D'Angelo – Brown Sugar [2× 180g Vinyl LP]

D'Angelo – Brown Sugar [2× 180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: 2× Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Single Sleeve, Stereo, Explicit
• Catalogue Number: 472408 1
• Barcode: 602547240811
• Genre: Neo-Soul / R&B / Soul / Funk
• Label: UMC / Virgin / EMI
• Originally Released: 3 July 1995
• Reissue Released: 2015
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Brown Sugar is the debut studio album by D'Angelo — born Michael Eugene Archer in Richmond, Virginia, and raised the son of a Pentecostal preacher — released on 3 July 1995 on EMI Records, and the record widely credited with establishing the template for what became known as neo-soul: a return to the warmth, intimacy and musicianship of classic 1960s and 70s soul, filtered through the production sensibility and rhythmic vocabulary of early 1990s hip-hop and R&B. Recorded during 1994 and 1995 at Battery Studios and RPM Studios in New York City and the Pookie Lab in Sacramento, California, the album was produced, performed, arranged and largely written by D'Angelo himself — a multi-instrumentalist who played most of the keyboard, guitar, bass and drum parts on the record in addition to all lead vocals — with the assistance of executive producer Kedar Massenburg, who had signed D'Angelo to EMI after hearing demo recordings in 1993. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards including Best R&B Album and Best New Artist, and reached number four on the US Billboard 200 and number seven on the Billboard R&B chart. It has sold over two million copies worldwide.

The album's ten tracks established virtually every defining characteristic of the neo-soul movement: the warm, analogue-recorded aesthetic favoured over digital production brightness; the prominent live musicianship in place of programmed sequences; the explicit debt to Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone acknowledged without pastiche; and the complex, layered vocal harmonies in which D'Angelo's voice is used as an instrument in its own right rather than merely a melody carrier. Guest collaborators were used sparingly but to remarkable effect: Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest co-produced and co-wrote the opening title track, bringing his hip-hop production sensibility into immediate conversation with D'Angelo's soul instincts; Bob Power — who engineered and mixed albums for ATCQ, Erykah Badu, Common and the Roots — produced and mixed "Jonz In My Bonz" and "Higher"; and Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Toné! produced and wrote the slow-burning "Lady". The album was mastered by Herb Powers Jr.

Stand-out tracks are abundant. The title track — built on a lazy, hip-hop influenced groove and D'Angelo's most conversational vocal delivery — announced the aesthetic immediately and became the album's best-known song. "Cruisin'" — a cover of Smokey Robinson's 1979 single, reconceived at half tempo with string arrangements that emphasise its late-night intimacy — remains one of the finest cover recordings of the decade. "Lady" closes the album on a note of unhurried, gospel-inflected tenderness. "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine" and "When We Get By" demonstrate D'Angelo's gift for melodic writing that sounds simultaneously classic and entirely contemporary. The album directly inspired Erykah Badu's Baduizm (1997), Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996), Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) and countless subsequent neo-soul, R&B and soul records — a foundational influence few debut albums have matched.

This 2015 Virgin / UMC Back to Black series reissue presents the album on 2× 180 gram black vinyl in a single sleeve with printed inner sleeves and includes a digital MP3 download code. Made in the EU.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Brown Sugar
2. Alright
3. Jonz In My Bonz

Side B

1. Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine
2. Sht, Damn, Motherfcker
3. Smooth

Side C

1. Cruisin'
2. When We Get By

Side D

1. Lady
2. Higher

Credits

• D'Angelo – Vocals, Instruments, Producer, Arranger
• Kedar Massenburg – Executive Producer
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Producer, Co-Writer (Brown Sugar)
• Bob Power – Producer, Mixer (Jonz In My Bonz, Higher)
• Raphael Saadiq – Producer, Writer (Lady)
• Herb Powers Jr. – Mastering
• Label – UMC / Virgin / EMI