D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ Gets Special Zoetrope Vinyl Release For 25th Anniversary
The late singer’s classic sophomore LP won two Grammys.
The late D’Angelo released his celebrated neo-soul epic Voodoo album in January of 2000. An anniversary celebration will feature a new release of the 2LP, highlighted by a zoetrope design.
Each side of the double-vinyl set has a different design, incorporating elements from D’Angelo’s brilliant career like music videos, album design, and lyrical content.
Voodoo is widely hailed as one of the most important albums of the 21st century. After its release, Voodoo topped the Billboard albums chart just two weeks later, won two Grammys, achieved platinum status, and produced one of the sultriest hit singles of all time with “Untitled (How Does it Feel),” thanks in large part to its iconic video.
Last year, Rolling Stone unearthed audio from a D’Angelo conversation that took place in 2015. In the chat, the singer born Michael Eugene Archer discussed how Voodoo was inspired by the disappointment he felt after releasing his debut, Brown Sugar.
He explained, “Brown Sugar, in retrospect, it’s a great album, but I wasn’t that happy with it. I thought that a lot of the demos felt and sounded better to me that I had done in the crib on a four-track. We had to reproduce that in the studio. I felt like it was overproduced. So my main motivation with Voodoo was for it not to feel like that, for it to feel more like my demos had felt.” The raw immediacy of Voodoo is one of its most celebrated qualities.
He also spoke about expectations going into his third LP, the long-anticipated Black Messiah from 2014. He said, “Voodoo was and is what it was. It’s dishonest for me and unfair to me to think I’m gonna outdo that, so I won’t even attempt. I just wanted to make sure it was the next step in my progression. To break something down to its more essential core — that too can be evolution.”
