Customer Reviews

New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh [Vinyl]

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Where Erykah Badu's last album "New Amerykah part 1..." was a more political and experimental psychedelic affair that had many puzzled (but I thought was a masterpiece), her new CD is more conventional, lush and soulful with live instrumentation and cerebral lyrics about love and life.

"20 feet tall" is a stirring string/piano ballad (ending with cheering sounds of children) and the soothing "Window seat" is midtempo with skeletal groovy bass (belying it's now infamous video). "Agitation" is a brief free flowing joint, "Turn me away (Get munny)" funky and midtempo, "Gone baby, don't be long" an ethereal sounding groovy song with splashings of electric guitar.

The songs have a retro seventies soul feel with nothing truly uptempo, especially a song like "Umm hmm". "Love" has a choppy groovy feel while "You loving me (Session)" is a fun-filled interlude. The groovy "Fall in love (Your funeral)" finds her warning some unlucky chap that "you don't wanna fall in love with me".

The delicate "Incense" is acoustic with electronic flourishes and hushed harmonies and features Kirsten Agnesta, and closing is the 10 minute epic "Out my mind, just in time" which starts off a Jazzy piano-driven ballad with haunting strings, meandering through various trippy tempo and mood shifts similar to "Green eyes" from "Mama's gun".

This just may be her most commercial effort since her debut "Baduizm", but still with enough kookiness to set it aside from everything else out there. Amazing!

I really love the live instrumentation.This album has a "mama's gun" feel. Its really diff from Pt 1. But still better than most of the garbage thats out today. Badu is my generations Nina, or Roberta. She is Fab a true original an artist that is her own woman.
Fav tracks include :
Window seat, Agitation, Umm humm, Out of my mind (epic 10 mins long!)
20 feet tall....I mean everthing.lol. amazing, fabulous, all around great album!!
Pt 1 is incredible to me too. This album is more organic. The other album was entirely produced digitally.

I purchased the online download and stayed up until 3am EST so that I could download it as soon as it was available. I ended up staying up longer to hear the entire album and listening to this woman is like taking a voyage in your mind. The beats keep your head noding and hips rocking. Erykah has a certain unique-ness and I feel fortunate to have an entertainer of her stature alive in my generation. If she comes to a city near you buy a ticket to her show trust you wont be disappointed I saw her in Atlanta this past fall - AWESOME show. I have listened to her since her first album Baduizm and every album since then and I will continue to listen for my lifetime.

With New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, Erykah Badu "backpedals" (not in a bad context) to the more accessible material from say her Grammy-winning, critically acclaimed Baduizm - Special Edition. No, she hasn't compromised the "weirdness" that she has always possessed that sets her apart from her contemporaries, but she doesn't go on the same tangent that she went on New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War. Personally, I thought that the first installment of New Amerykah was one of 2008's best albums, but many found it too weird and uncommercial to appreciate. Even when it came time for Grammy nominations, only did "Honey" manage a scant nomination (I believe it won) for short-form video. On this go-round, Erykah reaches out more to a slightly more mainstream audience, but no so much so that she compromises her artistry. This album wouldn't bow without controversy, following her infamous "Window Seat" video. I won't trivialize the controversy here; I'm simply here to review this excellent effort from Badu.

The album opens up left of center, typical of Badu, but more accessible than the "Amerykhan Promise" that opened up New Amerykah One. Here on "20 Feet Tall," the production is very minimalist and the lyrics repetitive, but the number turns out to be extraordinarily enjoyable and even catchy. I'm sure Badu wasn't going for Top 40 radio with "20 Feet Tall," but it is certainly catchier than anything from New Amerykah Part I. "Window Seat" is the valedictory moment of the entire album, giving Badu probably her best single in years; "Window Seat" rivals the greatness of "On & On". Sure, people may question Badu's judgement with her vigilante-styled video, but the song speaks volumes aside from such controversy. The production is simple and stripped back, but this allows Badu's unique vocal timbre to shimmer over the production. Sure "The Healer/Hip-Hop" was great, but something about "Window Seat" resonates even more. She straddles commercial and maintenance of her artistry with "Window Seat."

"Agitation" is a unique, brief cut, not dissimilar from a few of the more "out there" cuts from the first installment of New Amerykah. The cut is highly influenced by jazz as far as conception and phrasing. It doesn't make you stop dead in your tracks, but it is exactly what a hardcore Badu fan would expect. "Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)," returns Badu back to Earth (well as close as she'll ever be!) with another accessible cut. Again, it is surprising how different this set is from the last and still yields exceptional results. "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long" is equally accessible, even staying in your head after the first listen. More importantly, it is quality songwriting and an exceptional vocal performance by Badu. Even better may be "Umm Hmm," which lifts a soulful sample that enhances the entire scope of the song. The songwriting is top-notch and Badu's vocals paint the palette extremely well. "Um Hmm" is easily one of my favorite cuts.

"Love" certainly gets the listener on his/her toes from the onset - territory not unusual for Badu. After the initial "shock," an old-school soulful sample via a vamp evolves into "Love." I don't like "Love" as much as say "Window Seat" or "Um humm," but like every other cut on the album, it is 100% solid. And furthermore, it is still catchy. "You Loving Me (Session)," is all of a minute, though listening to it, you wish it were just slightly longer. Soulful production and playful vocals by Badu make this enjoyable. But she follows up with the fine "Fall in Love (Your Funeral)," another home run. Once again, Badu samples here, and the results are perfect. The use of samples in the context of this album truly cement Badu's status as a retro-/neo-soul artist as well as a proponent of hip-hop. Again, "Fall in Love" benefits from it's catchiness.

"Incense," the penultimate track, proves to be "atmospheric" in quality, mostly instrumental with only few lyrics. The effect of "Incense" is more of an extended interlude as opposed to a full blown cut. "Out My Mind, Just In Time," an epic 10:22 cut in duration closes the album. The cut opens up extremely jazzy and bluesy with some stunning harmonies within the piano. Not long after the introduction, does the production/style change once more, typical of Badu. Badu sounds perfect here and "Out My Mind, Just In Time" closes the album on a high note. It reminds me of the epic "I Want You" that closed her 2003 album Worldwide Underground.

Essentially, New Amerykah is another solid album from Badu. It is only better than New Amerykah in the sense that it is more accessible. In my mind, it is the first part's more accessible equal. Badu sounds great and while she still has her quirks, she has them more in check. This album doesn't feel overindulgent if the first one did, which bodes in her favor, controversy aside. 4 1/2 stars in my eyes.

Erykah Badu has been known to have her feet firmly planted on the ground and her head somewhere in another dimension. Even when some of her songs make me scratch my head and wonder "what the....?!" I still enjoy them for the most part. The first installment of her New Amerykah series found the singer at her most aggressive and politically charged taking on social issues like inner city crime, poverty, and racism with jams like Soldier and That Hump. Return of the Ankh, the next installment, trades in Badu's razor sharp philosophy on what's going on in the world for softer topics like love and matters of the heart. Erykah has been quite open about love on her earlier albums, but she digs deeper and allows herself to be even more vulnerable on this one.

The album opens with the too short 20 Feet Tall. Accompanied by a rocking chair and a mystical beat, she wonders why her lover has closed himself off from her. "My love what did I do?/to make you fall so far from me?.... Then you/you built a wall/a 20 foot wall so I couldnt see." Erykah wishes to escape from the daily pressures from her "music, lover, and my babies" and get "a ticket outta town/A look around/and a safe touch down" on the laidback Window Seat. I don't know about you, but there have been many moments where escapism has tempted me from facing the oftentimes stressful moments in life. But you still want someone who needs you back home to tell you to "come back, come back, baby, come back!"

Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY) could best be described as a gold digger's anthem. Using a soft, girly voice with a hopscotch sounding rhythm, Badu uses her charm to swindle a guy out of his money. She promises to "cook like your mother" and "be your best friend", but confesses "I'm your predator, hey/Cuz Munny I want you bad!" On the flip side, the airy Gone Baby, Don't Be Long is about being so in love with a new flame that you don't want him out of your sight for a second. "Where you going why don't you stop?/Baby, what's the rush?/You got me feeling like a girl with the fiendish crush/Where you go, where you go, boy, I miss you much!" "But I know you gotta get your hustle on" (a nod to The Otherside of the Game).

Love reminds me alot of the last scene in Crooklyn with the old footage of the Soul Train dancers. I'm not sure what song it samples, but it's reminiscent of James Brown's old school dirty funk. "Never ever met a lover quite like you/Thought I fell in love with Superman, it's true/Kryptonite can't make you come up off that thing/Baby, baby, I'm about to go insane!" That's about it as far as the lyrics are concerned, but it's hypnotic and holds my attention all of it's 6 minutes and 2 seconds. Erykah's verses vibe perfectly with another old school sample as she asks a man who shuts her out when it comes to his feelings to open up to her on the soulful Umm Hmm. The jazzy You Loving Me (Session) is much too short. With lyrics "too terrible to write" in the booklet, Badu sings about a man so blinded by his love for her that he ignores her constant cheating and disrespectful behavior. Amy Winehouse would probably give it two thumbs up.

Fall in Love (Your Funeral) is a warning to any man out there that if they want to get with Miss Badu they'll have to meet her standards. "It's gonna be some/Slow sangin' and flower bringin'/If my burglar alarm starts ringin'!" She'd much rather you "go back the way you came" if you can't handle it. The overused sample of Eddie Kendricks' Intimate Friends sound fresh on this track. Rather than being in the forefront, it blends in with the background for a more understated feel. Agitation is a short Stevie Wonder inspired interlude and the instrumental Incense features a dreamy harp and some heavenly vamps from Badu.

Out My Mind, Just in Time recalls Green Eyes from the Mama's Gun LP. At first a "recovering undercover over-lover/recovering from a love I can't get over", she wrestles with the grief the end of a love affair often brings. By the end of the song she finds the strength to move on and grow from the pain. It's not as good as Green Eyes, but I give Erykah credit for bringing something new to the subject rather than rehashing or copying her older material. Love. Sometimes it makes your heart burst with pleasure or tear in shreds from an attack, but we'll all feel it at some point. One thing's for sure, Badu's interpretation of it never stales.

A while back, Miss Badu explained to her audience about a 'cipher'; 360 degrees, in one of her earlier albums. Return of the Ankh, 4th World War pt. 2 is such a cipher; she has definitely returned to her genuine neo-soul roots: Funky rhythms, throwback grooves reminiscent of the '70's. Thought-provoking, introspective lyrics infused with a little humor.
I disagree with those critical of the first part of her journey into New Amerykah. Part 1 was militant, strong and intriguing. Actually, I prefer it over Part 2. Old girl had a lot to say in Pt. 1 and I enjoyed the trip, raised fist and all. I think she did an excellent job of showing us how this New millennium America, looked an awful lot like the America of the middle/late 70's - same social ills, same stagnant, anti-this and anti-that attitudes.
I've waited patiently for Part 2 and it was so worth the money. However, I hope Miss Badu will continue to experiment and push the envelope as she did in Pt. 1. We need our consciousness raised a little more.

This album (along with New Amerykah P. One) gives me hope that R&B music can still be saved from the ravages of soulless commercial music that will soon be found in some $3 bin at your local eXchange store. Seriously, why the fire and brimstone are artists content with aiming for 24th street when they could just as well shoot for the lunar module. Come on! "20 Ft Tall" is just wow. You sit and listen and you're like "This is kind of misty" but it draws you into the fog. And "Window Seat" is just thoughtful and amazing. It makes a path through the sonic beauty into other pieces. And how can one listen to "Incense" and not get taken into the transforming power of music ambrosia? 50 years from now the lunar colonists will still be humming to some of these tracks on their intra-wave sonic distributor. Can you say that about some other people's stuff today? Uh....Thought so. Peace within my fellow Amazon music reviewers.

Erykah Badu is my favorite artist. I always have nothing but the best to say about her. She has her own style and swagger. Keep up the great work, this is a slamming CD.

This is a must buy. If you are an Erkyah Badu fan then you will definitely appreciate the groove, the lyrics, and the overall consistency in her ability to deliver 'Great' music. If you are not a fan, this CD will make you one.

Erykah Budu has returned with a classic album. New Amerykah Part Two: The Return of the Ankh so far in early 2010 is the best album the year. While other R&B/Soul artist are releasing "safe albums" in the Recession Era(Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, and Usher). Ms. Badu is a musical visionary challenging herself and her listners to expand their musical horizons in sounds and expressions. Unlike the first installment Part One: 4the World War which musical content was more sociopolitical and took Ms.Badu back to her Hip-Hop roots. Part Two takes Ms. Badu back to her soul and jazz roots. This CD is a must have. I hope it inspires other artist of today to take chances in their music. Thanks Erykah: The Queen of Neo- Soul!
Songs to check out:
1. Gone Baby, Don't Be Long (Should be the next single off the CD. A cool and sunny October feeling in the city).
2. Window Seat {A Spring banger for your car).
3. Out of Mind, Just in Time (Billie and Ella would be proud).
4. Turn Me Away (Get Munny) (A Summertime banger,check out the original by Sylvia Striplin ).
5. Fall In Love (When love is intoxicating yet deadly.Samples Eddie Kendricks "Intimate Friends").
6. Umm,Hmm (That feeling when you are in love).