Et Tu, Terence Trent D'Arby?

I'm just pissed that Alex is watching VH1 while I'm stuck in cubicle-land.

yeouch.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, Kenan, I have to work all night tonight, from 8pm to 8am.

I can't stand most of the stuff on that first album (don't have any other). But Wishing Well and Dance Little Sister are fun.

Dan, after listening to "Wishing Well" again, I have every reason to believe you ARE D'Arby. It was that "erotic images" line that settled it.

And still nobody's explained why he laughs when he says "riverboat gambler," which is nowhere near the funniest thing he says on the album.

I kind of adore that album beyond all reason.

DYLMLYS is this ridiculous pastiche of about 14 different ideas for other pop songs and perhaps a couple of advertising jingles all crammed together drunk at 4AM with lyrics that make a passing reference to TTD's g/f having daddy issues. And dragons.

Neon Messiah is organs-and-brass bombast married to college lyrics and this half-demented clav funk line. I can't decide which is more exciting, this or 'She Kissed Me' - I think NM probably loses because the ending is kind of a useless fadeout, where SKM pans and flanges everywhere while fading out. Whoo hoo, right? It works for me.

Penelope Please is worth it for one thing and one thing only -
"PEN-EL-O-PE PLEEAAASSE" *twaaaanngg!!!*
Fucking brilliant.

The second part of the album - in which TTD makes the fine decision to put all of the slow songs on tracks 10-16 and finishing with 'Let Her Down Easy' - there's a couple of things worth listening to, but on the whole, nothing beats the above, at least for my hard-earned beer money. LHDE might be a hell of a ballad and a nice narrative but EH. Pianos and storytellin' != why I buy pop albums.

TTD has his handle on a lot of great noises on this record - you can tell he spent plenty of time flipping through the presets on his synths and such, and while there aren't quite as many meaningless flourishes as I'd like on an album of this sort, there are certainly plenty of things you can't imagine hearing on another record, ever, except as a tribute or a gag. Whether this makes TTD unique or just stupid is up to you.

I'm probably going to regret this, aren't I? Fuck it.

"Wishing Well" is a top tune. I didn't care for the rest of that album myself, though I remember seeing him do the best version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" I've ever heard--of many--on telly around that time.

a) being too much of a pretty boy
b) saying that his first album was better than sgt peppers. apparently its ok for the gallaghers to talk shit about the beatles but not terence
c) supposedly being too arrogant. like thats a bad thing.

that said, he made some truly brilliant songs, some great albums (pretentiousness - whatever), and possessed one of the greatest voices of the past 20 years.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well, if i had kept them i guess i'd have to hide them in the sofa or something.

The remainder are very sillie indeed.

Hah yes, I'm pretty sure I have the 7"!

That acapella track near the end of the 1st album killed me (in a bad way). & I'd listen to Vibrator & Fishykins A LOT. Never heard Symphony.

1) is called Welcome To My Monasteryo
2) starts with the voice of sultry Terence saying the line
3) builds to a choir repeating the same line, with a diva giving it all in the background
4) is 30 seconds long

Which sets an appropriate pomposity level for the rest of the album.

xxxtra Mpls jazz punk cred: Dave King, local drummer extraordinaire (Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Love Cars, sometimes 12 Rods, FKG, shitloads of bands) drummed for TTD on tour for awhile (or at least so I'm told, but I tend to believe it)

i still have not heard symphony or damn and desperately want to

but the vinyl of hardline is really great and this album is totally a gem.

is it "underrated" if it's well-received critically but pretty much forgotten by the general public? or does that make it "lost"? or is "lost" too high falutin a term (that TTD would no doubt approve of)?"

only 12 million people bought it, but every one of them started a neo-soul band.

i love the hardline. an important part of the soundtrack to my freshman-sophomore years at college.

xpost: "Lost" works. And ITHL is certainly one of the Top 10 albums of the '80s (I'd put it in the top 3 myself). Haven't heard enough of NFNF or SOD to say anything about them, but I loved much of Wildcard!, especially "Shadows."

And I think both of these statements from the top of the thread are true:

maybe he's happy now

he assumed that, having had a hit record, he now got to do whatever struck him as interesting

And I think both of these statements from the top of the thread are true:

maybe he's happy now

How do you know that? Given comments made upthread -- e.g., ''Poor guy, when he fell, he fell hard'' -- I assumed otherwise, and felt badly about his circumstances.

Symphony or Damn was not just one of the best albums of its year, but one of the great neo-Prince records. And you can find it cheap in used bins across the land.

I agree, and it's really not my sort of thing at all.

Craig David on ITV's woeful Guilty Pleasures show on Saturday tackling "If You Let Me Stay"...oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

How do you know that? Given comments made upthread -- e.g., ''Poor guy, when he fell, he fell hard'' -- I assumed otherwise, and felt badly about his circumstances.

From what I've read in interviews over the years, he doesn't seem to mind how it all turned out or that he's not topping the charts anymore.

Lenny Kravitz kind of stole his MTV mojo.

Symphony or Damn was not just one of the best albums of its year, but one of the great neo-Prince records. And you can find it cheap in used bins across the land.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 2:03 PM

I have been looking for like a year and can't find it!

Need to keep looking I guess.

I bet you can find it for a buck or a penny on Amazon.

at last!

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/04/catch_of_the_day_neither_fish.html

The entire album is the sound of a great talent unburdened by doubt

I initially misread that.

as?

ive not kept up to date with TTD's music since wildcard (which had one amazing song what should i do, in spite of the so-so guitar solo on it) but im interested to know what hes up to these days.

I love NFnF but I work with some people unburdened by doubt and believe me it's not that great.

its not important if THEY are unburdened by doubt.

there are hints of Danger Mouse's controlled madness in the production

lol reference point

hey, dangermouse is the only black producer making any good music these days. he is the best black producer ever.

"If You Let Me Stay" is IMMENSE.

Sure is!

This album needs more love. Is good.

^^^^ Daniel, Esq. OTM

Finally got Introducing the Hardline.... "Let's Go Forward" is a jam!

The New Yorker tries to answer the question.

I still haven't listened to the new one yet (or any recent ones). Saw it mentioned the other day on this other D'arby link:

do you know Terence Trent D'Arby's current name?

i listened to it the other day! weird and fun

for a song that is essentially a 5 minute riff about getting a blowjob, "She Kissed Me" rocks ass like a motherfucker

TTD was a badass motherfucker in his prime

Symphony or Damn is one of my favorite records.

i'll need to check it out. i love dude's voice and "She Kissed Me" has been a fav since I saw it on Beavis and Butthead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmobsqVKJu8

his voice sounds so pure here

Why Terence Trent D'Arby became Sananda Maitreya: 'It was that or death'

Good story, I'm glad he's doing better.

I had this weird dream that "She Kissed Me" was a children's playground song that went something like

Terence Trent D'arby's "She kissed Me" could be reworked as a naughty kid's song

"She kissed me
(Where?)
She kissed me THERE
Like no one else had kissed me there
(Yes, but WHERE? She kissed you WHERE?)
She kissed me neath my underwear!"

Err oops didnt remove part of orig post. Bleh.

Always loved this dudes voice

The new album, Prometheus & Pandora, is a 53-track smorgasbord of rock, funk, soul, jazz and psych, “written, arranged, produced, performed & conceived by Sananda Maitreya”

Happy birthday!. He rules.

She Kissed Me is totally a fav

She put it THERE.

She kissed me there
(She kissed you where?)
Down here!
(Down where?)
ON MY FUCKIN' DICK, Jesus why you had to make me say it?!

That 2017 interview is interesting in that he doesnt blame the music press at all for trying to take him down. Nor does he cite race much. Weird that hes described as part native American and Celtic but not African American! He was a dick tbh,kind of overplaying the rock star attitude too much, but I loved his music. That second album is classic if you ask me. Intrigued to hear the 53 song double album but idk if I really have the patience.

But his interview patter is not much better. In the 80s it was all hubris and cock sure, now it's just cryptics, fogging and arcane. Idk which is better.

SYMPHONY OR DAMN is one of the very best albums of the 90's. I'd love to see a reissue of it (and his other work)

Is Introducing the Hard Line… out of print? Couldn't find it on Apple Music.

(never mind; they have it under Compilations for some reason)

i continue to listen to his new work every now and again and it always has things to recommend it and runs long.
first few albums are unassailable gold.

looks like there's a new album out next week
https://www.sanandamaitreya.com/product/pandoras-playhouse-2cd-audio/
another double.

not heard his new music since wildcard tbh.

I can recommend Return to Zooathalon

I've wondered where to start with the newer stuff. He sounds incredible on that Avalanches song.

It's about time of year for me to play "Let's Go Forward" on repeat.

Did not know he worked with the avalanches. Cool.

"Neither Fish ... " : still sounds immense.
his other major labels albums are good, but nothing comes close to the insanity of this.

the sonic insanity vs the beauty of melody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao7KFRbbuoQ

I say upthread about getting the cassette in Turkey, but more recently I got the cd of Fish and there's nothing wrong with it.

Not sure how it happened but apparently Charles Shaar Murray played guitar on four tracks on "Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby".

mark e otm. fish nor flesh is indeed very mighty and that slow jam simply rules, no matter the set. love this remark from forks as well-

first few albums are unassailable gold.

I've always felt blinded by this guy's genius and don't quite understand why others do not share the same reverence for the dude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWLG5mYFrwg

so this revive made me queue up fish nor flesh and it looks like they've retconned all the old cover art to say sananda maitreya.

and i have to say, introducing the hardline according to sananda maitreya hits way harder.

"This Side of Love" should end arguments xpost.

love this clip with arsenio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tojcW2kLWc