488 - D'Angelo - Voodoo

[csberry]

Throw big portions of Prince, a steady drumbox beat, plenty of self-harmonizing, and mixes of relaxed line delivery with flourishes of vocal gymnastics and you get D'Angelo's Voodoo. It is a good album from the start to finish, but there isn't a big range of sound here. If you are using this as the soundtrack for some love making, that's great. But otherwise you might find yourself tuning out or just using it as background music.

I must confess that what wears on me more than anything is the monotony of the drum beat on nearly every song. For a sound that is put so much in the forefront of many of the songs, it is really uninteresting. But D'Angelo's self-harmonizing helped to distract me from this shortcoming.

Songs I knew I liked: "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Devil's Pie" and "Chicken Grease"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: There isn't anything I dislike on the album. My feelings on the songs vary from "That's smooth!" to "Not a bad groove at all."