Search - Maxwell :: BLACKsummers'night (CD/DVD Deluxe Edition)

Thank the stars for REAL MUSIC!

La Shon | Chicago | 08/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oh how I have waited for someone of the proper caliber to bring it! This album takes you on a journey that leaves you wanting more. As always, the vocal arrangement fills your heart, the melodies grabs your ears and you are lost. Lost in a world of...real instruments being played (gasp) and actual vocals that haven't been auto-tuned (shock). Young ears today might not be able to appreciate all this plus ACTUAL LYRICS that tell a story worth listening too! If you can catch him live, OMG you will NEVER be dissappointed I assure you.



His debut was a smash success, the sophmore set is my favorite, the 3rd I had a few gems, but this 1st installment of the 4th...yes, yes YES. Make you do that ugly face like you tasted something sour and bob your head to those beats.



Whether you feel the revelation of Pretty Wings or the humanity of Help Somebody. Whether you know the addiction of Bad Habits or the pleadings of Playing Possum, this 1st installment will get to you one way or another. Of all 9 tracks, I have no favorite because this is, dare I say, no PROUDLY STATE, a SOLID ALBUM.



Real music, unfiltered, somebody take notes and teach the babies. I had to testify."

Maxwell In The Middle

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 07/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Striking the right balance between what's typical and what's important about music has long been a quality that I've long saught out in R&B especially in the last couple decades.During the 90's I have to admit I ignored Maxwell.It had nothing to do with the fact there was any problem I had with his music but at the time I was deeply interested in the meaningful musical adventures of EWF,P-Funk,Stevie Wonder,Prince,etc.Those who were going for appealing to that musical aestetic by embracing those sounds into the contemporary musical ethic wasn't of much interest to me.Only recently as that style of neo soul has had much appeal to me.Naturalness in music is all well and good but,in the salad days of funk and soul things like futurism,reverb and such were an important factor in that rootedness. That was one of the reasons this album drew me on.For one,it was recommended by my friend who as always has helped put some perspective into my musical journey.Also...I really wanted some Maxwell in my collection.So I made the leap.And what do I think?Well musically this music is impressive in a number of important ways.For one it has the great quality of brevity;it clocks in at under 40 minutes in an age when everyone still is tempted to fill every bit of space on a CD.Also there is the fact that Maxwell and his band,even if it took close to a decade have been able to successfully utilize the newer computerized technology and some of the complication of hip-hop rhythms into the same groove from which it came-back to the funk."Bad Habits" and "Cold",for starters have this terrific interaction between bass,organ,horns and the polyrhythms of the drums into this series of intertwining dynamics that brings out the intensity and emotional honesty of the lyrics."Pretty Winds","Playing Possum" and "Fist Full Of Tears" are able to put a similar approch into somewhat slower tunes,a quality I always saw in Prince in past years."Love You" is just one of those great songs with a beat that's involving;in a day when the big beats derived from the 80's have become almost too big to hold themselves up here you have a DRIVING beat that isn't complicated but turns your head and a melody that drives the point home.The really impressive part to me is the closer "Phoenixrise".It's an instrumental,that in itself is a head turner on a modern R&B album but the fact that it puts up to date digital polyphonic synth washes with these jazzily funky polyrhym that extends back to the futurism of funk instrumentals during the mid to late 70's:taking the modern sounds of the day and intergrating them successfully into the context of rooted rhythm.And it's good for his band too because as Maxwell is continuing to develop he's having his musicians join him on the same journey. Those admirable qualities aside I have only one minor issue with this:the simple fact that Maxwell's softer singing voice seems rooted primarily in slow tunes. Sometimes when the tempo goes up his voice almost blends into the mix rather than elevate up with the dynamics of the music surrounding him.True it's a distinctive technique in a way but with the passing of Michael Jackson,a singer rooted singing uptempo material and could pack a wallop on the softest of ballads it makes me remember how "naturalness" in singers has almost eliminated that particular quality from contemporary R&B. At the same time even with the vocals quality not being that punchy this album is something that I highly recommend based on it's creativity of sound and inventiveness."