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95 Live: Listen to Rare D'Angelo Tracks from 1995

Welcome to 95 Live, where once a week we'll revisit a day in music history from -- you guessed it -- 1995, the year the Essence Festival premiered. Today, we revisit a new project full of old tracks from D'Angelo.
95 Live: Listen to Rare D'Angelo Tracks from 1995
D’Angelo Live in 95
By Essence ·
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Twenty years ago, D’Angelo performed songs by Smokey Robinson, Earth Wind and Fire and Al Green at a cafe in London. This week, the universe has blessed us with a recording of this rare, live performance.

Live at the Jazz Café, London: The Complete Show, was released Tuesday by Virgin Records. It contains several covers originally performed in 1995, as well as five unreleased songs from D’Angelo’s critically acclaimed debut album, Brown Sugar. There’s even an extended version of “Lady.”

The year 1995, of course, was the beginning of what widely became known as the “neo-soul movement.” D’Angelo was at its helm with the release of Brown Sugar, and you know the rest of the story: Essence Fest favorites Eyrkah Badu, Maxwell, Jill Scott and several others followed suit, giving us some of the best music of the decade.

Check out two tracks from the album here.