89. Erykah Badu, "Baduizm"

 


I know I have some pretty big holes in my musical knowledge, but it's rare that I encounter an album on here - especially since we passed, say, number 200, and have never heard a single song.  Welp, sorry, Erykah, somehow you have stayed completely off my radar until yesterday.

So it's sort of an interesting experiment!  What would someone who is truly, completely coming to an album fresh and unheard think?  The verdict is I like it!    My very first impression was "wow, she is either really trying to sound like Billie Holiday or just really sounds like Billie Holiday."  Once I did some reading I found out I was not the first person to think that.  (In fact, she "drew so many early comparisons to Billie Holiday that Badu’s publicist began asking interviewers to avoid the subject.")

The album is clearly what became known as neo-soul, and it reminded me immediately of D'Angelo and other foundational artists in the genre.  (D'Angelo's Brown Sugar had come out two years earlier.)  It's sinuous and silky and sounds easy and lithe and comforting somehow?  It's a nighttime album, and it's giving incense and red wine.  

I have a few faves.  Oddly enough, I really liked the intro, "Rim Shot," a song based around the titular sound, with a killer melody and a not-so-sly double entendre.  "Appletree" uses the tree as a metaphor for the gifts Badu can bestow on those lucky enough to receive them:

See I picks my friends like I pick my fruit
My granny told me that when I was only a youth
I don't walk around trying to be what I'm not
I don't waste my time trying to get what you got
I work at pleasing me cause I can't please you
And that's why I do what I do
My soul flies free like a willow tree
Doo wee, doo wee, doo wee

It's got a great groove and a beautiful vocal.  Of course, all the vocals on this album are beautiful; Badu is a gifted singer with a naturally beautiful voice, Billie Holiday comparisons or not.  I enjoyed listening to it, even if I don't think I'll be coming back to it a lot.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? No.

Comments

  1. StephenSeptember 16, 2022 at 2:38 PM

    I say this from a similar position of ignorance, but even so, I have real trouble believing that this album is the 89th greatest album of all time. Even if I haven't heard some of the past hundred or so, I have heard discussions of them, I have heard people talk about their merits or demerits. This comes out of nowhere. I have never seen anyone, anywhere, engage in conversation about this album's place in the musical firmament, beyond some reviews when it was released. Sure, I'm limited in scope and there may be books or chapters written about this I haven't seen, but . . . are there, really? Does a meaningful subset of the population say, "this is the greatest album ever"? I think that's got to be part of the standard this high up on the list. It should be a lot of people's all-time #1.

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