release date: Jul. 13, 1987
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,05]
producer: Martyn Ware, Terence Trent D'Arby, Howard Grey
label: Columbia Records - nationality: USA
Tracklist: 1. "If You All Get to Heaven" (4 / 5) - 2. "If You Let Me Stay" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Wishing Well" (4 / 5) - 4. "I'll Never Turn My Back on You (Father's Words)" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Dance Little Sister" (4 / 5) - 6. "Seven More Days" (4 / 5) (live) - 7. "Let's Go Forward" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Rain" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Sign Your Name" (4 / 5) - 10. "As Yet Untitled" (3 / 5) - 11. "Who's Lovin' You" (4 / 5) (live)
Studio debut album by Terence Trent D'Arby (born Terence Trent Howard). This is a fabulous debut album. D'Arby wrote, sang, played, arranged, and co-produced most tracks single-handedly. He is a multi-instrumentalist and has a singing voice that pars the best soul artists, and feels stronger, tighter and more intense than any contemporary r&b, soul, and pop / rock singer around. Stylistically, it's a huge blend of styles with rhythm & blues at the center of everything, and around that, D'Arby drags from especially soul, but also from pop / rock, blues, and vocal jazz with noticeable sources like Otis Redding, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. The album went straight to #1 in the UK and many other European countries, whereas it had a harder time in D'Arby's home country, the USA. To me, this is much better than Michael Jackson or Prince, perhaps because it contains more rock and soul influence - it's more hard hitting than most r&b releases, which may explain its difficulty in his home country. After this first great album, D'Arby strangely almost vanished from the public eye. Initially, I bought the album on cassette in '87, and only first in the 90s bought it on cd. The album is rightfully enlisted in "10001 Albums You Must Here Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]
