It's been 8 long years since we heard the effortless silky-smooth vocals of the handsome Brooklyn-bred crooner Maxwell, but the wait is finally over (no seriously, this time).  Maxwell's first full length LP, BLACKsummers'night, will be released July 7, 2009 and his first single—a haunting break-up ballad—"Pretty Wings" hit the airwaves yesterday.

A one minute and 30 second sample of "Pretty Wings" has been up on his MySpace page since last summer teasing his adoring fans.  The multi-platinum Puerto Rican and Haitian soul man had been missing in action until he appeared at the BET Awards last summer, sans his signature 'fro, singing an impeccable rendition of Al Green's "Simply Beautiful." That summer he went on tour without an album or single to promote and sold out 33 cities within minutes. The fans clearly missed him. At a press conference yesterday, Maxwell said, "I didn't know it was going to take so long.  But there's something to be said about being missed.  No one's going to say, 'Oh, it's you again.'"

The highly anticipate album, BLACKsummers'night is the first installment of a trilogy. The two follow-up albums, blackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT will be released in 2010 and
2011 respectively. The first, BLACK, is described as a dark soul compilation, while SUMMERS' has more of a gospel vibe and NIGHT a cool collection of slow jams. All Maxwell says he wants is for people to really enjoy his music. "I want people to be able to clean their kitchens, make love to their girl [or guy], make a baby and raise a family" with his songs as the soundtrack.  Who can be mad at that?

Check out the new video for "Pretty Wings" and let us know what you think? And tell us, what's your favorite Maxwell song and/or album?