Et Tu, Terence Trent D'Arby?

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Watching the video for "Wishing Well" by D'Arby on Vh1 Classic right now, and am struck by how many moves he cribs from Michael Jackson. Not that I hadn't seen it before, but it never seemed as blindingly obvious to me as now.

Despite this, what a tragic trajectory this man's career took, eh? What went wrong? How could he have started out so promisingly and blown it all to hell as he irrefutably has?

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

maybe he's happy now

stevem (blueski), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

it's an interesting case because what he seems to have wanted was to become Prince without first establishing a five-LP-deep back catalogue that cemented his credentials: he assumed that, having had a hit record, he now got to do whatever struck him as interesting

J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

he was rumoured to have been lined up to replace Michael Hutchence at one point i seem to recall

stevem (blueski), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah, he has been touring the Southern Hemisphere with REM, or INXS, whichever it is.

Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Didn't he say that the first album was better than anything the Beatles had ever done?

teeny (teeny), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, he did. Or maybe it was his second album he was talking about. Either way, word has it he was a real prick.

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

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

he had that decent song a little later... about a girl doing something: doing this, doing that, something something?

david day (winslow), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

"She Kissed Me" yeah, that was OK.
ooo... boy, though, that Vibrator record was the biggest used bin filler since jesus jones, though.
And a song called "Supermodel Sandwich" is bad enough, but further down that record... "Supermodel Sandwich w/ Cheese"

yeouch.

david day (winslow), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

i think there was a thread about this recently,but terence trent d'arby is someone whose name i have heard numerous times,but (to my knowledge)i've never heard a single thing by him...

robin (robin), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

He has a new album out right now, which has been getting mad propz from, erm, S1m0n Pr1c3. He's also changed his name to Sananda Maitreya, which is apparently Buddhist for "saviour of the universe".

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Okay, NOW he's Prince. Which would also explain S. P.'s love of him. ;-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

you probably heard sign your name (across my heart, i want you to be my baby..etc)

bobo t, Thursday, 24 April 2003 16:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

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

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

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 24 April 2003 17:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Wishing Well"'s on my walk-to-work mixtape this week and I've really been wondering why the hell he laughs after saying "riverboat gambler." Is there a reason?

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.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 24 April 2003 17:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

You don't like "Sign Your Name"?

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 24 April 2003 17:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

it's okay. For me, overemoters like D'Arby (and Christina Aguilera) always work better on dance numbers.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 24 April 2003 17:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

I just saw in the Village Voice that he's touring!

lil, Thursday, 24 April 2003 21:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah i actually do know that song!
nice work...

robin (robin), Thursday, 24 April 2003 21:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Anthony, you are crazy. That entire first album is genius! "If You Let Me Stay" = PURE CLASS.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 April 2003 21:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

He has aged remarkably well.

maria b (maria b), Thursday, 24 April 2003 22:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

"If You All Get To Heaven" was pretty great too.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 25 April 2003 00:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Like I said, the entire first album is genius.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 25 April 2003 01:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

The a capella number? yeesh! I like the implication that crazy people DON'T enjoy "Introducing The Hardline..."

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.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 25 April 2003 20:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

You guys know that one or two members of Essential Logic produced/played on the first TTD album, right? "Wishing Well" has more postpunk indie cred than you'd think.

mike a (mike a), Friday, 25 April 2003 21:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

The a capella number is "As Yet Untitled" (and is also godly).

I kind of adore that album beyond all reason.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 25 April 2003 23:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

(Also Anthony, that's possibly the COOLEST thing anyone's ever said about me.)

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 25 April 2003 23:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

I really really like "This Side of Love".

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 25 April 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Let Her Down Easy" = one hell of a ballad. Thanks to Fred and Dan for noting this.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 26 April 2003 00:03 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...
I'm listening to Symphony or Damn for the first time in nearly a decade and I must say this record is every bit as terrifically insane as I remember it being. I mean this fucker is WEIRD. Honestly, getting a live-in studio and writing & producing this record himself was NUTS. Which is exactly why I adore this album. "She Kissed Me" is a classic single, given, but listening to "Penelope Please", "Neon Messiah", and "Do You Love Me Like You Say" I'm beginning to think this is one of the best purchases I ever made as a clueless 14 y.o. It's certainly aged extremely well.

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.

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 23:01 (twenty years ago) link

I was very, very tempted at the time to get this album, but opted to get the "She Kissed Me" cassingle instead. Still tempted. Chris Rock once said that he'll play TTD for people all the time and they'll be like 'ohmigod who is this? this is incredible!' and then he'll tell them it's TTD and they'll look at him like he replaced their regular coffee with Folger's or something. I remember the single (or the video at least) for "Dance Little Sister" being different ('rawer') than the lp version - confirmation anyone?

James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 9 June 2003 04:57 (twenty years ago) link

Wildcard! is great but it would be even greater with approximately 30 minutes hacked off.

Andy K (Andy K), Monday, 9 June 2003 11:20 (twenty years ago) link

Strangely, I thought about TTD yesterday, and decided I was going to get Symphony or Damn myself. I have Neither Fish nor Flesh and think it's kind of a failure, but a very interesting one.

Sean (Sean), Monday, 9 June 2003 14:03 (twenty years ago) link

I fully endorse "Symphony or Damn" myself...I found his Whitman-loving weirdness very appealing, at that point, and he sings the hell out of those songs ("Succumb to Me" is particularly great,) which forgives the occasional (or more-than-occasional) drippy production-move.

"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.

M Specktor (M Specktor), Monday, 9 June 2003 14:52 (twenty years ago) link

eleven months pass...
terence got fucked over by precious and stupid rock journos for:

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.

thesplooge (thesplooge), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

neither fish nor flesh also had some undeniable knock out songs, honest to god!

thesplooge (thesplooge), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:37 (nineteen years ago) link

He's also changed his name to Sananda Maitreya, which is apparently Buddhist for "saviour of the universe"

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

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 22:40 (nineteen years ago) link

oh man why did i sell all my ttd records?

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

amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 03:39 (nineteen years ago) link

but you could still play them when noone was around or scratch the labels off the records and pretend it was someone else.

yeahyeahyeah (yeahyeahyeah), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 11:42 (nineteen years ago) link

I bought a cheapie cassette in Turkey of "fish/flesh". The good/great songs are the ones not "produced by TTD/all instruments TTD".

The remainder are very sillie indeed.

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 11:49 (nineteen years ago) link

i guess it's hard to live with cds that you know are gracing every cut-out and discount bin in every record store in america. (or even the "three CDs for $10" bin in every used record store.) poor guy, he fell hard when he fell.

amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 17:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I am probably alone on this, but "It's Been Said" from the Vibrator is one of my most favoritest quasi-slow-jams ever.

Jay Smooth (jsmooth995), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:11 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, see there was good stuff on those later records (although often there would be some kind of spoken-word break or silly instrumental passage that would blunt the impact; that's what happens when you have a runaway ego i guess).

amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link

six months pass...
Terence Trent D'arby (now Sananda Maitreya)is terribly underrated. He's a very talented singer-songwriter-musician. Introducing the Hardline is incredible, one of the best debut albums ever. The whole album is great, especially "Sign Your Name", "Wishing Well", and "Dance Little Sister".

Leelee, Monday, 29 November 2004 02:49 (nineteen years ago) link

but does anybody remember The Incredible E.G. O'Reilly?

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 29 November 2004 09:29 (nineteen years ago) link

four months pass...
"wishing well" and "sign your name" are both fantastic, after all of these years!!

Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 05:37 (nineteen years ago) link

Hell, even "Symphony or Damn" has its good points.

Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link

but does anybody remember The Incredible E.G. O'Reilly?

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

OleM (OleM), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 06:42 (nineteen years ago) link

People should track down the Dance Little Sister 12" -definite JB rip down to the distinct pt. 1 pt2.

Jedmond (Jedmond), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 12:53 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm getting ghost goosebumps thinking about "Sign Your Name".

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.

David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

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.

Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 12 March 2008 08:27 (sixteen years ago) link

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, 12 March 2008 14:03 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 16:11 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 16:13 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Joseph McCombs, Thursday, 13 March 2008 06:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Lenny Kravitz kind of stole his MTV mojo.

Eazy, Thursday, 13 March 2008 06:19 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 13 March 2008 06:20 (sixteen years ago) link

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

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Thursday, 13 March 2008 07:03 (sixteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

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

I initially misread that.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 18:28 (sixteen years ago) link

as?

elan, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 18:29 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 18:32 (sixteen years ago) link

its not important if THEY are unburdened by doubt.

titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 18:37 (sixteen years ago) link

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

lol reference point

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link

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

titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 21:17 (sixteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

"If You Let Me Stay" is IMMENSE.

Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 07:58 (sixteen years ago) link

Sure is!

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 12:45 (sixteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

This album needs more love. Is good.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 05:08 (fifteen years ago) link

two years pass...

^^^^ Daniel, Esq. OTM

I just like… I just have to say… (Starts crying) (DJP), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 20:03 (thirteen years ago) link

two months pass...

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

The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 8 July 2011 01:47 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

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?

curmudgeon, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 14:23 (ten years ago) link

i listened to it the other day! weird and fun

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 June 2013 15:00 (ten years ago) link

three years pass...

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

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 02:39 (seven years ago) link

Symphony or Damn is one of my favorite records.

the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 02:41 (seven years ago) link

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.

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 02:43 (seven years ago) link

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

his voice sounds so pure here

waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 February 2017 02:45 (seven years ago) link

seven months pass...

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

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

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 5 October 2017 17:01 (six years ago) link

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!"

fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Thursday, 5 October 2017 17:58 (six years ago) link

Err oops didnt remove part of orig post. Bleh.

Always loved this dudes voice

fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Thursday, 5 October 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link

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”

Eazy, Thursday, 5 October 2017 18:09 (six years ago) link

three years pass...

Happy birthday!. He rules.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 01:36 (three years ago) link

She Kissed Me is totally a fav

Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 01:59 (three years ago) link

She put it THERE.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 02:36 (three years ago) link

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?!

Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 02:37 (three years ago) link

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.

candyman, Tuesday, 16 March 2021 07:16 (three years ago) link

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.

candyman, Tuesday, 16 March 2021 07:18 (three years ago) link

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)

beamish13, Tuesday, 16 March 2021 17:03 (three years ago) link

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

edited for dog profanity (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 17:07 (three years ago) link

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

edited for dog profanity (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 17:09 (three years ago) link

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.

G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 17:28 (three years ago) link

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.

candyman, Tuesday, 16 March 2021 17:41 (three years ago) link

I can recommend Return to Zooathalon

G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 17:55 (three years ago) link

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

swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 21:59 (three years ago) link

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

swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Tuesday, 16 March 2021 22:00 (three years ago) link

Did not know he worked with the avalanches. Cool.

candyman, Tuesday, 16 March 2021 22:41 (three years ago) link

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

mark e, Thursday, 18 March 2021 22:52 (three years ago) link

the sonic insanity vs the beauty of melody

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

mark e, Thursday, 18 March 2021 22:54 (three years ago) link

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.

Mark G, Thursday, 18 March 2021 23:06 (three years ago) link


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