LP Classics: D’Angelo, Voodoo

voodoo  

Playa Playa
Download

Devil’s Pie
Download

One Mo’Gin
Download

Untitled (How Does It Feel)
Download

Album: Voodoo (2000)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Where did you go, D’Angelo? The gossip says you had/have a drug problem, your MySpace blog chalks it up to you being “a deliberate guy,” and the pictures are disheartening, check the before and after:

beckdangelo_main
With Beck, about a decade ago
street29_d_angelo_200
2005 mugshot

After the monumental achievement that was 2000’s Voodoo, we’ve heard next to nothing from you. I hazily remember you getting arrested a few years ago with some weed and powder, but musically it’s been pretty sparse: choruses on unmemorable hip hop throwaways, one stellar track ("Water Get No Enemy" from a 2002 Fela tribute album), and a handful of other crap that was a waste of your blessings.

I’ll stop ranting atcha, D, but I gotta admit — it feels good to vent.

Despite my bitterness, I still haven’t soured on Voodoo. Others may have dropped more hits, but there are only a handful who put out a long-player that was coherent and listenable from start to finish.

Read the rest of this entry »

LP Classics: Prince, Sign O’ The Times

sign1  

The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
Download

Slow Love
Download

If I Was Your Girlfriend
Download

Adore
Download

Album: Sign O’ The Times (1987)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Most casual Prince fans would peg Purple Rain as their favorite of his albums. But those that have followed Prince’s career would probably pick Sign O’ The Times, his double LP from 1987. I play this record all the time, and picking only a few tracks to share was challenging.

I was fortunate enough to see Prince on the Sign O’ The Times tour in 1988. My high school friend, Adrian, and I had spent the day in Manhattan and we were approaching Penn Station to take the train home to Long Island. A scalper approached us and offered us tickets to that night’s show for $60 each. We were typical broke high school students and bargained him down to $60 for both. Amazing seats, right on the floor. Here are my memories of the show: it was in the round, there was a basketball court on the stage, a huge pipe organ was lowered from the ceiling, Eric B. and Rakim was sitting close to us, and a car actually drove him on and off the stage (talk about extravagant!). Overall, it was among the best live performances I’ve ever seen.

Back to the record. As I wrote earlier, it’s chock full of 5-star classics, so I tried to pick ones that folks may not know as well. And just to be really OCD about it, I selected one song from each of its four sides.

Read the rest of this entry »