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Terence Trent D’Arby (Sananda Maitreya)
Wildcard!--The Jokers’ Edition
(Sananda/Compendia)

Back in 1987, D’Arby/Maitreya upstaged Prince as pop’s funkiest, haughtiest auteur, but three verbose, arty albums later, his cachet was shot. Now, eight years after that, he’s reemerged with one of 2003’s astonishing albums--a mesmerizing suite of soul testimony and pop-rock grace that’s damn close to the R&B Sgt. Pepper’s he once joked about making.