Terence Trent D’Arby ‘Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby’

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#915 in the Series) is Terence Trent D’Arby, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby.

Terence Trent D’Arby arrived on the scene in 1987 and found immediate success.  This album, his debut, peaked at #4, TWICE! His second single “Wishing Well” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.  He won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Then…. Not much.

He would never see success like that again.

That first album though is definitely worth looking back upon.  The first single was my favorite on that disc. That was the hard funk of “If You Let Me Stay.”  I don’t think anything on the album came close to that track.  The third single was also a good one. That was “Dance Little Sister.”  “Dance” peaked at #30.  The next track pulled for a single was “Sign Your Name.”  Another success as it reached #4.  All told, five singles were released from this album, “Rain” being the fifth.  By the time “Rain” was released the disc started running out of gas. “Rain” did not chart at all.

At this point, Columbia Records was hardly complaining.  Introducing The Hardline eventually went on to sell 12 million units. This would be one of the most successful debuts of all time.

The second album was called Neither Fish Nor Flesh. It would be released two years down the road and peaked at #61.  No singles would reach the Top 40.

That was pretty much it for Terence.  He would release two more albums for Columbia, Symphony or Dam and Vibrator.

He eventually would change his name to Sananda Francesco Maitreya. He’s still recording. You’ll just have to look harder to find his music.

I don’t know if it was radio programmers tiring of TTD or if he lost inspiration. For a few years he was putting out some of the best music around and should feel no shame for his career.

Track listing

All songs were written by D’Arby, except where noted.

Side One

1. “If You All Get to Heaven” – 5:17
2. “If You Let Me Stay” – 3:14
3. “Wishing Well” (D’Arby, Sean Oliver) – 3:30
4. “I’ll Never Turn My Back on You (Father’s Words)” – 3:37
5. “Dance Little Sister” – 3:55

Side Two

1. “Seven More Days” – 4:32
2. “Let’s Go Forward” – 5:32
3. “Rain” – 2:58
4. “Sign Your Name” – 4:37
5. “As Yet Untitled” – 5:33
6. “Who’s Lovin’ You” (William “Smokey” Robinson) – 4:24

Personnel

• Drums, Percussion: Terence Trent D’Arby, Preston Heyman, Clive M’Ganza, Frank Ricotti, Bruce Smith
• Bass: Cass Lewis, Sean Oliver, Phil Spalding
• Keyboards: Terence Trent D’Arby, Nick Plytas, Andy Whitmore
• Guitars: Tim Cansfield, Pete Glenister, Christian Marsac, Blast Murray, Andy Whitmore
• Saxophone: Terence Trent D’Arby, Mel Collins
• Backing Vocals: Lance Belington, Frank Collins, Terence Trent D’Arby, Glenn Gregory, Tony Jackson, Phil Legg, Michelle Oldland, Ebo Ross, Trent Tones, Martyn Ware

Links

• See more albums that we’ve featured from 1987
• If you like Terence Trent D’Arby, then check out these!
• Official Website of Sananda Maitreya
• Listen to Introducing the Hardline via the Cool Album MySpace Page

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