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::MUSIC NEWS::
LE Newsletter - February 2, 2012
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'Things Have Changed' For D'Angelo
Source:
www.globeandmail.com - By Amy Verner
D'Angelo
At Le Zénith in Paris on Sunday
(Jan 30, 2012) It only took
D'Angelo
12 years to get his groove back.
On Sunday, the artist who defined a late-1990s music genre known
as neo-soul, commanded the stage at Le Zénith, a venue on the
northeast edge of Paris.
That is, when he was actually on stage (more on that later).
The 5,000-strong crowd - urbane and urban in equal measure -
hardly needed coaxing by the preshow emcee to "Faites du
bruit!" (make some noise).
"Day-ahn-JAY-lo!" they screamed, Frenchifying his name, until
the band appeared shortly before 9 p.m. Doors opened at 5:30 and
the ticket listed a start time of 7; but for those who had
waited more than a decade, the notion of late was relative.
This marked the third performance of the D-Tour, which kicked
off last week in Stockholm and will also make stops in
Amsterdam, London and Oslo. That it is actually happening has
prompted amazement and delight across the music world.
D'Angelo began the 90-minute set with Playa Playa, the
first track from his second album Voodoo and a song that
comes across as both self-affirmation and braggadocio. "Play you
like a pro/And take over the show/Stick you and defeat you/Rob
you of your glow.... We're the playas number one."
In the years since Voodoo, the artist born Michael Eugene
Archer withdrew from his music career; his most notable
appearances included court on various charges of drunk driving,
drug possession and assault and a stint at Eric Clapton's rehab
facility, Crossroads Treatment Centre, in Antigua.
This was a tragedy for fans. Along with Maxwell, Erykah Badu,
Angie Stone and a few others, D'Angelo's style represented a
fresh spin on soul and a richly flavoured counterpoint to much
of the mainstream saccharine goo being produced at the time (Who
Let the Dogs Out? and Oops!... I Did It Again were
low points of 2000). Neo-soul like his could not be fudged; it
demanded vocal intensity and laying feelings bare.
His songs remain compellingly seductive today and his voice can
still stretch from hazy bass to crooning, Prince-like falsetto.
His guitar and piano chops have only improved with age.
At 37, D'Angelo's frame is thicker now, but his arm muscles cast
their own shadows and his torso is tight. Certainly, he's
refocused considerable time on his body since the infamously
bloated police shot from a few years back that bears little
resemblance to the virile, chiselled sex symbol who appeared
naked down to the v-shaped male nether region in Untitled
(How Does It Feel).
And on that note, when he teased out the first piano chords of
Untitled, it was a reminder that D'Angelo had been with us
all along, through countless romantic fantasies. To hear it live
represented a certain level of fulfilment that no other song
reached.
He brought none of his demons into Le Zénith, although he
acknowledged his absence just once and offhandedly. After
singing "Things have changed - some for the good, some for the
bad," a line from One More Gin, he shook his head and
added, "Ain't that the truth."
His fans yearned for the D'Angelo who wooed while he woo-woo'd
on his 1995 album Brown Sugar and turned more bluesy and
boozy for Voodoo. They got tastes of both but never quite
enough. For large stretches of time, he would disappear offstage
or perform from the sidelines, leaving his charismatic, cohesive
band, the Testimony, to jam in his absence.
The longer an artist stays away, the higher the stakes. It seems
D'Angelo would rather reinterpret his hits than revisit them. In
a way, this makes him like a lover who has returned but is only
willing to rekindle the romance halfway.
For the first of his two encores, he boldly covered David
Bowie's Space Oddity, infusing it with moody funk. Then
D'Angelo gifted the crowd with Sugar Daddy, one of three
new songs that, if the momentum continues, will appear on a
forthcoming album, James River.
Sugar Daddy channelled James Brown in a way that excited
some of the audience and bored others. One guy chanted "refund"
in French. That might explain why D'Angelo has opted to begin
with Europe. Once he hits North America, his comeback will no
longer be mere flirtation. |
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::ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADAN TWIST::
