Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

look if you can't get laid when you put on "Sign My Name" on the stereo then man you just can't get laid.

THIS IS THE BIGGEST, MOST IMPORTANT ALBUM SINCE SGT. PEPPER! I HAVE TALENT THAT HASN'T BEEN UNEARTHED SINCE MOZART! These were among the things Terence Trent D'Arby was openly proclaiming to the press upon this album's release. Then he backed off a little saying only, "I made the most brilliant debut album from any artist this decade.” After he faced a backlash for making such bold statements, he claimed he was joking. I don't think he was joking. He may not have made Sgt. Pepper, and he may not have been Mozart, but dude was immensely talented. And he wasn't really wrong about that last statement suggesting this was the best debut album of the decade. He reminds me of someone else who released an equally brilliant debut album around the same time: Nenah Cherry. Both D'Arby and Cherry should have been colossal stars. They both should have soared to the heights that say George Michael and Whitney Houston reached. But they both sort of fizzled out after their debuts (my theory is a lot of that stems from the fact that neither of them were really all that interested after their debuts). It's too bad, but at least we have the albums, which remain timeless and belong in the upper tier of this list. Somehow, Lenny Kravitz ended up having the career and fame that should have been Terence Trent D'Arby's. I'll take "Wishing Well" over "Fly Away" anytime. In fact, I'll take anything from this album over any Kravitz record. Lenny is no Terence. Lenny doesn't have anything that compares to "Dance Little Sister" or even "Seven More Days". D'Arby was just ahead of his time. I doubt his bold proclamations would have caused such an uproar had this album come out 20 years later (see: Kanye, among others). I "only" gave Nena Cherry's entry 4.5 stars, and immediately kicked myself for not giving it the 5 it deserved. I'm not making that same mistake again. Apparently, Terrence Trent D'Arby legally changed his name to Sananda Maitreya back in 2001, claiming TTD was dead. He's wrong. Terence still rules. And Wishing Well will outlive us all.

I fucking hate 80’s production. The chime-y keyboards, the shit sounding drums drenched in reverb. It’s amazing how dated and of-their-time these songs sound because of awful production choices. I don’t know how artists listened to the records they were making back then and thought, “yes, this will be timeless…the coats of synthetic sheen we’re applying to our records will surely sound just as good 30 years from now as it does today.” Records like this don’t sound like they were made by humans. They sound like they were manufactured in a factory…like it’s not music, it’s a product made of plastic. I can’t divorce my feelings about 80’s production from the actual music. 2 stars, because there is probably a pretty good record buried underneath all the bullshit here.

This album is real good. I think it's "Soul music" according to wiki (but I'm not in familiar territory here). Terence's voice is incredible and always turned up to 11; he's just constantly putting in energy and effort. The songs are varied and moving but sometimes have fun melodies like in "Wishing Well" and "Dance Little Sister". My favourite one is probably "Seven More Days", coz he really pushes his voice in that one. I like every song to be honest. Sometimes the repetition is a bit frustrating (like in "Let's Go Forward") but I think that's a trait that's pulled from gospel music so I'll accept that as a stylistic choice on his part. Besides, he has a beautiful five and a half minute acapella track ("As Yet Untitled") with zero repetition so I suppose he's really covered that basis of variety. And he ends the album on a really cathartic 6/8 song that makes me wanna slow dance ("Who's Loving You"), which I really dig. There's nothing that musically interesting about it, but it's an awesome ending and Terence's voice sort of explodes into each line.

It is rare for me to hate hi-nrg pop sound, and fortunately, this is not a member of that club. What is rare is for me to enjoy 80s soul music. This guy does not rival Prince or Michael Jackson, despite what his ego claims. Yet these dance tracks are funky and employ great use of synths and instruments, creating a distinctive 80s sound all throughout while at the same time holding an identity of its own. I did think the choice of the intro song was a weak choice, but almost all the songs were solid (I'm looking at you, "As Yet Untitled"), and it ended satisfactory. I may relisten to this if I'm looking for 80s soul that is not one of the big boys.

A little disappointed that this wasn't funkier. 7

I get the sense much of this is directly addressed to black people--"dance little sister", "get up off that rockin' chair grandma", "pray for me", "don't give up your birthright"--a feeling reinforced by the way hooks emerge from D'Arby's heartfelt well-wishing. Not as pop device but as a way of unifying people through repetition focussing mental and spiritual faculties. [Something here about the oral tradition]. Just as the drums traverse the spectrum from filler match to main event, his voice traverses the spectrum from rough to honeyed so that, in a way, it feels like he's not only speaking to his audience but for them--in *their* voices. There are a few overstretches and misfires, but his spiritual generosity is catching, so I'll go high.

Extremely 80s and not in a good way.

This was not for me..I wish it had stayed in the 80s where it came from.

Unremarkable, but also not my taste in music.

I don’t like Prince’s production. I think that his production of instruments falls flat, it all sounds a bit hollow, a bit too muddy, a bit too artificial. I love everything else about Prince’s music, the instrumentation, the songwriting, the voice. Prince is one of the great artists of the late 20th century, of all time. It’s just a shame that his production sounds so relatively weak. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world. We have an R&B singer and songwriter, with a divine voice and just a classic sense of cool, regarding everything from his look to his songwriting. No, it isn’t Prince. It is Terence Trent D’Arby. This album is a masterpiece. It has everything, great music, great songwriting, great vocals. There is hardly anything on this album that could not be described as great. I came up with the Prince introduction because I thought it would be a fun way of mocking the album for it’s similarity to Prince, if it turned out to be bad. But it didn’t. Which is probably a massive dunk on me as a music critic. But I don’t see this as a negative. This is inspired by Prince, no doubt, but because of that it is still really, really good music. Possibly even better than Prince, because the production is better. It’s really a shame that the guy seems to have fallen off. Based on the music on his Debit it feels as if Trent D’Arby really should have taken off more. Bit at least we have Introducing The Hardline, which really is perfect

I really enjoy The Hardline 5.0. The addition of Gen-X Davey is a huge positive and allows Bob and Corby to stay in their respective lanes. Hot dog. Best track: As Yet Untitled

i enjoyed a lot of the instrumentation in this but was otherwise kinda just like: well that sure is 80s music that sounds like other 80s music. 2.5

Nice voice, cheesy music

I know this guy's talented, and the songwriting isn't bad, but man I wish 80's production like this could just be wiped from the earth never to be heard again. Honestly takes any existing credibility to a song and just fucks it up once I heard those stupid-ass gated drums and cheesy synths. As other users said, who the fuck thought we'd come back to this and think it was actually well done? Talent like this deserves better, and at this point in this list I've had it with the 80s BS, I'm not playing nice anymore. 1/5.

Very 80s. I can see how people would've dug it at the time but it's just aged really poorly, and without the nostalgia connection it isn't really my thing. Dude has a good voice though.

I didn't really care for him when Wishing Well was all over the airwaves, and I don't care for him much now. He's got a soulful voice that got ruined by '80s production. Most of what I heard here sounds like what would later go on to be the Dave Matthews Band. Do with that what you will.

there’s something about 80s soul music that hits hard for me and idk why

yes

I always thought Terence Trent D’Arby (or Sananda Maitreya as he is known now) was an absolute poseur and Prince wannabe. I expected to hate this But I was wrong This is absolutely fantastic. He has a terrific voice and the songs are amazing Rain is the only dud on an album of killers A most surprising 5 ⭐️ album

Ich kannte nur "Sign your Name" und war mehr der Hithörer in den 80iger. Jetzt habe ich dieses Album mehrmals angehört und finde, es ist ein großes Album. Beginnt fetzig cool und hört a Capella auf. Das sagt schon alles. Mega

Ok I didn’t know what to expect but whatever I was thinking has been exceeded! This album is everything I love about r&b/soul, it’s a genre that lends itself to creativity and can be easily blended with other genres. That was on display here and so much more.

Love this album. Brings back such good memories.

This is why I like this list. I have never heard of this artist and I'm blessed with this banger of an album. Fantastic all around. Seven More Days is probably my favorite, but everything here is enjoyable.

Another album I wasn’t expecting much from… I like Wishing Well and that’s all I knew. Turns out this album kicked ass and I loved it. What a fun era for music and he sounds great

Somewhere between Sade, Michael Jackson and Prince, we find this little gem. This album is soulful, atmospheric and with a sleek production that'll make anyone in LA blush. The only reason why I am not instantly in love with this thing, is because it is not quite what I feel like today. But I give this 4.5 stars and keep it in my back pocket for a sunny day BBQ. Note: If you ever want to hear how cool a really stupid easy guitar part can sound, the intro to I'll never turn my back on you is it.

Probably the definitive 80's soul album.

Few Albums have moved me like this one.

It's a hard one to judge this as it's bound up with so many memories- good and bad. Everyone loved this guy and his music. I don't know what happened but for a brief time he had the world. It's so smooth and 80s but just so so so gooooood......... If you weren't there you'll hate this!

pretty good

What a debut. Some amazing R&B here

This is a grower. When it came out I thought yeah it’s good. But decades later it’s a bit ahead of its time and has incredibly great songs. Finally a must listen. 4.5

I can spontaneous remember "wishing well" - a cool song; Soul +pop +80s - Hey Mr List, thanks for transporting all the walkmen owners back to those 80s parties! I’m having fun before even hitting play! Will the whole album cut it? Lets see... Ok. Verdict? This is some soulful sexy sh*t. And don't miss him as a Micheal Jackson copy just because for the first few tracks - there is something different here. Even better than expected - standouts are superb: *****Wishing well, *****Sign your name, (how did I forget pure sex soul & cool 80's ) plus the spatial stereo affects?=makes me almost laugh out loud. But its sexy cool, like Axel F, right ?) ****and I also like the last track where he really launches it. We called that “raunch” Scorching in places. Why didn't he continue? I looked him up. OK, quite on ovulation for me to catch up. I do hope to enjoy his voice again, and enjoy his maturation and what looks like a massive stylistic evolution. A surprising 4-5, rounding up, as i DO want to hear dis more

I really wasn’t expecting give this 5 stars, but it’s honestly just really enjoyable pop music, even if the claim of being the best album since Sgt. Pepper’s. Just a nice treat from the generator - kind of like Rio, except I would have never listened to this otherwise.

cool

Loved his voice, the songs- feel Bad that he fell off my radar.

"Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trend D'Arby" was a tremendously brilliant album back in 1987 and is still—an easy 5 Star.

Oh so good!

Silky Smooth

I saw him at the launch of this at Oxford Street Virgin Megastore. He was brilliant 🤩

Holy soul! If You Let Me Stay sounds so familiar especially the backing baseline but I can not figure out if I know it from a cover. That album was powerful. Such impressive singing by him and the backing choir on a few of the songs made it even more epic. The horn usage I'm a bunch of songs really added some great elements as well. A few of the songs were a bit slow for me by themself but they added greatly to build up some of the more intense songs. This worked perfectly with the last two songs. I was between a 4 and a 5 here but I'm going to give it the step up because I think it was a pretty special album

Really enjoyed every track actually!

L'r&b poques vegades ha sonat tan potent. Amb els anys Samanda passaria per vàries turbulències personals i professionals, pero el seu primer i tercer disc són dels millors treballs dels 80 i 90 respectivament. En aquest, singles tan imbatibles com 'Sign Your Name', 'Wishing Well', 'If You Let Me Stay' o 'Dance Little Sister' es barregen amb album tracks gairebé igual de recomenables com 'Seven More Days' o 'If You All Get to Heaven'. Una meravella sense moment dolent que mirava de tu a tu a les grans obres d'aquells anys dels seus rivals artístics Michael Jackson o Prince

Really enjoyed it!

Wow. He has a great voice, and there's a dark strength to this album. I really enjoyed it. I'm saving this to my favorites list.

1 cos researching the artist they sound like an annoying asshole and this album is such mediocre 80s pop music that them being a dick immediately brings it way down. Them claiming this was the most important album since Sgt Peppers is so funny lmao

Yeah this was an enjoyable listen all the way through. Very good stuff Stand out songs: - Dance Little Sister - Who's Loving You

I loved this album when it was first released. His soulful voice and catchy melodies... nearly everything is perfect here (though Dance Little Sister and As Yet Untitled are kind of duds to me). An incredible release. What I remember most about this album is how bad the follow-up was. Terence Trent D'Arby is my vote for the artist that fell the furthest from Album #1 to Album #2. Still an amazing release.

One of the weirdest things in pop music history. One of the best singers of the last 35-40 years makes, out of the blue, a smash hit debut album second half 80s (8M copies sold): this album which contains several great songs, including two absolute classics, and is nearly perfect in terms of production and flow.. .. then has some moderate European success a couple of albums later down the line (with songs just as strong as his debut modulo "Wishing Well" & "Sign Your Name").. ...and then changes his name, and just disappears to Italy, where he regular goes on tour, while all the time releasing 75-min to 3-hour albums, most of which could have easily been cut down to 3*-4* albums of 35-40 minutes. It is a bit of a mystery why in 1995 the Vibrator tour (with a great band with amongst others, Kevin Wyatt) did not put him back on the map - just listen to the impressive live version of "Let Her Down Easy" recorded in London '95 on Youtube. ..or not? -> check a 2017 Guardian interview or Nick Duerden's Exist Stage Left...

Music is treasure because it evokes memories both remembered and forgotten. 1987 was a magical year for me and this album evokes that magic. Love it.

The rest of the album is much better that the top 40 hit "Wishing Well:

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: If you all get to heaven, If you let me stay, Dance little sister, Seven more days, Rain, Sign tour name, Who’s loving you

Okay daddy

Muy muy fresco Me ha gustado mucho

A fantastic album.

I love this album, there isn’t a bad track on it and it flows from track to track. It’s been many years since I last listened to it, it’s now on my repeat playlist 5/5

Brilliant - what a voice! At least 7 world-class songs on this album. Shame he went nuts after it.

p584, 1987. 5 stars. 2022-01-25 1980s electro soul. Great voice, catchy hooks, great songs. Production a bit dated - cheesy synths - but still excellent and still sounds great today. I'd forgotten what a great album this is.

Ok...so...Im shook. I have two songs, of course they were all over radio but I never listened to the album. This is surprisingly good. I mean really good.

Loved it! Keep in rotation!

Потрясающе!

This one, damn, van mijn sokken geblazen. Putting it on the Vynil buying list.

Giving it a 9 for now, but I didn't really get to focus on it properly because I was playing with excel. Will revisit.

Introducing The Hardline According to Terrence Trent D'arby - Terrence Trent D'arby (1987) Certainly very verbose in terms of both its album and track titles, I feel like if I were to reference the full titles for some of this I would be stuck writing war and peace. I had some initial worries that I wasn't gonna have the best reaction to this album after the songs that followed the opening (Surprisingly, they are some of the most popular on the album, am I a contrarian or just retarded?). But no this album was mostly consistent with its quality output. I definitely had more of an inclination towards the funkier sides of the album. But even the more sombre tracks were awesome. A very nice surprise Highlights: If You All Get to Heaven, I'll Never Turn My Back on You, Dance Little Sister, Seven More Days, Sign Your Name

So I can recall Terence Trent D'Arby exploding into the charts with this album and its accompanying single, Wishing Well, and I can remember his voice. However several decades further on, and I think I'd qualify my enthusiasm by noting that the music hasn't perhaps lasted as well, and he does tend to over do the vocal gymnatics. But what happened to him after this album? I played this album three times this morning, and at times it felt like I was listening to Heaven 17. Then I looked at the Wikipedia page and saw that Martyn Ware produced nine tracks (and Glenn Gregory provided backing vocals for one of those. So there you go. In rating this album, I note that this isn't really the sort of music I'd really want to play, but I think it's a polished debut. Perhaps a little too polished.

Prince comparisons Deserved as they wail and write Poppy, rock ballads

Wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did tbh. The production might be very of its time/dated, but he really makes it work! Not quite a 5 for me, but I'd go 4.5... Fave tracks - "Sign Your Name" is the only one I recognized and it is indeed a hell of a track. "If You All Get To Heaven" is a great opener. "Seven More Days" stood out, and "As Yet Untitled" was positively spine tingling.

It's now called "Introducing The Hardline According To Sananda Maitreya". I owned this one back in the day, hard to believe it was so long ago. He hit the scene and everyone thought he would go on to be a huge star, that never happened. Cool voice (Sam Cooke-y at times), good vibe & look for the time, and some solid songs to back it all up. He was the guy you wanted to say you were a fan of since Day One. The instant standout tracks were "Wishing Well", "Dance Little Sister", "If You Let Me Stay" & "Sign Your Name". "Who's Loving You" wasn't a hit in the 80's but would have been a 60's hit for sure, Sam Cooke should ask for royalties! The videos were overplayed on MTV and he sold a ton of records that year. Solid songs throughout, good songwriting, easy for young and old to get into, cohesive & kind of cutting edge for the time. He was just a little different than the cookie cutter popstars & hairmetalers, blending R&B/Motown sound with singer/songwriter vibe. I think he and Tracy Chapman opened up minds and made mellow music, that wasn't overtly poppy, cool again. Influential in that sense. He skyrocketed to the top and plummeted just as quickly. Great debut album, it sold 1M copies in its first week. Solid album, some staying power, huge impact at the time, influential since no one was immune to hearing the hits or seeing the videos at the time of it's release.

A lovely little reminder of the genius in the 80s.

I'm usually not one for 80s music, but R&B always has a special place in my ears. This is a really great record that I hadn't heard of before. The vocal harmonies are really pleasant and soulful. The music isn't too cheesy 80s and actually fits very nicely with the vocals. This is a nice, balanced album that has much replay value. Solid.

A high concept, immaculately produced album that covers all manner of musical bases and yet, for the most part, possesses real commercial appeal. Maitreya has a hell of a voice - it moves from reverent hush to rough-hewn soul skyscraping with ease. A song like 'Who's Loving You' could have come out in 1957, but if the template is somewhat familiar, Maitreya's clearly having fun with it thirty years on. 'Sign Your Name' sounds a little like 'Girl From Ipanema', no?

99% of the time I feel like I know what I’m going to get before I cue up the first track on an album, but the joy of doing a project is for those 1% that you get surprised by. This was not what I expected but was very very good.

Sorti en 1987, l'album "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby" de Terence Trent D'Arby est un album remarquable de Soul Music et ceci malgré l'arrogance de l'artiste. Arrogant, l'artiste l'est par ses déclarations... "Mon album est meilleur que le Sergent Pepper's des BEATLES", "Je suis un génie"... et suite à celles-ci, la presse l'attendra au tournant et ne le loupera pas pour son 2eme album. Mais revenons au 1er album qui avec son écriture exceptionnelle, sa voix soul et sa production de premier ordre, en font un chef d'oeuvre intemporel. Véritable succès commercial et acclamé par la critique, l'artiste sera récompensé d'un Grammy Award pour la meilleure performance vocale R&B masculine. Un 4/5 pour un excellent album de Soul à écouter ou à découvrir.

I have no idea why, but on the first listen I really liked this album. It might have been because I woke up in a real good mood and listened to it… I saved 4 songs immediately from it. Skipped through the rest of it. Reminds me of someone that tried to do Michael Jackson’s vibe, but couldn’t quite replicate it. 3 stars. I loved 50% of this album, and the rest was just filler baloney. I listened to 4 songs on this album multiple times today, and enjoyed my time with them. Besides that it, the songs were repetitive and kinda cringey. I listened to those four songs a couple times today. They were good. The rest were terrible. In the order of my favorite Wishing well Dance little sister Sign my name If you let me stay Okay nvm. The four songs were enough for me. 4 stars.

Day298 - i was surprised how good this one was. he definitely had a prince , stevie wonder thing going but i guess he couldn’t follow this up

I really liked this!!! He knows his style and executes it well. The first track was especially good.

Glad I found this! A solid album ended with a really fun version of Who's Lovin' You. Something seemed odd with the sound mixing at times, not sure if that's intentional, original, or an artifact of the various processing/versions, but it was a little annoying.

Enjoyed this a lot. Very Prince, but I admire the album's cohesiveness. Those first 30 seconds or so are a nice way to start.

A promising first half that led into a repetitive and unoriginal second. I really enjoyed listening to the first three or four songs. I was excited to see what came next, but after the halfway point, it became clear that nothing else new was on the way. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, having never heard of the artist. It was good. 4/5

Never realised TTD is now called Sananda Maitreya. This is not the sort of music I would listen to, but acknowledge that it is a well written pop/soul album and stands out from similar music at the time 4/5

Miche-alt Jackson

Yo era un chaval y este disco en una cinta pirata del rastro estuvo sonando todo ese verano en casa y en el coche. Fue un bombazo en la radio y en los programas de TV con video clips. Después de aquello la estrella de TTD desapareció y yo tampoco he vuelto a escucharlo. Buenos recuerdos y buena música. Me quedo con If yo let me say, Wishing well, Dance little sister y Sign your name. Curioso que el disco en Spotify está con su nombre actual "Sananda Maitreya".

I did not have much expectation for this album. I assumed since it was born of the 80s it would be some amalgamation of music of the time and wouldn't resemble what I consider R&B at all. But after listening to this, it does feel like it was (at the time) a very modern take on R&B but still rooted in the classic sound from Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. It certainly seems like it has it's foot in neo-soul too. I didn't love this, but it was a good record for sure.

This was my first proper listen of him. I've heard "Wishing Well" before. Great song. But aside from that, almost everything I knew was reviews of Seal comparing the two of them. And now having listened - I kind of don't get the comparison at all. They have completely different voices and styles. But that being said, WOW does this album work. Almost every song is a full on display of heart and soul and downright genius. The man can not just sing, but he sings with so much agility and soul. I was in awe. Which makes it ironic that the only song that just utterly did not work for me was the penultimate track "As Yet Untitled" where it's basically him acapella figuring it out as he goes. It's kind of impressive, and if you were watching it happen in the moment you'd have to admit it was going to become a great song, but as it is it's a weird half baked overly long totally self indulgent track that mars an otherwise lusciously strong album.

I was disappointed as a kid when I bought this album after hearing the single Wishing Well on the radio, thinking all the songs were that sugar coated. But listening now, there’s more depth to it.

I’ve definitely heard of Terence Trent D’Arby before, but before listening to this album I’m not sure if I’d have known what I actually know him from. The name existed in my head, but I didn’t know if he was a singer, actor, artist, or anything else. However, this has changed now that I’ve listened to this album. There were parts here where the vocals together with the happy funk reminded me of Prince. The softer acoustic parts reminded me of Tracy Chapman. Honestly, it’s hard to find much I didn’t enjoy here.

Viel Funk und Soul, eine große Stißße, und Hits, die um die Welt gingen.

Sananda Maitreya, or Terence Trent D'Arby as he was formally know, has put together a captivating album. His tenor voice is powerful and complex, and is supported by instrumentatiom with funk/soul influence. The songs are pleasant and easy to listen too- a lot of catchy "poppier" songs. Overall- an enjoyable album

4-

Is this a great album? Sure, maybe. Does it have the ability to transport me IMMEDIATELY to the summer of 1988 like a friggin' Harry Potter portkey? Definitely.

The opening track, If You All Get to Heaven, hooked me immediately. I love the sound. I should definitely get that song at least. The rest of the album never reaches that high, but it's still good. It's a blend of funk and soul, with some blues influence in there.

3.5, enjoyed this one

I seen this and thought who tf is Terence Trent D’arby. And then I was asking myself the same question when Sananda Maitreya came up. This dude can sing and it’s really good music. Will be on rotation for a while

Funky and sweet

A unique and fantastic 80s slice of eclecticism.

Fantastic sounding album

Before Garth Brooks added a lap steel guitar and a vocal twang to soft rock and forever re-defined it as country, there was such a thing as soft rock which (for better or worse) gave us Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Kenny Loggins, Richard Marx, et al. Today, that is still considered 'soft', but now soft has a negative connotation. Surely Terence Trent D'Arby (apparently now Sananda Maitreya) stems from R&B roots, but there's a handful of soft rock cross-over genres mixed in there as well along with some gospel, some pumping dance grooves of Michael Jackson ("I'll Never Turn My Back On You (Father's Words)"), some intensity of INXS-meets-James Brown ("Dance Little Sister"), the self-awareness and soul-purging of Nina Simone ("As Yet Untitled"), and the seduction of Sade ("Let's Go Forward"). He's not afraid to let in some of the rasp too, which is pretty uncommon with such otherwise smooth grooves. Though always middle of the road and accessible, Introducing the Hardline . . . tries to incorporate much of the other genres that stay middle of the road and comes up with something unique yet not daring. His vocal performance is confident and bold but can be equally timid and delicate, and he executes as if he's very comfortable with the songs and is effortlessly half-riffing off the main melody line. Hey, I didn't know he sang "Sign Your Name." I always tied him to "Wishing Well" but I didn't realize he sang this one too, which I like better. Like a great unknown live band, Terrence eventually succeeded in winning me over. In fact, the entire second half is pretty stacked with the steamy "Let's Go Forward", erotic "Sign Your Name", the fast jazz calypso of "Rain", soulful "As Yet Untitled", and a killer slow-dance doo-wop cover of "Who's Loving You." And now that I see where he's coming from, a second listen reveals the first half has some good tunes as well. The vocal run in "As Yet Untitled" at 4:19 is jazzier than most I've ever heard. The instrumentation is a little too polished for me; I blame the producer more than Trent, but there is a particular 'cheap Casio' feel to some of the keys, orchestral hits, and gated drums. Overall, a great vocal performance; very mature and sophisticated for a debut album.

I kind of dismissed this when it first came out, partly, I think, because TTD was a bit of a blowhard in the music press. But listening to it now, it's actually pretty damn good. Funky stuff, and TTD has a great voice. Somewhere in the high three/low four range; going to be generous and round up.

Still love his soulful, raspy voice like from back in the day. Wishing Well still my favorite, but a couple new ones to listen to: Rain and the cover of Dance Little Sister. If it’s true Michael sabotaged his career, lame, but I can see why. Terence was hotter than Michael ever hoped to be.

7/10. Nice 1980's vibes. :)