Four years after his multi million selling debut, Terence Trent D'Arby released an album that was pilloried by most of the press for being overly indulgent and pretentious. To a certain extent it is both of these, but it is also an album with many moments of terrific songwriting and a hugely diverse collection of songs. Humility was never one of his strong points, and in his own mind he appears to think he was some sort of Brian Wilson genius, which of course he wasn't, but his throw everything in the mix approach paid dividends on a much underrated album. Nowhere near as immediate as his debut, it is worth persevering as the more you listen the better it gets. You get some funk, some soul, some blues, some rock, some acapella, put it all in the blender and you have an album that was ahead of its time and showcased the vision and talent that he possessed. Self-produced, self-arranged and self-written, one thing it is not is dull.
You Will Pay Tomorrow
Strangely Scott I have been thinking about Terence Trent D'arby today and about this follow up album and how it pretty much bombed. I'd never heard anything from it until now
ReplyDeleteHi CC, I think it is a really good album. If you ever see it in any charity shops it is well worth picking up. He may have been arrogant but he did have a fair amount of talent to back it up..
ReplyDeleteI'll keep my eyes peeled Scott
DeleteI have heard the 1993 album Symphony or Damn quite a bit through the years because my wife has it. There are a couple of songs on there I liked as well, particularly She Kissed Me and Do You Love Me Like You Say? I do seem to know some songs from the album you're highlighting, and I always liked the soulful I'll Be Alright. Great horns. The song you chose is really good too. You're right though... it's getting passed him that's the problem, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHi Brian, I really like Symphony Or Damn. She Kissed Me, in particular, is a great song. I just think he had a very overinflated opinion of how good he was. He was good, but he ain't no Brian Wilson.
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