Serious said:

Musicslave said:

"Her face was my favorite magazine

Her body was my favorite book to read"

The songwriting on this joint is nothing short of incredible. His vocal performance is flawless of course (goes without saying). His poetic gauge was well balanced on this gem.

"Why me, of all the tough talking boys,

I guess she heard my heartbeat through the noise"

"The soil is fertile where her footsteps trod

She's my new religion, she's all I got"

Yeah all these lines are so beautiful . Especially the bolded one touch me every time I listen to the song.

I left the east side for a west coast beauty
A girl who burned my thoughts like kisses
She was down by street decree
She swore she'd pull my best years out of me
Fat painted lips on a live wire beauty
A tangerine girl with tambourine eyes
Her face was my favourite magazine
Her body was my favourite book to read

They say that all poets must have and unrequited love
As all lovers must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go on pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of rain
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

I left the rough side for a seaside baby
A chamomile smile that pouts on cue
For every moment I breathe her sigh
Her bosom contains my sweet alibi
In an emotional mist she breathes in fog
And breathes it out as garden flowers
Why me of all the tough talking boys?
I guess she heard my heartbeat through the noise

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go of pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of the rain
Holding on to you
Means letting sorrows heal
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers I'm sure must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting sorrows heal
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

I left the east coast for a west coast beauty
A woman who burned my thoughts like kisses
She was down by street decree
She swore she'd pull my best years out of me

Fat wet lips on a sea salt canvas
Goodbye Picasso hello Dali
The soil is fertile where her footsteps trod
She's my new religion she's all I got

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers I'm sure must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go of pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of rain
Means letting sorrows heal
It means letting go

Cloudbuster said:

deebee said:

I do recommend his earlier Perfumed Pavilion (The Mo... Memories) (also included on the two-disc version of his Greatest Hits) to anyone who likes to hear Terence in this mode. It's on a par with HOTY, I think.

Good track, if I recall correctly it was the B side of Do You Love Me Like You Say?

Spun it quite a bit back in the day.

Yeah, there was a single with that one and Read My Lips (I Dig Your Scene) on it, before the latter turned up on Vibrator. Good times!

Serious said:

deebee said:

I do recommend his earlier Perfumed Pavilion (The Mo... Memories) (also included on the two-disc version of his Greatest Hits) to anyone who likes to hear Terence in this mode. It's on a par with HOTY, I think.

Thanks for posting it. I always loved that song too .

Another song that has a similar vibe to Holding On To You is TTD's version of "A change is gonna come"

Such a great version of that song with Booker T. and the MGs. Second only to Sam Cooke's original, I'd say.

Musicslave said:

deebee said:

Possibly my favourite by him. The live version is sublime:

Just watched this live version. He's probably the closest thing we've gotten to a "Sam Cooke" quality of a voice, since Sam's passing. I know I could be beheaded for that statement but hey, that's my opinion. Not saying he's Sam reincarnated, but the quality of his voice reminds me of Mr. Cooke.

Off with his head There, I said it for you....

He's a fan, definitely. There's a note on his website accompanying the instrumental versions of the songs from Nigor Mortis which says: "This instrumental presentation is important for me because I can recall being in the U.S. Army in Hanau Germany, where the master Elvis had also been stationed, and sneaking up to the broom closet of the recreation center with a cassette copy of ROD STEWART’S ‘Tonight I’m Yours’ album and locking myself up, taking a push broom and used it as a ‘microphone’ while trying to learn how to sing like the Master Rod and both of our hero’s, Sam Cooke."

I remember, also, that I used to be on a mailing list that was a bit like Tezza's blog or journal. Often it was pure waffle, but one day he wrote something like, "If, as you listen to the sounds around you, you find you're hearing something sweeter than Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, you must be in heaven listening to the sound of angels." I thought that was cute.

SUPRMAN said:

Serious said:

Yeah all these lines are so beautiful . Especially the bolded one touch me every time I listen to the song.

I left the east side for a west coast beauty
A girl who burned my thoughts like kisses
She was down by street decree
She swore she'd pull my best years out of me
Fat painted lips on a live wire beauty
A tangerine girl with tambourine eyes
Her face was my favourite magazine
Her body was my favourite book to read

They say that all poets must have and unrequited love
As all lovers must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go on pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of rain
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

I left the rough side for a seaside baby
A chamomile smile that pouts on cue
For every moment I breathe her sigh
Her bosom contains my sweet alibi
In an emotional mist she breathes in fog
And breathes it out as garden flowers
Why me of all the tough talking boys?
I guess she heard my heartbeat through the noise

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go of pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of the rain
Holding on to you
Means letting sorrows heal
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers I'm sure must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting sorrows heal
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

I left the east coast for a west coast beauty
A woman who burned my thoughts like kisses
She was down by street decree
She swore she'd pull my best years out of me

Fat wet lips on a sea salt canvas
Goodbye Picasso hello Dali
The soil is fertile where her footsteps trod
She's my new religion she's all I got

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers I'm sure must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go of pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of rain
Means letting sorrows heal
It means letting go

Javi said:

SUPRMAN said:

I left the east side for a west coast beauty
A girl who burned my thoughts like kisses
She was down by street decree
She swore she'd pull my best years out of me
Fat painted lips on a live wire beauty
A tangerine girl with tambourine eyes
Her face was my favourite magazine
Her body was my favourite book to read

They say that all poets must have and unrequited love
As all lovers must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go on pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of rain
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

I left the rough side for a seaside baby
A chamomile smile that pouts on cue
For every moment I breathe her sigh
Her bosom contains my sweet alibi
In an emotional mist she breathes in fog
And breathes it out as garden flowers
Why me of all the tough talking boys?
I guess she heard my heartbeat through the noise

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go of pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of the rain
Holding on to you
Means letting sorrows heal
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers I'm sure must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting sorrows heal
Means letting go of what's not real
Holding on to you

I left the east coast for a west coast beauty
A woman who burned my thoughts like kisses
She was down by street decree
She swore she'd pull my best years out of me

Fat wet lips on a sea salt canvas
Goodbye Picasso hello Dali
The soil is fertile where her footsteps trod
She's my new religion she's all I got

They say that all poets must have an unrequited love
As all lovers I'm sure must have thought provoking fears

But holding on to you means letting go of pain
Means letting go of tears
Means letting go of rain
Means letting sorrows heal
It means letting go

Beautiful love song.

Yeah, the lyrical picture he paints is quite vivid. Thanks for posting the entire song Suprman!

[Edited 9/1/11 6:20am]

"Symphony or Damn was an impressive comeback for Terence Trent d'Arby, pulling together the melodic songcraft of his debut and the conceptual ambitions of Neither Fish nor Flesh. TTD's Vibrator follows the same pattern of Symphony or Damn, only without the songs to support the ambitions." (Allmusic.com)

First, let's give the eclectic D'Arby credit for continuing to defy pigeonholing, nimbly vaulting from psychedelic rock to art-damaged funk to visionary ballads. But while such diversity is almost as awe inspiring as his miraculous voice, it reinforces a nagging suspicion that D'Arby is the pop equivalent of a cardsharp. Impressive, sure, but not truly magical. B

(EW.Com)

After two brilliant albums failed to live up to the commercial level of his 1987 smash debut, D'Arby sounds here as if he's trying too hard, pushing both his pan-pop palette and amazing Sam Cooke/Otis Redding voice to their limits with each note. But D'Arby is among the few with both the ambition and the reach to get away with it.

In lesser hands, such excesses as the overheated soul vocalizing of "Holding On to You" (which sounds custom-composed for Rod Stewart) or the orgiastic sex-play of "Supermodel Sandwich" would seem, well, excessive. With D'Arby, who like the obvious comparison Prince has never been shy about setting high standards for himself, it almost seems essential. That plays out musically in D'Arby's continued travel in both time and place, mixing '60s Memphis soul session horns with '90s Manhattan funk riffs and even the odd 18th-Century Vienna classical reference, with an overall foundation in a stylized vision of '70s progressive R&B, with numerous nods to Curtis Mayfield.

(L.A. Times)

I've been reading stuff about him and I stumble on this reviews of "Vibrator". It seems that even the critics under rated this album back then. I know it all comes down 2 a matter of opinion, but I remember 1995 music scene and now knowing this album, I feel like it really stood out. It's a shame that it wasn't well promoted or even understood.

go2theMax said:

"Symphony or Damn was an impressive comeback for Terence Trent d'Arby, pulling together the melodic songcraft of his debut and the conceptual ambitions of Neither Fish nor Flesh. TTD's Vibrator follows the same pattern of Symphony or Damn, only without the songs to support the ambitions." (Allmusic.com)

First, let's give the eclectic D'Arby credit for continuing to defy pigeonholing, nimbly vaulting from psychedelic rock to art-damaged funk to visionary ballads. But while such diversity is almost as awe inspiring as his miraculous voice, it reinforces a nagging suspicion that D'Arby is the pop equivalent of a cardsharp. Impressive, sure, but not truly magical. B

(EW.Com)

After two brilliant albums failed to live up to the commercial level of his 1987 smash debut, D'Arby sounds here as if he's trying too hard, pushing both his pan-pop palette and amazing Sam Cooke/Otis Redding voice to their limits with each note. But D'Arby is among the few with both the ambition and the reach to get away with it.

In lesser hands, such excesses as the overheated soul vocalizing of "Holding On to You" (which sounds custom-composed for Rod Stewart) or the orgiastic sex-play of "Supermodel Sandwich" would seem, well, excessive. With D'Arby, who like the obvious comparison Prince has never been shy about setting high standards for himself, it almost seems essential. That plays out musically in D'Arby's continued travel in both time and place, mixing '60s Memphis soul session horns with '90s Manhattan funk riffs and even the odd 18th-Century Vienna classical reference, with an overall foundation in a stylized vision of '70s progressive R&B, with numerous nods to Curtis Mayfield.

(L.A. Times)

I've been reading stuff about him and I stumble on this reviews of "Vibrator". It seems that even the critics under rated this album back then. I know it all comes down 2 a matter of opinion, but I remember 1995 music scene and now knowing this album, I feel like it really stood out. It's a shame that it wasn't well promoted or even understood.

In my opinion, the problem was that with Vibrator TTD came to a standstill. Symphony Or Damn had been an impressive, even successful comeback, but Vibrator added nothing new. Sure, it added some awesome tunes, but that didn't seem to be enough.

This one is nearly iconic. I thought he was going to become a major star (like Prince for ex) at the time.

2020 said:

This is a nice song however my all time favorite by TTD is DELICATE

simply BEAUTIFUL!!!!

[Edited 8/31/11 11:49am]

I just want to say that I love this song of course, but like i have said before in related discussions: TTD's Wildcard shows that he is the greatest soul singer of his era and nobody knows him anymore. Only serious pop, rock and R&B fans from the 80s and some lucky young people.

I is a shame that the dispute with Sony ended this fabulous public and commercial career, like it happened for Prince and actually to MJ also (Invincible was not properly promoted).

I Wildcard had a good promotion then there would be millions of people around the world enjoying these fine songs and discovering older material.

I am sure that he and Prince also are in some ways sad about the fact that new generations of fans have much a lower chance to discover and enjoy their new (and old) music, because they are not a part of the music industry system or a "game".

These guys both should play stadiums like U2 or The Boss by now, but that's not happening because they decided to fight for their rights and for freedom, but for wider audience this is not important. They want music and they don't care how much Prince or TTD get from sellin 1 CD. They don't care about how multimillionaire musicians are "slaves" or whatever.

If they don't see/hear anything about these guys then their products are out of their radar. The average guy goes and buys Rhianna, JB, Black Eyed Peas or whatever that's on the shelve or iTunes.

I hope TTD will find a way to show his talent to more wider audience again, he knows exactly how it works. Aritstic freedom is great, but I am sure that great albums will still be interesting to big record companies and I believe that TTD can calculate that if he sells 5 million copies and recieves 1-2$ per album it is still better than those maybe 200 - 300 thousand sales he is makind now directly from his webpage maybe 6-8$ net per album which is 1,2-2,4 million $ max. But actually iIthink 200-300 thousand are not the actual sales. This could be even only 50-100k per album.

^^Prince and U2 actually played the same place here in Oakland this year, but yeah TTD was poised to be a major star and something happened.

I believe he bacame too challenging too quickly. When Prince did Adound the World, he still had Rasberry Beret, but Neither Fish Nor Flesh did not have a "Wishing Well" or Sign Your Name. I liked the album a lot, but he went a little too far too fast. Unfortunate because a lot of his subsequent albums had songs that actually could have been hits.

I am glad we started talking about this song, I am listening to Vibrator again today. It's the TTD album that has gotten the least play from me and I am digging it now.

deebee said:

Cloudbuster said:

Good track, if I recall correctly it was the B side of Do You Love Me Like You Say?

Spun it quite a bit back in the day.

Yeah, there was a single with that one and Read My Lips (I Dig Your Scene) on it, before the latter turned up on Vibrator. Good times!

I'm sure that Read My Lips on the single was a different version to the one that appeared on Vibrator.

Guess I'll be paying a visit to youtube shortly.

NDRU said:

I am glad we started talking about this song, I am listening to Vibrator again today. It's the TTD album that has gotten the least play from me and I am digging it now.