""How does it feel?" D'Angelo asks that question - worries it, caresses it, plumbs its unseen depths - no fewer than two dozen times in what might have been his signature hit. A meticulous, slow-to-boil ballad from the R&B singer's 2000 album "Voodoo," "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" is basically a seduction in seven minutes: The song opens with D'Angelo asking a woman to come closer, which because the groove is so spare and his voice such a murmur, she can't help but do."
"D'Angelo, who died Tuesday at 51, made soul music for three decades in that tender and attentive spirit. His song "Brown Sugar" catalogs the pleasures of a partner's body; "Really Love" contemplates the not-especially-sexy reality of long-term coupledom. In "Lady" he's exhausted his ability to keep secret his relationship with a woman he knows "every guy in the parking lot" wants to steal from him."
D'Angelo died at 51 after a three-decade career making tender, sensual soul music. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" is a meticulous, slow-to-boil seven-minute seduction that repeats "How does it feel?" many times and builds from a spare groove and murmured voice to grittier singing, graphic lines and cascading electric guitars before cutting off abruptly. Songs such as "Brown Sugar," "Really Love" and "Lady" examine physical pleasure, long-term intimacy and possessive desire. The recorded output includes three LPs plus live cuts and loose tracks. Performances highlight tight harmonies, murky electric piano and intricate percussive interplay.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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