here - the lush instrumentation and the fact they knew just how good their groove was that they left it to play for the remaining 1.5 minutes of the song.  For a hip-hop record, I had never heard anything like that before!  The Roots have always stayed ahead of what hip-hop was doing as they always released good music first and foremost.  (If you don't own 'Home Grown' 1 and 2, I strongly recommend you doing so as their versality and skill shines on so many more songs!

'Clearlight' - Directions in Groove [album review]

DIRECTIONS IN GROOVE (DIG) – Clearlight
(Universal/ABC Music)

Written by Krissi Weiss

Directions In Groove were most active during the ‘90s when their unique blend of acid-jazz, funk and groove-based music was splashing itself all over Sydney, Australia, and beyond to international stages.

Dig have always been musician’s musicians, creating songs that may not always be “easy” to listen to, but are always skilfully expressed.  Drummer, Terepai Richmond, is perhaps his country’s greatest jazz/funk drummer and the band have created melodic mayhem around his infectious rhythms.

Almost 20 years after their inception, Dig have released 'Clearlight'. With a fairly quiet ten years on the recording front with only one live album released this century, Dig are masters at their craft and continue to make mind blowing music.  The addition of vocalist Laura Stitt to the line-up, however, is their only questionable decision.  She is a fantastic jazz-influenced vocalist, but the tracks that she features on are the weakest on 'Clearlight'.  Dig are at their best when the well-crafted yet almost chaotic melodies of Tim Rollinson and Rick Robertson are allowed to run free from the traditional shackles of a dominant vocal melody.

Dig have had some impressive vocalists join them in the past (Toni Mott and Inja Liljestrom among many others) but the traditional structure of a verse/chorus vocal melody has never been the moments where Dig truly shine.  The instrumental tracks on this album are great on their own and do not need vocal accompaniment, but ultimately, Dif are as funky as ever, even after all these years!

This article was originally published in Rave Magazine http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/