Lady (1995)
D’Angelo burst on to the scene in 1995 with a debut album (Brown Sugar) that effectively reordered our musical palette, awakening memories of our parents’ living rooms where the stereo was always cued up to Stevie, Marvin, Smokey and company. What made Brown Sugar such a seismic jolt in the 1990s R&B landscape though was its smouldering sensuality laced with undercurrents of hip-hop’s don’t-give-a-damnedness; studious, devoted instrumentality; and an infectious commitment to the art of the infinite jam. Lady is the sister, so to speak, to the title track of D’Angelo’s audacious debut album. And whereas the latter introduced listeners to a hood Romeo on the make, Lady revels in the pleasures of a lover who’s already won the chase and whose twinned passion for intimacy and privacy takes the form of a thick, bass heavy, groove recitation. Behold the birth of neo-soul.
