ERYKAH BADU Vinyl & CDs

Review: Erykah Badu remains one of our favourite all-time artists and one of the greatest voices in neo-soul even though these days she never actually releases much music. Along the way from the 90s onwards though she dropped a superb run of albums including the still astonishing debut Baduism and New Amerykah series. This part, part one, subtitled Fourth World War, gets the reissue treatment courtesy of Motown and features plenty of Erykah's dark and trippy vocals, smoky soul sounds, candle-lit atmospheres and thought-provoking lyrics.

Review: Erykah Badu remains an absolute badass but the fact she doesn't release much music anymore is very frustrating. She single-handedly defied the neo-soul sounds of the 90s with a superb run of albums as good as any artist in any genre. This one, New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), was her fifth way back in 2010 and as always it has soul to spare and a loose structure that placed you right at the centre. 'Window Seat' is one of the standout singles of many that were produced by various top talents including J Dilla, Madlib, Questlove and more.

Review: Erykah Badu tops up her patented purple vinyl reissue series, which she's slowly been building up over the last few years. Taking influence from hip-hop, jazz, R&B and art rock, the album 'But You Caint Use My Phone', originally released in 2015, dealt with the challenges of dealing with quiet-storm emotion in an isolated digital age. Prescient for the post-COVID era, this remaster and reissue is just as well-received for missed Zoom calls as it is for missed Nokia bells.