RJOrion said:

...besides, as much as i respect TTD's talents, i can only listen to him for short periods of time, and infrequently...his voice does start to get too extra at times...i always wished he would have picked more soulful and funkier beats instead of straddling and switching genres and aesthetics...it was hard to keep up with his work with all the changes this guy goes through

In other words, another performer kind-of-like Prince? 'Cause that's kind-of what you're saying, describing Prince-like characteristics also fitting to TTD!

>

If you don't like the man's voice, or any of his styles, that's alright. Just say so. There are plenty of folks who just plainly don't like TTD and are laughing at the idea of this thread, and that's cool. Anyway, no, Prince was not scared much in most of his stage endeavors 'cause he was mostly good at what he did, and he rehearsed his azz off, anyway, to make sure that his stuff was good!

>

I think that TTD & P were friends--mutually respectful. Terence admired Prince, and Prince helped dude out wiith good advice. These were 2 people each following their own path, and Prince was always engaged to the hilt with his own mischief so why even would 1 fear the other?

bonatoc said:

I know y'all raving about the instruments, but I appreciate the fact he is singing the LIVING SHIT out of this song.

.

Just think its late 87, you get your copy of Intrioducing the Hardline home, probably only have hearing Wishing well or Dance Little sister, and this cut is the first thing that comes on and he is singing the lines about Ozmandias and the rest. Try and recapture that feeling like the messiah has arrived.

.

Sadly it happened for me around 92 or 93, as I was like 7 when that album came out - still some of you like serious and Germannegro must have had that feeling

[Edited 9/13/18 20:50pm]

Germanegro said:

RJOrion said:

Germanegro said:

In other words, another performer kind-of-like Prince? 'Cause that's kind-of what you're saying, describing Prince-like characteristics also fitting to TTD!

>

If you don't like the man's voice, or any of his styles, that's alright. Just say so. There are plenty of folks who just plainly don't like TTD and are laughing at the idea of this thread, and that's cool. Anyway, no, Prince was not scared much in most of his stage endeavors 'cause he was mostly good at what he did, and he rehearsed his azz off, anyway, to make sure that his stuff was good!

>

I think that TTD & P were friends--mutually respectful. Terence admired Prince, and Prince helped dude out wiith good advice. These were 2 people each following their own path, and Prince was always engaged to the hilt with his own mischief so why even would 1 fear the other?

youre wrong i DO enjoy alot of his music... i can just understand and relate to the people that do find his voice "grating" or hard to listen to... MY only criticism of his music was not his voice but the instrumentation...i see the obvious parallel to Prince's career moves, but what set them far apart was Prince's amazing self made imstrumental soundscapes he built his songs on...the musicians and compositions on most of TTDs joints dont move me...

the same could be said for any singer, even my favorite singers "grate" on my nerves if I listen to them too much. I'll switch it up if Bruce or Prince get on my nerves, each singer has a bag of tricks and it can grate if you're not careful. Prince's falsetto is definitely not for everyone, lots of people didn't like it. Point is, it's subjective. With TTD what we got was diversity with his vocals, he could sound as smooth as silk and switch right into full growl, and the power of that voice, not too many had that kind of power. Prince had a baritone and falsetto with a a range between the two that he reserved for screams but his lower register wasn't very strong. As a producer, ttd had some funky rhythms by the time of SOD, my best friend (also a huge fan of both) pointed out that his beats were way beyond what Prince did for rhythm, which, at that time period was definitely true, Prince abandoned his pioneering linn sounds by the late 80's in favor of a live drummer. TTD's rhythm tracks were better at that point, now, who came up with those? I don't know, He had access to the top musicians if he wanted them, he also had great musicians for the first album. Someone believed in him enough to find a great band without which, he wouldn't have been able to accomplish so much right out the gate. How much he composed any of the music is anyone's guess, as it is when bruce or prince or MJ hire crack musicians to work with.

Purplegarden said:

I know y'all raving about the instruments, but I appreciate the fact he is singing the LIVING SHIT out of this song.

.

Just think its late 87, you get your copy of Intrioducing the Hardline home, probably only have hearing Wishing well or Dance Little sister, and this cut is the first thing that comes on and he is singing the lines about Ozmandias and the rest. Try and recapture that feeling like the messiah has arrived.

.

Sadly it happened for me around 92 or 93, as I was like 7 when that album came out - still some of you like serious and Germannegro must have had that feeling

[Edited 9/13/18 20:50pm]

it was exciting as hell for me. In those days, it was possible to get wind of an artist (or, more usually in my case, a boxer) before they really hit the mainstream. Pundits, critics always had their ears to the ground and there was no internet so magazines were a major introduction. I didn't hear any of TTD's music until after I'd read about this phenomenon who was bullshitting about a debut that was better than SGT. Peppers', the critics generally agreed that he was someone to watch, so..., i saw pics, read interviews way before I saw/heard him perform. I can't remember if the 87 grammy's was the first time I heard him or if I'd bought the album before that but it was a great performance, MJ lipsynced the same show, Terence did a rock and roll performance in all it's imperfect perfection. billy crystal was sold before the performance, "get ready, this man is very special" or some such. Then, as if the album wasn't enough, his b-sides were pretty good, just like Prince. I never got to see an artist like Elvis, the Beatles, or even Prince when they were just on the verge of becoming historic, I mean to say, I heard Prince's music but I was so young, it wasn't like I was digging up articles before purple rain. Watching TTD felt like how I imagined it must have felt to see Elvis before he signed to a major label, or Prince during the dirty mine-1999 period. It was exciting, and he was the only guy I had the chance to watch that stage with as a fan, he fell short as a popular artist of all those guys but I'll always believe he was in that league.

rdhull said:

Poplife88 said:

I sm a big fan of TTD, especially Symphony or Damn which is positively brilliant. But what a silly question. Prince wasn't "afraid" of him. TTD imo isn't near as a talented musician and I am sure Prince was aware. But what a great voice and I like that he experiements. But at the same time I wish Fish/Flesh wasn't as experimental or self-indulgent (though I loved it). It was his 2nd album and he lost most that by the time Symphmony or Damn came out everyone was gone. The dude never recovered commercially after that...

His voice is actually grating. So nails on chalkboardish. Like greasy fried chicken..in a bad way not an Aretha way.

Difference of opinion but this made me laugh...

I like TTD and have most of his albums. Like someone said, TTD idolized Prince. In fact, a clip of TTD praising Prince is included in the tribute to Prince when he received his Lifetime Achievement Award from the AMAs. IIRC, TTD said something to the effect of "He [Prince] was the one who said forget what everyone else tells you and follow that voice in your head." And, TTD certainly took that advce.

Back in the day...I felt MJ may have felt TTD hot on his heels and MJ may have had some influennce on TTD not being vigorously promoted .... Just what I remember

Apologies, RJOrion! I don't mean to argue about your musical sensibilities, I only commented to point out the irony in your statement.

>

Prince, on the other hand, is Prince. A virtuosic-to-good multi-instrumentalist. It's like apples and oranges to compare Sananda and him in that realm. Prince also changed up his production values between albums to tweak his sound which made people yowl about what he did too much or little of in the studio, but people would also fawn over a lot of his his bootlegged demos as if they were unearthed gems, which some of them are.

>

I feel the polar opposite regarding Sananda's instrumentation, both the old with band participation and the new of his Post-Millenium Rock solo craft. I know why people love the stuff he did for those first 4 or 5 albums--they were epic, if not totally popular, and they made his name. Same with Prince, I guess. I feel that Sananda has continued to make great music (same as Prince had in his post-80s work), perpaps recorded with different production values that may rub the ears of some the wrong way, or disliking the tempo, boredom with lyrics--which slays me, but different strokes..., etc. Changing production values don't faze me much. I like the changeups. Some will say that Sananda has evolved in the wrong direction, but my viewpoint diverges from that thought.

RJOrion said:

Germanegro said:

In other words, another performer kind-of-like Prince? 'Cause that's kind-of what you're saying, describing Prince-like characteristics also fitting to TTD!

>

If you don't like the man's voice, or any of his styles, that's alright. Just say so. There are plenty of folks who just plainly don't like TTD and are laughing at the idea of this thread, and that's cool. Anyway, no, Prince was not scared much in most of his stage endeavors 'cause he was mostly good at what he did, and he rehearsed his azz off, anyway, to make sure that his stuff was good!

>

I think that TTD & P were friends--mutually respectful. Terence admired Prince, and Prince helped dude out wiith good advice. These were 2 people each following their own path, and Prince was always engaged to the hilt with his own mischief so why even would 1 fear the other?

youre wrong i DO enjoy alot of his music... i can just understand and relate to the people that do find his voice "grating" or hard to listen to... MY only criticism of his music was not his voice but the instrumentation...i see the obvious parallel to Prince's career moves, but what set them far apart was Prince's amazing self made imstrumental soundscapes he built his songs on...the musicians and compositions on most of TTDs joints dont move me...

Sorry to nitpick--I really don't wanna, but you've offered a a conflicting assessment of the artist that is impossible for me to ignore, RJOrion.

>

So, to clarify for the thread audience--not that it makes any difference, but I'm just tryna' keep things on point--do you like TTD's stuff in general, or not?

RJOrion said:

youre wrong i DO enjoy alot of his music... i can just understand and relate to the people that do find his voice "grating" or hard to listen to... MY only criticism of his music was not his voice but the instrumentation...i see the obvious parallel to Prince's career moves, but what set them far apart was Prince's amazing self made imstrumental soundscapes he built his songs on...the musicians and compositions on most of TTDs joints dont move me...

[Edited 9/14/18 11:28am]

Germanegro said:

Purplegarden said:

I know y'all raving about the instruments, but I appreciate the fact he is singing the LIVING SHIT out of this song.

.

Just think its late 87, you get your copy of Intrioducing the Hardline home, probably only have hearing Wishing well or Dance Little sister, and this cut is the first thing that comes on and he is singing the lines about Ozmandias and the rest. Try and recapture that feeling like the messiah has arrived.

.

Sadly it happened for me around 92 or 93, as I was like 7 when that album came out - still some of you like serious and Germannegro must have had that feeling

[Edited 9/13/18 20:50pm]

Spot on.

It was like suddenlty there was Terence too, another possible star. It's still personal enough, even if the come-back of gospel in pop music has originated in the coda of "Darling Nikki" (and "When Doves Cry"), and therefore it owes a little to Prince. But their musical background are really different.

Terence takes it other places, this is more proto-soul than funk, always a little Beatleshy, and his curse is to be able to scream like they did in the sixties. Just like Prince. Yeah, a serious contender. Except he got blamed for his talent. I was proud of him for "Neither", even though it was obviously a commercial suicide and over-ambitious. It's better to fail in style, and "Neither" has it.

rdhull said:

Has anyone ACTUALLY seen him live in concert besides me?

I saw him in 2002 and 2003, when he was still doing songs from his back catalogue and had a full backing band.

it was a great album, way beyond the first in my opinion, it's almost like comparing Prince to Purple Rain, so much growth had happened but in a much shorter period.

bonatoc said:

Purplegarden said:

I know y'all raving about the instruments, but I appreciate the fact he is singing the LIVING SHIT out of this song.

.

Just think its late 87, you get your copy of Intrioducing the Hardline home, probably only have hearing Wishing well or Dance Little sister, and this cut is the first thing that comes on and he is singing the lines about Ozmandias and the rest. Try and recapture that feeling like the messiah has arrived.

.

Sadly it happened for me around 92 or 93, as I was like 7 when that album came out - still some of you like serious and Germannegro must have had that feeling

[Edited 9/13/18 20:50pm]

Spot on.

It was like suddenlty there was Terence too, another possible star. It's still personal enough, even if the come-back of gospel in pop music has originated in the coda of "Darling Nikki" (and "When Doves Cry"), and therefore it owes a little to Prince. But their musical background are really different.

Terence takes it other places, this is more proto-soul than funk, always a little Beatleshy, and his curse is to be able to scream like they did in the sixties. Just like Prince. Yeah, a serious contender. Except he got blamed for his talent. I was proud of him for "Neither", even though it was obviously a commercial suicide and over-ambitious. It's better to fail in style, and "Neither" has it.

OK--now I understand, particularly through your Patti Labelle example! BTW--it is Aretha for me who's quality of voice went head-and-shoulders above Patti's--and that's my unconflicted opinion, LOL!

RJOrion said:

Germanegro said:

Sorry to nitpick--I really don't wanna, but you've offered a a conflicting assessment of the artist that is impossible for me to ignore, RJOrion.

>

So, to clarify for the thread audience--not that it makes any difference, but I'm just tryna' keep things on point--do you like TTD's stuff in general, or not?

[Edited 9/14/18 11:28am]

lol...thats my whole point...i have conflicting feelings about his music...i dig his singing but not always impressed with the tracks hes singing too... and while his voice is cool with me...there are times when im not in the mood to hear it....i feel the same way about Patti Labelle...im blown away by her vocal talent but sometimes im not trying to hear her hit those loud long glass shattering notes

rdhull said:

Has anyone ACTUALLY seen him live in concert besides me?

So lucky! I would love to catch TTD live at some point been waiting most of my life for a chance to do so. These days he seems mainly to stick around Italy and nearby countries, and his current band is kinda... bad. Still, some day I hope to see him live, I love his work. He's nuts, he's funny, I always appreciated there's a sort of rough edge to his work, a sort of funny human honesty.

No. Prince was his own person. he did not want to be compare to no other artist.

JoeyCococo said:

May have been 1995 but TTDr was at Paisley. He was jamming with the band...Prince did not like his playing and gave him a look...TTDo left the studio I love the guy and his 3rd to 5th albums but he was no where near the talent Prince was.

not as an instrumentalist, no, but that's only one facet of the whole package. He brought plenty, he was a great showman, he looked great, he sang with passion and better than anyone at the time and he was the visionary behind the songs. As I said, years ago, we've had threads comparing the two, i'm afraid some people made some good points, that the stuff he was putting out might have been better than what Prince was putting out at the time. For my money? SOTT was legendary so, no, the Hardline wasn't as good as that but was it better than lovesexy? hell ya, to me it was. I liked it better than Bad too. George Michael was in his prime so I don't know if he could fuck with Faith with the hardline. Fish/Flesh was better than batman, probably better than most of graffiti bridge. Symphony? I don't know if it was better than the symbol album, I happen to like that one a helluva lot. Gold was pretty good too, that's tough to choose for me. Certainly better than the rest of what was out, Nirvana, Bruce's double whammy flop, MJ's (not really) Dangerous and whoever else I was aware of.

I think we all need to drink a loving cup and forget about who has and has not said what and enjoy this man's genius. I am not really that deep into his stuff as you guys - definitely a real fan (Thanks whoever said that) but beyond owning greatest hits, hardline and symphony and a few singles I don't have much more of his stuff (I will probably never get Nigga Mortis), (It is bloody impossible to find physical copies of his music in New Zealand, and I am amazed the number of people who go on about how they love, Michael, Cameo and all the 70s/80s dance/soul/funk/R and B crowd either have not heard of TTD/Sananda or write him off). So apologies if I come up naive and wrong in parts. Serious, Bonatoc, GermanNegro and RJ Orion you guys are the real fans and I salute you.

.

Yet what I have of his and have heard, I just really love - his voice is like woven gold and I think he has squandered himself short and could be touring more. You guys say his band is shit, he should ditch them and do a Prince - just see it now Terence Trent D'Arby tour with special guests - Sananda Maitreya and His voice - because that is all he needs (Maybe he could be playing organ or have a guitarist, but thats it - enough good press and a great publicist and he could have a huge comeback.

[Edited 9/15/18 3:35am]

^^^^Yes, Purplegarden, I guess it can be said that I am a bona fide Sananda fan. I actually acquiesce to call him by his current legal name--what's better evidence!

>

It would be very exciting for some of us to see him come Statside to conduct a club tour. As far as attaining a big comeback endeavor, I think that's not going to happen, as he has tossed aside the desire to chase that image and the attached realities of life as a superstar. He's done with those pursuits. Fame costs, man, and I don't think that he's any longer ready to shell out to maintain that spectre.

>

He has indeed broadened his live act today to include songs from TTD-past, and he may contiune to do this more regularly given the progression of time away from all the perceived misdeeds and hurt he feels to have absorbed from that period in his life. It couldn't hurt in order to revive more commercial interest in his work and ease whatever financial burdens he could be feeling, and to allow people the opportunity to see the full breadth of his brilliance.

>

His appreciation as an artist is key in his endeavors, I think, and I feel that this is what he and Prince had most in common between themselves both personally and career-wise. Each of them strived to attain full expression over any commercial pursuit. Some fans couldn't and still don't appreciate this fact about Prince and his own career trajectory. I've appreciated this understanding toward both, and hence, have reaped the maximum enjoyment out of the productivity of both of these artists.

>

And I still couldn't care less if either one of them was actually afraid of the other. I'll never beileve that as a reality, anyway.

^^^^Furthermore, I believe that it might have been in Prince's better interests to have gotten through to Sananda before he had passed. I believe that Sananda had some solid fundamental wisdom in play toward maintaining artistic and financial independence in conducting his commercial endeavors. Sananda was able to set up his own shop where he could record his music, have his complete creative freedom in his content and flexibility in production values, and sell and distribute his product. Sananda was more about reaching his own audience versus taking on an entire industry and changing their business model, which oviously is a gargantuan eneavor that weighed heavily on Prince. Despite the weight of it, Prince did pretty good, still, even though his popularity suffered. Heck, Sananda might have even had something to say to Prince about leaving some directives on maintaining his works after death. Hearing such words from a fellow artist rather than family or businessmen could have had some bearing on his thoughts and deeds.

>

Had Prince adopted some of Sananda's model of conducting his promotions and distribution rather than leaning on the grand-size distribution side of his works with recording-industry networks, we could have seen more of his newer works sooner rather than sitting in the can the way they are today. Hard to say though, as Prince had a greater financial burden given his requirements of maintaining his huge studio complex and keeping several bands-worth of musicians on retainer. He worked out a good way to maintain profitable touring revenue, but could he have maintained the breadth of his ventures by downscaling his distribution, is the big question. He had begun to explore such means of busniess right before he died.

Nigor Mortis and whatever other Sananda Maitreya album you would like to have can be yours, if you can't/won't take a file download from Amazon.com. He has copies waiting for you to check out at www.SanandaMaitreya.com/store.

>

You'll likely need a PayPal account and the will to pay the Euros export markup, but I've got my copies--and have been fortunate to have found physical copies at one actual store, Stateside, by a seller that probably made a wholesale investment in Sananda's stuff (lucky find).

Purpegarden said:

I think we all need to drink a loving cup and forget about who has and has not said what and enjoy this man's genius. I am not really that deep into his stuff as you guys - definitely a real fan (Thanks whoever said that) but beyond owning greatest hits, hardline and symphony and a few singles I don't have much more of his stuff (I will probably never get Nigga Mortis)

Germanegro said:

Nigor Mortis and whatever other Sananda Maitreya album you would like to have can be yours, if you can't/won't take a file download from Amazon.com. He has copies waiting for you to check out at www.SanandaMaitreya.com/store.

>

You'll likely need a PayPal account and the will to pay the Euros export markup, but I've got my copies--and have been fortunate to have found physical copies at one actual store, Stateside, by a seller that probably made a wholesale investment in Sananda's stuff (lucky find).

Purpegarden said:

I think we all need to drink a loving cup and forget about who has and has not said what and enjoy this man's genius. I am not really that deep into his stuff as you guys - definitely a real fan (Thanks whoever said that) but beyond owning greatest hits, hardline and symphony and a few singles I don't have much more of his stuff (I will probably never get Nigga Mortis)

ya, i'm trying to figure out where i should pull money for all the later albums as we speak, i'll get them in the next few days most likely.

bonatoc said:

And what about this fucking ballad?
Worth of Elton John, Macca, and Joni combined
in an alternative universe number one in several countries.

At the time, it sounded like Terence trying to dissuade Prince from Mayte.

Please notice the held note at the end.

[Edited 9/13/18 5:35am]

Man, this song right here is everything to me. Not just my favorite song by TTD, but probably one of my favorites by any artist ever. The lyrics, the way the music builds. It's just a fucking masterpiece. How this wasn't a hit I'll never know.

I'm doing Uber Eats delivery, today I listened to vibrator a couple consecutive times while i was driving, goddamn it's great, i never listened to it that closely but I always liked certain songs like supermodel sandwich. but the line "we were driving on a roadkill highway" fuck man, what an image, id ont' care how pretentious he can be, he's still a damned fine writer.

He can still reel off a fine poetic line when he's ready, but these days he seems to focus on more storytelling in parables, fables, or just framing some fictional tale and employing a lot more wordplay like what he does in his writings--he especially gets into that in parts of Prometheus and Pandora.

>

It'll be cool if one day I can read comments about "how clever and sensitive Return to Zooathalon is," or "how epic a tale the expanse of The Rise of the Zugebrian Time Lords is," or even "what a jam the music is on Nigor Mortis." I can feel pretty alone on this forum in my admiration of his post-Wildcard works. So be it, for now. People seem to hedge their thoughts on these albums and reserve praise for the older, safer-to-praise output, LOL.

PeteSilas said:

I'm doing Uber Eats delivery, today I listened to vibrator a couple consecutive times while i was driving, goddamn it's great, i never listened to it that closely but I always liked certain songs like supermodel sandwich. but the line "we were driving on a roadkill highway" fuck man, what an image, id ont' care how pretentious he can be, he's still a damned fine writer.

Germanegro said:

He can still reel off a fine poetic line when he's ready, but these days he seems to focus on more storytelling in parables, fables, or just framing some fictional tale and employing a lot more wordplay like what he does in his writings--he especially gets into that in parts of Prometheus and Pandora.

>

It'll be cool if one day I can read comments about "how clever and sensitive Return to Zooathalon is," or "how epic a tale the expanse of The Rise of the Zugebrian Time Lords is," or even "what a jam the music is on Nigor Mortis." I can feel pretty alone on this forum in my admiration of his post-Wildcard works. So be it, for now. People seem to hedge their thoughts on these albums and reserve praise for the older, safer-to-praise output, LOL.

PeteSilas said:

I'm doing Uber Eats delivery, today I listened to vibrator a couple consecutive times while i was driving, goddamn it's great, i never listened to it that closely but I always liked certain songs like supermodel sandwich. but the line "we were driving on a roadkill highway" fuck man, what an image, id ont' care how pretentious he can be, he's still a damned fine writer.

You are NOT alone...

Sananada is a deep cat..talented and Original too....

PeteSilas said:

I'm doing Uber Eats delivery, today I listened to vibrator a couple consecutive times while i was driving, goddamn it's great, i never listened to it that closely but I always liked certain songs like supermodel sandwich. but the line "we were driving on a roadkill highway" fuck man, what an image, id ont' care how pretentious he can be, he's still a damned fine writer.

It's the bravado in it, the man got balls.
Terence can literally go over the top and somehow still get away with it.
The Michael story though, hope it's not true, not so pretty, to say the least.

"Hope you're having a good time at your expense", come on, the man's funny and talented, he can brag all he will.
Love the dude. Like Otis lives through him, he sincerely goes after him too, and Sam Cooke, and James Brown, he's working at it!
Vibrator is TTDA kind of failed Controversy. But again, he's trying stuff, he's no copycat, especially on that album.
Not everything works, but hey, there's a bunch of Prince albums where not everything works.

I imagine Prince on the axe on Vibrator the album, heck producing it,
kinda Bowie producing Lou Reed, what musical losses in the name of egos.

Anyway, live singing never lies. Yes, it's badly lit, apparently the light designer got a crush on Blonde TTDA, but you don't have to look at the guy if his hallucinated peroxydated looks get in the way. Here's a guy who was making records, and he already received calls from Prince on his fourth album. You gotta excuse him for the excesses.

But Terence detractors uderestimate his soft tones, that's where he's killing both our heroes, for a brief fleeting moment.
This version goes for a bit too long. Only Prince could sustain ten minutes without losing his grip on you.
His fate was to act like a sxities gut in the spirit. Where Good Ol' Lenny played the cliché of it.
But Vibrator is an album that has Van Morrisson, Pet Sounds and stuff in it. A strange fascination for gothic choirs.
It's a brilliant failed experiment, like "Neither". They make for fantastic EPs.





And my, what a killing single this was, I remember peeing so pissed off
at not seeing it climbing the charts. It's all the rock influences Prince doesn't have
(Lou Reed, The Cramps, Bo Diddley, Otis Redding),
even if it's the result of the courage first taken in "Kiss" and "Alphabet St.".



Singles were a thing.
This still sounds like Pre-Beck produced by Brian Wilson and mixed by Geoff Emerich.
The strings are incredible. The sexual menace is palpable. The whole things still sounds phenomenal.
There's even a saxophone nod to "Temptation".
Good to the last drop.

[Edited 9/17/18 7:38am]