Five years after his
Brown Sugar
album helped launch contemporary R&B,
D'Angelo
finally returned with his sophomore effort,
Voodoo
. His soulful voice is just as sweet as it was on
, though
stretches out with a varied cast of collaborators, including trumpeter
Roy Hargrove
and guitarist
Charlie Hunter
, fellow neo-soul stars
Lauryn Hill
and
Raphael Saadiq
, and hip-hop heads like
DJ Premier
,
Method Man
&
Redman
, and
Q-Tip
. It must have been difficult to match his debut (and the frequent delays prove it was on his mind), but
is just as rewarding a soul album as
's first. ~ John Bush