Description
D’Angelo, born Michael Eugene Archer, is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Richmond, who admired Prince and possessed a rare talent that rivals his own. This powerful pro-shot compilation features television appearances, live footage, and interviews from his debut album, “Brown Sugar,” and his second album, “Voodoo.” While the footage has been remastered, some of the footage suffers from artifacts due to the master recording. While the album primarily features performances of “Brown Sugar” (the Apollo Theater performance of “Brown Sugar” freezes for a second or so), the 1996 BET Studios Washington, DC footage offers a glimpse into D’Angelo’s early live performances. The opening is a highly eccentric opening, featuring a Do Funk intro from the 1973 Mandrill cover of “Fencewalk.” And then there’s Linwood Rose’s performance: this band is incredible. Watch the setlist and be blown away. Then there’s the Stevie Wonder cover with Tony Rich, a neo-soul musician who emerged around the same time as D’Angelo. D’Angelo sings “Superstition” and Tony sings “Living For The City,” singing a simultaneous mashup. They also sing “I Wish” with exquisite interplay. Truly talented. If you’re looking for a dream band performance, it’s the New York live performance with David Sanborn and Friends. Prince has covered both “Sunshine Of Your Love” and “Use Me,” and I’m sure he was heavily influenced by their performances. D’Angelo is the front man on “Use Me,” and Prince never sang with such a backing band; in fact, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to. Prince is Prince, and D’Angelo is D’Angelo. D’Angelo’s solo on “Star Spangled Banner” and “I’ve Been Trying,” where Clapton and D’Angelo share the vocals and play guitar and piano, are also moving. The press kit for “Voodoo” (a collection of videos and other materials required by media personnel for interviews and article writing) features a memorable clip of Clapton expressing his shock upon hearing “Spanish Joint” and saying, “I can’t take it anymore, is everything else like this?” The quality of the footage isn’t particularly impressive, but it adds to the historical and cinematic feel. BET’s Behind the Scenes program features some pixelated noise. The BET interview features a slightly lower-quality, but still excellent, live performance of “Send It On.” His performance of “Chicken Grease” is enjoyable compared to his performance on the Chris Rock Show. Both are super funky and comparable. D’Angelo’s performance of “Devil’s Pie” erupts into insanity at the end, but Shelby Johnson’s (later NPG girlfriend) backing vocals are equally insane. An MTV Live interview shows D’Angelo working on the music video for his Prince cover of “She’s Always In My Hair.” However, it was shelved. And at the Madison Square Garden concert, I’m delighted to see them perform songs from “Voodoo,” as well as the incredibly cool “Sex Machine,” which includes an exquisite break and synchronized dance with Tom Jones, and another dreamlike group, “Every Breath You Take,” centered around Sting, who also joins in with D’Angelo, making for a very moving performance in which they pass the parts of each song together like a baton. Brown Sugar Era ●ABC In Concert 1995 Interview ●It’s Showtime At The Apollo December 2 1995 Brown Sugar Cruisin’ ●Late Night with David Letterman January 31, 1996 Brown Sugar ●VH-1 Fashion Awards October 26, 1996 Brown Sugar ●BET Studios Washington DC 1996 Fencewalk [Mandrill] Intro Sweet Sticky Thing Jonz In My Bonz Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine Cruisin’ Lady Brown Sugar ●Linwood Rose on Chris Rock Show February 14, 1997 Bring It On Home To Me Lady Fire Gospel Rave Up (Linwood Rose = D’Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Questlove and Chalmers “Spanky” Alford) ●Stevie Wonder Tribute with Tony Rich at the Grammy Awards February 26, 1997 Intro Superstition / Living For The City I Wish ●NY with Eric Clapton and David Sanborn & Friends December 14, 1998 Sunshine Of Your Love Use Me (David Sanborn & Friends = Marcus Miller, Ricky Peterson, Gene Lake, Don Alias & Dean Brown) ●Madison Square Garden – Evander Holyfield vs. Lenox Lewis boxing match March 13, 1999 Star Spangled Banner ●with Eric Clapton at Curtis Mayfield Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction March 15, 1999 Intro I’ve Been Trying Voodoo Era ●shot in Havana, Cuba 1999 Voodoo Electronic Press Kit ●Video Music Box – Behind The Scenes (November 6, 1999) Left & Right ●BET – Behind The Scenes Left & Right video shoot Lady (Remix) (music video) interview ●BET interview Send It On interview Chicken Grease ●Behind The Video Untitled (How Does It Feel) ●Chris Rock Show October 8, 1999 Chicken Grease ●Tonight Show with Jay Leno March 6, 2000 Untitled (How Does It Feel) ●with Beyonce ●live on MTV Movie Awards June 3, 2000 Intro Devil’s Pie ●2000 MTV VMA Best New Artist Commercial ●MTV Live interview ●VH-1 Men Strike Back ? ●Madison Square Garden April 11, 2000 Intro Left & Right Send It On Untitled (How Does It Feel) (with Tom Jones) Sex Machine (with Tom Jones) Every Breath You Take (with Sting, Enrique Iglesias, Tom Jones, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and Sisqo) Pro-Shot 162min.






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