Review Summary: D'Angelo's classic debut album Brown Sugar ushered in the neo soul era in the nineties. The album is consistently solid and has some iconic tracks.
D'Angelo's Brown Sugar is his debut LP that came out in 1995. This album is credited for sparking the neo soul movement in soul music. Brown Sugar was well received by the public and put D'Angelo on the map musically. D'Angelo played, wrote, and produced most of the album.
The album consists of ten neo soul tracks spanning approximately fifty-three minutes. One of them is a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'". My favorite tracks of the album are "Brown Sugar", "When We Get By", "Alright", "Lady", and "Jonz In My Bonz". The title track is a smooth midtempo jazzy funk record about a girl with whom D'Angelo is "making love constantly". The song begins with organ playing and then the drumbeat kicks in. The organ continues playing sporadically throughout the record. D'Angelo sings the verses in his normal voice and ad-libs with falsetto. I love the chorus where D'Angelo and his background vocalists continuously repeat the line "I want some of your Brown Suga". "Brown Sugar" is one of D'Angelo's most iconic tracks. "Alright" is a thumping funk record about a girl that D'Angelo is dating. The songs starts off with some nice guitar playing and then the thumping bassline kicks in. D'Angelo hits his high notes and then starts singing the verses in his normal voice. The background vocalists and D'Angelo harmonize really well. The last ninety seconds has some nice keyboard and guitar licks. "Jonz In My Bonz" is another midtempo drum-based funk track. D'Angelo's voice is slightly distorted. For most of the song D'Angelo sings "said I got a jonz in my bonz" and "on and on and on...". There is only one verse at the beginning of the album. "Lady" is another classic neo soul track with a clap as the drumbeat. The song starts off with a funky bassline, which switches up temporarily in the middle of the song. The keyboard instruments are played sporadically as a background instrument until the middle of the song. D'Angelo sings in his normal voice about his girl being the talk of the town. "When We Get By" is a jazzy piano-driven ballad. The song starts off with jazz drums playing a simple swing beat that continues throughout the song. There are some beautiful piano licks played throughout the song. Horns are added sporadically for spontaneity. There is a beautiful saxophone instrumentation that comes in near the end of the song. D'Angelo sings in his beautiful falsetto for most of the song.
The other four cuts on the album are: "Smooth", "Higher", "Sh**, Damn, Motherf***er", and "Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes". "Smooth" is a Spanish-flavored funk track with beautiful keyboard instrumentation. In the chorus, D'Angelo sings about a girl who is "so smooth" that D'Angelo can't keep his cool around her. "SDMFer" is a song about a guy who is sleeping with D'Angelo's girl. The rest of the lyrics are quite shocking. I commend D'Angelo for having the guts to write a song like this. "Higher" is a really cool neo soul ballad with classic D'Angelo vocals. There is nice guitar instrumentation in the last half of the song. "Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes" is a nice soft neo soul track that is definitely filler, imo. Has some nice guitar instrumentation in the second half of the song.
A fantastic debut album that really set the foundation for later music to come. The album has a really cohesive, stripped down funky sound.
