http://www.okayplayer.com/news/dangelo-black-messiah-lp-release-review.html

Ho. Lee. Shit. I don’t know if I ever imagined I’d be in the position to actually tell someone that the D’Angelo had finally delivered on everyone’s except his own promise to redeem soul music wholly and forever with the follow-up to his turn-of-the-century masterpiece Voodoo. Well, good people of the Okay realm and abroad, it is with exultant joy and humility that I can say the day is here. And it’s every bit as sweet as I always dreamed it would be.What do you think?

It’s not like we weren’t forewarned or anything. If the last 14 years of our lives have proven anything, it’s that every 7-8 months or so someone you know (mostly Questlove) will chime in with the “Oh, I heard that new D from my boy who’s engineering the record. Shit is crazy!” whispers to set the jones in. But it wasn’t just Questo’s chirps and nudges that put the bug in us. Back in 2010, before the initial European tour, before the musical magnificence that was the Brothers In Arms tour, before Russell Elevado criminally teased us with 6-second clips from the studio, even before that spacey P-funked-out cover of Sound Garden’s “Black Hole Sun” mysteriously surfaced, OKP alum DJ Brainchild sat with the man himself and heard the words straight from the source :What do you think?

“I just want them to know that I’m coming. That’s all. I’m in the kitchen and I’m cooking up something real nice.”What do you think?

And now we’re faced with what once seemed virtually unimaginable; a full-fledged answer to 14 years of prayers. Who would’ve thought that a man that once claimed to be so detached from the digital landscape could manage to out-Beyoncé Beyoncé? Familiar Soulquarians like Questlove, Q-Tip and newcomer Kendra Foster make appearances (especially in the album’s writing credits). But what’s to say for this new, prism? This masterful blend of classic and contemporary soul, funk and blues, forged by years of refinement.What do you think?

Listen, I’m not even trying to put forth that this is the end all, be all album of our lives or that the rest of the industry should just pack up their shit and quit But as a mid-twenties D’liever who took to Voodoo like an inmate to 5% Nation after high-school and got through his first years of college reading Questo’s Voodoo Diaries over and over again, this shit is monumental.What do you think?

Lucky for you and me and the rest of the damn world, our very own Editor-In-Chief Eddie “STATS” was amongst the “first to worship” at the ultra-exclusive listening party, which took place in NYC just a few hours ago. You can read his thorough track-by-track review of the album as it was being played for the very first time below. Just be sure that come midnight you’ve got your card out, ’cause Black Messiah waits for no man or woman. The 15-years-in-the making follow-up to Voodoo hits iTunes at 12:00AM EST with CD and 2xLP vinyl release coming next week. Get your first taste of D’Angelo’s finally realized resurgence with a companion script below and check back at midnight for the link. May D be with you, good people.What do you think?

“Ain’t That Easy” comes in with an echoey ping-pong-crack snare, like a ball bouncing off the table and being exploded by a gunshot. The underlying Funkadelic blues groove is a recognizable progression from Voodoo’s anthemic “Chicken Grease,” but has a harder, darker edge both in the beat itself and the raucous guitar lick for D’s falsetto to ricochet off. The frenetic six-string work (which according to Questo is all D) tips its hat to Eddie Hazel on all levels. “1000 Deaths” commences with the preacher reciting the Bible’s description of Christ and a groove that knocks like Funkadelic‘s hard-nosed, loose-lipped theatrical rock tailored to a the finely-tuned, yet purposely slopped styles of J Dilla. It’s All held together by bomb squad-ish black noize sonics; a tribute to engineer and long-time friend Russ Elevado, showing that dissonant elements create a whole greater than the tracks. What do you think?

“The Charade” came to life with a spacey guitar intro — again distinct Hazel meets “Diamonds + Pearls dreamscape type ish — made spacier by backwards masking. But D’s unmistakable falsetto resolves the psychedelia into a sad soulful groove, while the claps in the beat recall church service or a ’60s boogaloo track. “Sugah Daddy” (which premiered in the wee hours of the morning) is a Harlem Globetrotter-esque hand-jive beat ala “Sweet Georgia Brown,” strutting (at time hilariously) as the funkiest shit you’ve ever heard with touches of Roy Hargrove‘s horn composing wizardry slathered all over.What do you think?

String adagios with tape noise and barely audible voices open “Really Love,” the album’s halftime lullaby. Spanish guitar comes in and we are officially in Desperado country, but the strings resolve into a pizzicato groove with post-Dilla slow banging clap-on/clap-off beat, unclear how the parts will resolve until D’s voice says “When you call my name…” and the emotion brings all the parts together with that walking bass line. Kinda like Jay Dee and The Roots’ “Dynamite” in slow(er) motion, evoking a more wistful mood and capping off Side A with a bubbly improvisation.What do you think?

Side B is truly the b-sides. Where the former is comprised of practically all single-status cuts, the flip is made up of deeper and somewhat darker cuts, socially sharp and politically poignant. “Back In The Future (Part I)” reestablishes that D’s signature is falsetto ad walking bass, continuing the cosmic feel that’s permeated throughout the record and features more lilts of string arrangements. “Till It’s Done (Tutu)” features big drums from Questo and psych-rock guitar through-a-window-fan-warble. Or is it D imitating guitar with a rhodes as he’s known to do? With Miss Foster on dirge-like vocals, the song ends on a strangely open-ended phrase.What do you think?

“Prayer” has a weird and haunted, but somehow goofy synth-scape with drunken drums. Very Prince ala Sign O The Times or “Annie Christian.” The end of the track piques with what is easily D’s illest guitar freakout yet: something like “Frantic Moment” meets “Let’s Go Crazy.”What do you think?

“Betray My Heart” opens with temple chimes and a tinny guitar groove, underpinned by clockwork rimshots and Hargrove’s horns talking wah-wah rhodes or most of the song in a wordless conversation, ending on D’s equally wordless croon. “The Door” features a slow-knocking beat and whistle at it’s base. The guitar work is so Dixieland it’s almost Leon Redbone, almost Doobie Broothers even. But funky as fuq.What do you think?

“Back In The Future (Part II)” fades up right where Part 1 left us, but quickly gives the drummer some, while D quietly catches the spirit in the background. Hi-hats sizzle on the album’s pleading closer “Another Life,” announcing a huge piano vamp. Sitar licks bring the vibe of Smokey Robinson or Chondelles pure doo-wop stylings. D’s voice here recalls Ecstasy-era Junie Morrison, as if the full history of black music is contained within it (which some critics have described as a narrow range.) The drums gets drunker while the changes on the piano fill get bigger and louder, taking us higher and higher until it’s over.What do you think?

Black Messiah Tracklisting :What do you think?

1. “Ain’t That Easy”What do you think?
2. “1000 Deaths”
3. “The Charade”
4. “Sugah Daddy”
5. “Really Love”
6. “Back In The Future (Part I)
7. “Till It’s Done (Tutu)”
8. “Prayer”
9. “Betray My Heart”
10. “The Door”
11. “Back In The Future (Part II)
12. “Another Life”