Details
Track Listing
1. Life
2. Half a Man
3. Don't Look Down
4. Clinic
5. My Mom
6. Safe & Sound
7. Cheap Excuse, A
8. Hangover Number Five
9. Hangover Number Nine
10. Stupid Again
11. It's All Good
12. (Untitled) - (Hidden Track)
Album Notes
BLACK MUSIC is an Enhanced CD featuring both a full audio program as well as multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Marc Anthony Thompson, Abe Laboriel, Jr., Chris Wood, Marc Ribot,
John Medeski, Marc Batson, Jamie Muhoberac, Curt Bisquera, Greg Arreguin, Young Douglas Bowne, Karl Berger, Jane Scarpantoni, Mark Feldman, Kysia Bostic, Lydia Kavanaugh, David Torn, Melvin Gibbs (vocals, various instruments).
Producers: Marc Anthony Thompson, Abe Laboriel, Jr., Craig Street.
Engineers include: John Hanlon, Roger Moutenot, Mon Agranat, Danny Kopelson,
Tom Dekort.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Singer/songwriter Marc Anthony Thompson's latest incarnation as Chocolate Genius finds him creating a blend of music that is a strikingly distinctive amalgam of rock and soul. BLACK MUSIC sounds more like something from the 70's than the 90's. Offering a unique and winning combination of sensitive alternative-soul and straight ahead pop/rock, the album sounds like The Wallflowers meeting Al Green. In his songs about love, torment, failed relationships and lost opportunities, Thompson hits the listener with uncompromising lyrical visions set to dreamy music. Some of the tracks that stand out are "Clinic," "Half a Man," with its catchy Hammond B-3 tones and "It's All Good." BLACK MUSIC will shock you with its breath of fresh air in the stale, smog-filled atmosphere of R&B. This album rocks, rolls, drags and sleeps all at the same time.
Industry Reviews
Included in Vibe's Essential Black Rock Recordings.
Vibe (02/01/2002)
...brave, unflinching songs that confront uncomfortable themes...simply but not simplistically...
Mojo (09/01/1999)
...Marc Anthony Thompson--the man behind Chocolate Genius--is a first-rate downer-rock stylist in the tradition of American Music Club. His soul-touched voice and smartly anguished lyrics make MUSIC one of the year's best bummers. - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (08/07/1998)
8 (out of 10) - ...BLACK MUSIC is more rock-and-soul noir than jazzy avant-pop....Thompson's album comes across as a series of short stories, or--befitting his Obie-winning theatrical background--as skits...
Spin (07/01/1998)
3.5 Stars (out of 5) - ...It's that raw, blues-drenched soul you grew up on, delivered in the Genius' honest, gritty voice--he sounds a bit like Lou Reed. Unlike most black music, BLACK MUSIC ain't about makin' you dance...
Rolling Stone (09/17/1998)
3.5 Stars (out of 5) - ...It's that raw, blues-drenched soul you grew up on, delivered in the Genius' honest, gritty voice--he sounds a bit like Lou Reed. Unlike most black music, BLACK MUSIC ain't about makin' you dance...
Rolling Stone (09/17/1998)
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