Posted on Sun, Jul. 13, 2003

WILDCARD
Terence Trent D'Arby/Sananda Maitreya

By Malcolm X Abram

Beacon Journal staff writer

Mention that Terence Trent D'Arby/Sananda Maitreya has a new CD to the average music fan, and he'll probably be surprised that the pint-sized singer/multi-instrumentalist with a big talent and bigger ego is still making music at all.

He made a big splash back in 1987 when his debut Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby and its singles Wishing Well and Sign Your Name had him heralded as the new Prince.

But unlike Prince (also pint-sized with big talent and ego), D'Arby/Maitreya was never able to keep the hits coming. Although his subsequent albums all contained good music, his dogged eclecticism made him difficult to market and he faded off the mainstream radar.

For his fifth release, Terence Trent D'Arby's/Sananda Maitreya Wildcard, the singer who also goes by the name Sananda Maitreya (he heard it in a dream) again shows his versatility, with 19 songs that fuse contemporary and classic R&B, funk, skewed rock, and dance music into an adventurous soul-music stew.

That husky, malleable, immediately recognizable voice is still in top-notch form and is the unifying force on the CD. There are plenty of highlights for anyone with wide open ears. The opener O Divina has a jaunty '60s R&B beat accented with big Blood Sweat and Tears-like horns, while Designated Fool, about a woman in full control of her sexuality, is a simmering midtempo funk with porno-worthy wah-wah guitar. Elsewhere D'Arby/Maitreya successfully rides a slightly dated drum 'n' bass groove on Drive Me Crazy, Shalom has a breezy summer feel, while... And They Will Never Knowuses rock guitar and psychedelic multitracked harmonies.

With so much music, Wildcard doesn't have much of a chance to gain an audience beyond the faithful. But D'Arby/Maitreya, who first offered the entire CD as a free download on his Web site, seems resolved to this fact, allowing his muse free reign.