Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is the debut album of American recording artist Maxwell, released on April 2, 1996, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during 1994 to 1995 at Electric Lady Studios, RPM, Sorcerer, and Chung King Studios in New York City and CRC Studios in Chicago. The album contains a mellow, groove-based sound and incorporates elements of funk, jazz, smooth soul, and quiet storm. A concept album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is composed of a song cycle that focuses on an adult romance, which Maxwell based on his own personal experience.
After being shelved for nearly a year, due to label issues and record executives' doubts of its sales potential, the album was released to considerable commercial and critical success. Despite an initial lack of mainstream interest, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite experienced a boost in sales with the help of the single "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", and within a year it had sold one million copies. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised it as a departure from the mainstream-oriented R&B of the time, and it earned Maxwell several accolades and comparisons to soul singer Marvin Gaye.
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite had a considerable impact on Maxwell's career, helping elevate his reputation to that of a sex symbol and a serious performer on the music scene. Maxwell has been credited with shaping the "neo soul" movement that rose to prominence during the late 1990s. Along with D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (1995) and Erykah Badu's Baduizm (1997), Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite has been recognized by music writers for providing commercial visibility to neo soul. It has been cited by critics as Maxwell's greatest work and remains as his best-selling release with domestic shipments of two million copies.
Read more about Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite: Background, Recording, Songs, Release and Promotion, Commercial Performance, Critical Reception, Track Listing, Personnel
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“Hey, Steve, can a woman go nuts from gettin’ sawed in half too many times?”
—Griffin Jay, Maxwell Shane (1905–1983)
“The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap. But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of art. Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban forms condition mind.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“Swans moulting die, snow melts to tears,
Roses do blush and hang their heads,”
—Henry Noel, British poet, and William Strode, British poet. Beauty Extolled (attributed to Noel and to Strode)