'Rising from the dead' would be one (incredibly cliched) way of describing muscular soul dude D'Angelo's 2015. But it could be construed as accurate, for even by a holy fella's standards, he's enjoyed a pretty remarkable resurrection over the last year or so.
In December 2014 he released Black Messiah, an album that while not arriving wrapped in hubris, came 14 years after its predecessor and with enough sass, charisma and funk to allow even his most ardent fan to forgive him for the delay. How come it had taken so long? Well D'Angelo has been through the bloody mill mate - there have been deaths, drug taking, binge drinking, doughnut eating - pretty much owt bad that could happen to a gent happened over the preceding years, meaning its amazing that Black Messiah is as ace as it is. It also meant that the Roundhouse was cheering him on despite being an hour and a half late for his Monday night showing at the start of July.
Late he was but thankfully, he was willing to wave aside the curfew to play on and on, plucking hits from his previous releases, Brown Sugar and Voodoo. He might not have been as ripped when he stripped off for the Untitled video but he and his band The VanGuard came packing some serious heat a la prime time Prince or the Roots without the jazz interludes. We were so impressed that we even bought a t-shirt off a man outside for a fiver, summat we haven't done since we went to go and watch the Verve at Manchester Apollo almost 14 years ago. Swings and roundabouts as some (might) say...
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