Overall? Terence.

In the last decade? Lenny

Terence, for sure.

But I'm not so sure about his output as "Sananda" either.

TTD/Sananda

no question about it...

TTD

Music: Terence

Looks: Lenny

Lenny has some nice tracks, but they never really hit me. Terence really made some classics:

O Divina, She kissed me, Wishing well, Holding on to you....the list is long. His voice is amazing.

not even a contest for me - TTD .

TTD easy

Lol so there's like 0 Lenny fans on a Prince forum?

Not surprised, if you ask me.

Shawy89 said:

Lol so there's like 0 Lenny fans on a Prince forum?

Not surprised, if you ask me.

Well let's be honest here, Introducing The Hard Line According To, is one of the best records of the last 30 years. Kravitz has nothing in that league. Not even close.

V10LETBLUES said:

Well let's be honest here, Introducing The Hard Line According To, is one of the best records of the last 30 years. Kravitz has nothing in that league. Not even close.

Hardline isn't my favorite D'Arby record but definetly

Lenny for me. Never really got into TTD that much.

missfee said:

Lenny for me. Never really got into TTD that much.

4 me it ain't so much Introducing The Hardline, it's Neither Fish Not Flesh, Symphony Or Damn and Vibrator. After a totally unnoticed first album in 84 as a member of The Touch, TTD had a mind blowing solo debut in terms of songwriting and production (and success), then suddenly (and against Sony's advice) became a mind blowing experimental, intellectual, literary artist! Those 3 albums really say something lyrically and are really daring musically speaking. Let's be honest, he killed his career by trying to do ATWIAD/Parade with his second album without realizing that had waited not only to be a major star but also to consolidate a faithful fanbase before going against the wind. WB would say made the same mistake in the end but had he done it in 1980, even if Prince (the album) had been a tremendous success, this forum probably wouldn't even exist in the first place. An easy 3 quarter of those who'd bought Purple Rain were soon gone but all of those who were there before stayed aboard. But TTD had no such thing in 89: he had no true fanbase and very few of his original listeners stayed aboard when he went wild. One could argue that Dirty Mind, Controversy and 1999 were a bold moves as well but they were all about what music was in 1980, while Neither Fish Nor Flesh was totally at odds with what 1989 was, the same way ATWIAD was at odds with 1985. Had TTD gone new jack swing for a few records before doing an album that starts with 20 minutes of strings and atmospheric ballads, it may have worked.

.

Lenny is tremendously talented too but one could argue that his first 2 albums had little to do with what 89 and 91 were about as well, but he managed to be a precursor of what would soon be a major wave of nostalgia for the 70's and a huge rejection of the 80's and he kept surfing on that wave by keeping things simple. Lenny's songwriting, despite a few experiments on Mama Said, remained very accessible overall, very catchy while at the same time, despite having a lot of 70's nostalgia in it as well, TTD kept developping philosophical ideas and creating songs that sounded more like psychoanalysis than like pop music! I mean I think She Kissed Me is much more powerful than Are You Gonna Go My Way but the later is much more likely to appeal your average 17 years old girl than the first one, and its hook will remain in your mind much longer than She Kissed Me's tormented atmosphere.

.

So yeah overall for those who followed him at the time, TTD will remain this totally misunderstood genius whose record company failed to support and that the ignorant masses ignored, and that gives him much more depth than Lenny even though his first 5 albums were solid as rock. So yeah despite really loving Lenny's first 5 albums, my vote goes to TTD as well because when I listened to Lenny's albums it was more like "yeah, now that's cool" and when I listened to TTD it was more like "WTF?! This is totally insane!".

.

In the end they both dilluted themselves in themselves if u ask me. I haven't heard yet all of their 2000's albums but the ones I have are nowhere near what both of them produced between Introducing and Wild Card for TTD and Let Love Rule and 5 for Lenny: both are kind of stuck in a loop, doing the same thing but without the solar efficiency of Lenny's early works and the systematic boldness of TTD's early efforts. I think Lenny owes it to himself to really go wild on one album and maybe do some crazy, violent funk-rock with destructured songwriting, while TTD needs to become again as ambitious as he once was and take us deep down in the depth of his soul again with complex arrangements that go beyond his now typical piano/guitar/bass/drums signature sound.

.

Just my opinion, though.

I wanna say Terence... but these guys to me are a little different.

Lenny started out (Fantasticaly might i add with his first 2 albums) as a 60's and 70's rock darling with a hint of Sly Stone & Prince.

Terence started out as r&b infused with some funk. Then went onto to Avant garde, r&b, experimental, rock, jazz etc.

Terence went into a very experimental phase. Not to say Lenny didn't... but Len never had a Neither Fish Nor Flesh type moment.

It's about even for me. While TTD had better albums overall. Lenny has a great output too... dispite some shitty moments and being shit on by critics. Mama Said, Let Love Rule, Are You Gonna Go My Way, Lenny, Black & White America etc. Are good records...

I'll also say this again...

Idk why Lenny is shit on so bad. Why D'angelo and Beck are so praised. Now, i'm a D'angelo fan. And a VERY BIG beck fan...

But Lenny wore his inspirations on his sleeves to a t. He's also a multi instumentalist, producer, and even had albums produced to sound like older material. SAME SHIT BECK & D DID. Yet those 2 get there dicks sucked by all the critics and Lenny is seen as a hack.

Sure Lenny had his cheesy or just plain bad moments. But he does the same exact thing as the other two... so what gives?

I worked in the management company that managed TTD but still i gotta say Lenny.

I think Lenny is generally underrated, Dude has a nice back catalog of really great songs.

Militant said:

Overall? Terence.

In the last decade? Lenny

Speaking of the last decade, D Arby had an album released with this artwork:



Pretty much the ugliest album cover of all time

nursev said:

TTD-man has a beautiful voice.

I first fell in love with it while watching this:



Man, it's rare to find these voices..

Gunsnhalen said:

Lenny all the way.

They both look so hot here

Brothers? Noooo....yessss!!!

I think Terence is an underrated talent, whatever I do know, I love and I have a history with Wishing Well but Lenny has been more of a familiar staple to me growing up and I think his first album era and the 5 album days are so underrated and my favourite time from him though he always had good gems here and there.

Respect for Lenny, but there's no debate here. TTD everyday. Neither Fish Nor Flesh is among my 20-25 all-time favourite albums.

I grew up listening to Lenny (then stopped when he became too generic), I somehow missed the TTD bus and never got on, so I can't really evaluate the two of them side by side. For the TTD fans here, what two albums would you recommend as starters for a newbie to his music?

lezama said:

I grew up listening to Lenny (then stopped when he became too generic), I somehow missed the TTD bus and never got on, so I can't really evaluate the two of them side by side. For the TTD fans here, what two albums would you recommend as starters for a newbie to his music?

Introducing The Hardline According To has all the hits and is the obvious starter.

Then I'd say Symphony Or Damn because it's most likely what could be considered his masterpiece.

lezama said:

I grew up listening to Lenny (then stopped when he became too generic), I somehow missed the TTD bus and never got on, so I can't really evaluate the two of them side by side. For the TTD fans here, what two albums would you recommend as starters for a newbie to his music?

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Wow you're in for a treat Lezama! I would start with his first release for starters, "Introducing The Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby." In it you'll be introduced to one of the finest voices of the last 30 years or more.

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Secondly I'd go with, "Symphony or Damn".