D'Angelo was a breath of fresh air in 1995. Known to his Mum as Michael Eugene Archer, he was hailed as America's R&B Jesus.His first two studio albums, Brown Sugar and Voodoo, have both been held in high esteem by artists and listeners alike.

Five years after his Brown Sugar album helped launch contemporary R&B, D'Angelo finally returned with his sophomore effort, Voodoo. His soulful voice is just as sweet as it was on Brown Sugar, though D'Angelo stretches out with a varied cast of collaborators, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove and guitarist Charlie Hunter, fellow neo-soul stars Lauryn Hill and Raphael Saadiq, and hip-hop heads like Jay Dee, DJ Premier, Method Man & Redman, and Q-Tip. It must have been difficult to match his Tracklist Track number Play Loved Track name Buy Options Duration Listeners 1.

Maybe I should've titled this 'Revisiting a classic' like I did with an earlier post regarding Marvin Gaye and his Here, My Dear album. Released in 2000, D'Angelo's Voodoo is, indeed, a classic and an album I foresee withstanding the test of time. In terms of great albums released in the 21st century, Voodoo is up there among the best. Equal parts J. Dilla/Slum Village, with its hip hop production and loud kick-snare beats, and vocally reminiscent of Prince and Marvin Gaye, with D'Angelo's multiple falsettos flying throughout the tracks, it's a damn shame that D'Angelo hasn't been able to follow up this masterpiece. Kind've reminds me of Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine, and how he was never able to follow up his masterpiece Loveless (one of my desert island albums, but that's a whole different conversation), and you know, maybe it's best that both D'Angelo and Kevin Shields didn't follow up their masterpieces (maybe partially due to drugs?), because it would've been a daunting task.

I do realize that D'Angelo has played a few shows sporadically over the past ten years, so there's always a possibility that he may release something in the future. For now, we are left with one very solid album in Brown Sugar and one masterpiece in Voodoo, and how many musicians can say that regarding their catalog?