>The "idea" of D'Angelo remains superior to the reality

It kinda pains me that I get painted as a "hater" who is just out the bash D... even in this post where I pointed out that I love his melodic material, where I praised Brown Sugar, "Another Life" and "The Charade."

People may say "If you don't like D, why do you keep talking about him?"

Because the disconnect between the *idea* of D and the *reality* of D is intriguing.

Because the gap between his aspirations and his achievements is stimulating, and opens the door to all kinds of discussion about music and mythology.