In the two decades since Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father there have been a host of pretenders to his throne, among whom Maxwell is potentially the best. Potentially since, 13 years after Urban Hang Suite, the Brooklyn man's impossibly gorgeous debut album which charted a relationship in its entirety, he has yet to equal its poetic pillow talk, lavish orchestration and sweat-free delivery. Sonically, his followup, Embrya, oozed class plus, in an abject bid to denote depth, a slew of song titles (Gestation: Mythos/Everwanting: To Want You to Want – and that's just one track) that would have been rejected by Rick Wakeman for being too overblown.
Which isn't a charge that can be levelled at Blacksummers' Night, apparently the first in a trilogy of albums, and markedly more direct than the arcane Embrya. So much so that the sentiments are, by and large, trite, from Stop the World's "When I'm here with you the world stops for me" to Pretty Wings' "Your face will be the reason that I smile". And yet Maxwell's voice is so unusually rich and supple that at best, as on the mercurial Bad Habits, you cannot help but disregard his fondness for cliche. Backed by a 10-piece band – whose presence underscores his kinship with the Al Greens and James Browns of this world – he is fi rst lascivious then full of regret, the song's abrupt mood changes echoing his state of mind. Equally memorable is Phoenix Rise, an instrumental that, strangely, recalls Detroit techno re-imagined by a young Quincy Jones.
All told, though, Blacksummers' Night lacks the imagination of Maxwell's
1996 debut. "I can be anything want me to be," he proclaims on Love You, a track that's as old school as its title intimates. Truth is, while his honeyed tones merit adoration, he is more soul purist than intrepid chameleon.
Download: Bad Habits; Phoenix Rise.
