Whatever happened to... Maxwell?

Nice review Alfred but I learned a lot more from the comments section than the actual review itself.

I did too and am putting that plan into action.

It's up on Apple Music and... oh my god is it sensational

Went looking for this at Target today; they had a spot for it on their new releases endcap but no actual copies. Maybe I'll be able to find it in NYC tomorrow. I hear tell they still have some actual record stores there.

i'm finding it less immediate than the last album but it ends really strongly

Feels even busier and richer than its predecessor on my first listens; it's gonna take some spins to sort out everything happening on some of these songs. "Hostage," "Ocean" and "All The Ways Love Can Feel" are the ones that floored me immediately.

It's much more upbeat and less remorseful than the last one. I do miss some of the melancholy but that's just preferential b/c this is really hitting the spot, too.

also man the drummer can get some

"Gods" and "Lost" are as straightforward as he gets.

also man the drummer can get some

the "drummer" is alternately hod david, mark colenburg, and jermaine parrish (plus stewart matthewman plays drums on his two tracks). when i talked to maxwell he implied he also played some of the drums but i can't detect that in the liner notes

but yeah they can all get some

Kinda fascinated by how many demons and anxieties hide in the shadows of even the more uplifting songs here. Interesting balances between light and dark all around

yeah imo it *feels* more upbeat but in its heart it is not

e "drummer" is alternately hod david, mark colenburg, and jermaine parrish (plus stewart matthewman plays drums on his two tracks). when i talked to maxwell he implied he also played some of the drums but i can't detect that in the liner notes

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson),

he's not credited on instruments -- demos maybe?

makes me wonder what's his primary instrument? Also, I get the impression that he isn't a lyrics-only songwriter -- he and David write everything, right?

yeah I too wonder and prob should've asked but i was just sort of stunned by his answer about drumming (I was specifically curious about whether chris dave is on this record and he's 100 percent not)

damn what kind of reporter are you

a music writer

First listen right now. I didn't preview any of the pre-release songs past 'Lake by the Ocean' and '1990x' so I wasn't really ready for how spaced out and layered this thing is. About half of it is very reminiscent of Embrya. And lyrically, jeez. This probably just edges out Now to be his most introspective album.

Just one listen, but I can already say this is a much "deeper" album than BLACK was. That one probably has the better highlights, but overall, SUMMERS' feels like the more consistent work.

BLACK had a "Bad Habits" on it, and this one doesn't. But "Lake By The Ocean" is every bit as good as "Pretty Wings," and that's no small feat

this is really gorgeous

So here's a really fucking nerdy story...

Last night I needed to rip blackSUMMERS'night into iTunes. And I figured while I was at it, I'd rip its predecessor, BLACKsummers'night, as well. Well, it turns out iTunes isn't particularly case sensitive where album titles are concerned, and it thought they were both the same album. My first thought was that I'd insert the years of release, like so: "BLACKsummers'night (2009)", "blackSUMMERS'night (2016)". I've done that in the past when artists had multiple self-titled albums, e.g. "Elvis (1955)", "Elvis (1973)". But that looked shitty, so what I finally ended up doing was going into the Sorting field and changing the titles there. So BLACKsummers'night is sorted as "Black", and blackSUMMERS'night is sorted as "Summers." Isn't that exciting?

Ahh, that's a really good solution to that problem, Don! I had entered them as different discs, as in BLACK was disc 1 of 3, SUMMERS' was 2 of 3. But I think I like your way better.

i think i must've listened to "hostage" 15 times in a row last night

great track. last 90 seconds are sublime

"fingers crossed" feels like a sequel to "love you"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cted2PiWcAEUHW4.jpg

The vinyl version of this looks/sounds/is beautiful.

This record is growing on me every bit as much as I could have hoped. One of the best of the year. I don't know how I didn't even notice "Lost" until recently.

seems like a lot of r&b albums getting more end of the yr love than this which is a shame

yeh just like all his albums its grown on me w every listen

Let's just hope that blacksummersNIGHT becomes the consensus AOTY in 2023

the second half of this album comes alive in a way the first half doesn't really for me - I start off being disappointed that it's just delicately pretty background music, and only feel immersed/captivated towards the end

"III" is the only track I dismiss thanks to that keyboard. The album's going in my top ten.

but the horns in that one

well, the horns in all of them. ecstatic punctuation

submerge, dang, I can hardly breath listening to it

what an album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAkhdXHQ_G0

lovely stuff

Well that's goddamn fantastic and a half.

Wow.

Whoa, didn't expect that!

Feels a bit Prince-like

yep that was my first thought. p killer

odd how it's presented as almost secondary to the music video or short film or whatever (which is a tidal exclusive i think??) when the video is just 'fine' and the song stands v well on its own

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PmTnCboNFc

video went on vevo yesterday

That is stunning. What an incredible vocal performance.

Also this

https://www.rollingstone.com/maxwell-glass-house-video-w521716

(A review rather than an interview, but more details about the filmmakers etc.)

i'm pretty late getting into Maxwell, but he's great. i don't have much to add beyond that right now!

the best

I almost feel like that's cheating since the rest of us have to wait YEARS between scraps.

lol otm

I can empathize my Spotify went offline for a minute earlier and the wait between Now and BLACKsummersnight was excruciating.