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Jun 29, 2016It exudes enough confidence to let his heart show and to let his music grow in any direction his muse demands.
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UncutAug 5, 2016The breadth, scope and sheer suppleness of black SUMMERS'night makes one wish Maxwell worked a whole lot faster. [Sep 2016, p.76]
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Jul 27, 2016Very few albums are worth such a long wait, though, but blackSUMMERS’night is one of them--it’s an album that should live forever, purely because it sounds so detached from time.
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Jul 1, 2016His deeply felt meditations on matters of the heart and the soul are matched by the meticulously detailed, gorgeously rendered music that surrounds them.
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Jul 1, 2016Maxwell’s transcendent falsetto and the soulful jazz, electronic and soul arrangements need no cohesive story line to make them resonate.
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Jul 1, 2016While the album is not as fluid as BLACKsummers'night and has a couple frayed ends, it includes a high quantity of open-hearted ballads and variable-tempo jams that sparkle with indisputable power. Each one is supremely sculpted. Their decreased vocal smoothness and increased rhythmic friction are major factors in the set's allure.
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Jul 12, 2016The album may be musing or abstracted, but that’s his hallmark, and blackSUMMERS’night is polished to a blinding sheen.
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Jul 1, 2016His most consistent set since his debut, Urban Hang Suite, in 1996. Maxwell anchors the cloud-eating sweep of these tracks with solid guitar and bass hooks.
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Jun 30, 2016The Grammy-winning soul man is a subeditor’s nightmare, but confusion seems a small price to pay for such a classy comeback collection of anguished R&B.
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Jun 29, 2016His fifth studio album, second in a scheduled trilogy of albums and first in seven years. Yet here we are, with tracks evoking previous efforts while remaining fresh to the ear.
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Jun 29, 2016So assured of its luxuriance that it clocks in at a trim 46 minutes, blackSUMMERS’night nonetheless leaves one sated. This distillation is purest Maxwell.
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Jul 5, 2016He is subtle rather than strident, sensitive rather than demanding.
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Jul 14, 2016This is still an intrinsically Maxwell record, but he navigates familiar tropes through friction and distressed noir-soul, the cohesiveness of the record all the more commendable as a result.
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Jun 30, 2016blackSUMMERS’night may not be a fully satisfying meal, but there are enough tasty morsels to leave us craving for the final one-third of the trilogy.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 38
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Mixed: 2 out of 38
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Negative: 2 out of 38
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Jul 1, 2016
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May 8, 2022Here he goes again ,coming with some prestine R&b that serenades and comforts you with its crooning. He stands unmatched yet again.
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Sep 9, 2016