release date: May 11, 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Terence Trent D'Arby
label: Columbia Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "She Kissed Me" (4,5 / 5) (live - live) - 3. "Do You Love Me Like You Say?" - 4. "Baby Let Me Share My Love" (4 / 5) - 5. "Delicate" (feat. Des'ree) (4 / 5) - 6. "Neon Messiah" - 7. "Penelope Please" - 12. "Are You Happy?" - 14. "I Still Love You"
3rd studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby is a fine return to form. The style is closer to his great debut album, but also has a more hard rock profile, which makes me think of Lenny Kravitz as a younger (and lesser gifted) admirer of his.
D'Arby's struggles with an image of being over-ambitious doesn't come easy with tracks #1-9 labelled "Part I - Confrontation", and tracks #10-16: "Part II - Reconciliation". However, once again D'Arby shows his great musical skills by being credited as musical arranger, for handling lead and background vocals, as instrumentalist playing bass, clavinet, drums, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, percussion, for making drum programming, horn and string arrangements, sound effects, AND for producing the album. Aside from that he has composed all music on the album. Yes, he is enormously gifted, and (sadly) he points to that himself, BUT this is a fine album almost parring his great debut. I didn't come across this album until after 2005, but it really doesn't sound like being produced in '93. It has a big and vivid sound, and considering the seemingly absent attention that was attributed the album, it surprises me how good it is. It's a recommendable, almost essential r&b album of the 1990s.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
