D’Angelo‘s game-changing 1995 debut album Brown Sugar is set to be reissued as part of UMe’s Vinylphyle series. The LP, which helped pioneer the neo-soul movement, includes the smash hit title track, “Lady,” and “Cruisin’,” which is a cover of the classic Smokey Robinson track.
The release features new liner notes written by Jason King, longtime music scholar, journalist, and current dean of USC’s Thornton School of Music.
While each song on Brown Sugar has its own analog mix reel, the album was digitally assembled for final CD and vinyl mastering for its 1995 release. For this new Vinylphyle reissue, UMe made new all-analog, machine-to-machine 1/2” 30 IPS production masters for each side from the individual mix reels. Those tapes were sent to Joe Nino-Hernes and were used to cut this LP.
D’Angelo wrote and recorded much of Brown Sugar by himself, handling a plethora of instruments on the LP. The album was released when he was only 21 years old. The late R&B superstar cited artists like Prince and Lenny Kravitz as inspirations for the record. “Prince is extremely soulful, but he can get real rock-‘n’-rollish. So can Lenny Kravitz,” D’Angelo said in a 1996 interview with Interview magazine. “I’m making black music. That’s the only outline for me, really. That’s the only boundary to stay with. It’s soul music. I’m going all out in those terms.”
Brown Sugar received four Grammy nominations, including for Best R&B Album. It also preceded 2000’s Voodoo, which is widely considered one of the most accomplished albums of the 21st century. D’Angelo took an extended hiatus before his triumphant return arrived 14 years later when he shared his third and final LP, Black Messiah. The singer tragically died 11 years later, in October of 2025.
