>when's the last time you listened to Voodoo? if it's been
>awhile i'd revisit it & see if you still feel like it's
>comparably meh


I actually listened to them all when Black Messiah was released. When Voodoo came out,
I convinced myself it was great on the strength of my love for Brown Sugar. I clung
to anything that was halfway decent about it. The groove of "Chicken Grease", One Mo' Gin...
anything. The songs on the album aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but what I
eventually had to admit to myself (due to a lack of desire to listen to it over the years)
was that I found the songs pretty middle-of-the-road and not very strong or potent.
Like I said before, he just sounded like the Brown Sugar guy on cruise control.
It sounded like he sat with the Brown Sugar album and perfected it for a long time
but wrote Voodoo much faster and relied on groove and sound more than strong songs.
He's had a long time with Black Messiah though, so maybe that's why the songs
are strong again.

>honestly i think Voodoo is now my least favorite of the guy's
>3 classic albums but still has my single favorite song he ever
>did "The Root"

I feel you. I still don't think anything he's done has been on the level of
"Me and Those Dreaming Eyes of Mine" and "When We Get By".