Maxwell - Blacksummers'night

Maxwell. What can you say? He brings it again for a short but truly talented album. My only complaint is that it was seven years and there are only nine songs....well ten if you count the Pretty Wings remix. But this is the first album of a trilogy of albums....so lets hope the others have more songs. This does seem to be a dark deep album so maybe thats why its only nine songs. Each song does say something...if you are listening. The fact that he used a real band definitely ups the quality and creativeness of the album. Mad props for doin that. Not too many people do that these days. You must watch the commentary that came with a limited amount of the CDs. That will give a lot of insight into what this cd is about and where Maxwell was coming from. I always like to hear that....I'm always curious as to what the artist are thinking about when they are creating.

When I first got the album I wasn't immediately blown away. I like it...just not blown away. But each time I listen to it I like it more and more. The commentary helped some but actually sitting down and listening to the words, music, arrangements, etc. did the trick. Let me start with the first single Pretty Wings. This song is one of the most perfectly arranged and complete songs I've ever heard. I really have to listen to that song more than once when I hear it. Then there's the new single Bad Habits....classic Maxwell. I think my favorite song is Love You. The drums, piano and organ help Maxwell make his plea to a woman to "let me love you now". To me this song's upbeat temp is like the key ingredient to this album. The placement of it right in the middle makes it like the glue holding the album together. But I don't mean to take anything away from the other songs at all. Songs like Fistful of Tears and whoa....Stop the World. Drawls should come off when you play this one fellas. Turn this song on and let Maxwell sing em right up out the drawls....ha.

This has quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year....and I'm ready for the rest of the trilogy.