By Dan Leroy

Fifteen years after becoming a one-time chart-topper instead of the superstar nearly everyone predicted, Terence Trent D'Arby/Sananda Maitreya remains stubborn as ever. He still refuses to limit his stylistic palette, which blurs the folk-funk-rock-rap boundaries in ways unpredictable even for this genre-busting age. He still persists in turning simple love songs into spiritual, primal screams--and vice versa. He's even changed his name to Sananda Maitreya, making his first outing since 1995's Vibrator an even tougher sell. No, the hardheaded egotist with the voice of gold hasn't changed a bit. . .thank God. Complaining about lack of focus misses the point: D'Arby/Maitreya is not only one of the few artists whose hits more than justify his misses, the misses are public stepping stones necessary for him to reach the heights. So even at an unwieldy 19 full songs, this album probably contains more moments of brilliance than any release yet this year, with the radiant horns of "O Divina" and "Girl," sweet as a Jackie Wilson sigh, leading the path to soul heaven. He'll always be a wildcard, but here TTD/Sananda Maitreya holds too many aces to ignore.