This album was released all the way back in 1987, when this here cyber album reviewer was all of five years of age. Yup. I was just a child when Terry D’Arby was singin’ about Wishing Wells and Rain and what not, but hey I dug him as much as the next guy. I thought this muthafucka was bad, bustin all kinds of James Brown moves all over the stage and generally singin his ass off in that unique, raspy voice of his. “Hardline” was probably his biggest album. Every single music fan in the world had it in their collection, whether it were on LP, CD or cassette.
At this point in time I have about three or four copies on record. Sounds absurd, but that’s only because I’ve acquired them from other people and one of those copies is in fact the picture disc edition. Anyways, it kinda all went pear shaped after he released this album, cause his follow-up “Neither Fish Nor Flesh” was just a tad too experimental for a lotta folks out there. But I’ve already reviewed that one, so we won’t get too distracted. For now, let’s do a review of the first ever TTD album…..oh…..wait a sec….technically this is his second album, cuz he did one before in 1983 which wasn’t released til 1989. But anyway, this is his first major record, so we’ll look at it from that perspective. All righty then, let me break out the old vinyl record and do this track for track thing.
If You All Get to Heaven: When you go back and listen to – especially the introduction to this song, it certainly becomes apparent that Terry D’Arby was definitely quite a different artist, because he used some kind of “scratching” effect that not even he was able to articulate to the engineer while they were making the record. After that little soundbite, we’re presented with quite a soulful type of track, which is also a little funky in places. Lyrically it’s some kind of commentary on….I wanna say war and other tradgedies. Is this correct? I’ve always found its lyrics to quite complex. Anyways, he’s just urging folks to pray for him if they ever make to that great place in the sky. Pretty good opening cut.
If You Let Me Stay: Now, this one was…..either the first or second single lifted from the album, I don’t remember which one…..that was 1987 – stop it!!! Aside from that it’s pretty easy to decipher what he’s saying here, just begging his woman to let him stick around, as opposed to kicking him outta the house for whatever reason. It’s another funky one, which I think still jams to this day…not too many eighties songs can do that for ya.
Wishing Well: Go back and check out the video for this track. Now look at how that dude just slides across the stage in the first few seconds of the clip. Is that not the shit or what? Pity the rest of those dudes are wooden as hell. As for the song itself, I’ve loved it intensley since it first came out all the way back in 1987. The live drums in the intro are definitely the bomb and Terry’s voice is on point. For sure. Once again it’s more proof that Terry was somewhat of an unconventional pop star. It’s a love song, but it’s a heck of a lot more unconventional, with lines like “kissing like a bandit stealing time underneath a cycamore tree.” I’ll be damned if I even know what the hell that means, but it sounds cool as fuck. There are several different versions of this song, but my favourite is the “Cool In The Shade” remix where he does that “Chicka ta-ta, chicka ta-ta.” Dope! Oh yeah, I forgot, I saw a covers band performing this one, but ya know what they say, nothin’ beats the original.
I’ll Never Turn My Back on You (Father’s Words): Now it’s time for Terry to try his hand at some reggae and you know what? He does a pretty good job with it. As the title suggests, it’s just a song about what his dad said to him in a letter that he wrote. Whether or not he was talking about his biological father or the one who adopted him, I don’t know. Still, it makes for a very interesting listen, especially when his father asks, “remember when we got drunk on wine by sea and you tried to stagger home, you were stubborn then and you’re still stubborn now.” This comes as no surprise, really. He certainly comes across that way in interviews. Terry D’Arby later recorded a song in this style on his “Angels & Vampires” album in 2005. Check out the jam “We Are The Living.”
Dance Little Sister: TTD’s tribute to The Godfather Of Soul, James Brown is funky as hell. I’d try to explain what he was singing about, but honestly I’m so caught up in the groove right now that I really can’t do that for ya. Unfortunately on the LP, it was edited down to about three or four minutes, but if you check out the 12inch mix, which is split up into two different parts, you’ll hear his JB influence a hell of a lot clearer, especially in his vocals where he screams JB-style and calls on, for example, one of the members of his band to play him a funky Hammond B3 riff. Also he sings a couple of lyrics from “Sex Machine,” but as I said that can’t be heard in the LP version. Indeed, the 12inch version is so much better.
Seven More Days: Yet another incredible song that we’ve been presented with. No, this is not a cute little bubblegum song with cheesy dated drum machines or what have you, it is instead quite a serious and complex song which is all about how a man is going to return to his family when a certain wall gets knocked down. I’m not sure, but I’m thinking that maybe he was referring to the Berlin Wall….or maybe he was just kinda writing a song that wasn’t directly inspired by anything factual in particular. Although, he is singing about society’s debts being paid, so perhaps he was singing about something factual….who knows? As I said, though, incredible song. This song would’ve completed the first side of the record or cassette, so let’s get up and turn the record over.
Let’s Go Forward: I’ve had this album for pretty much all of my life, yet I only just found out that in the intro to this song, he’s whispering “Baby don’t cry, baby don’t cry.” At first I thought he was speaking another language, but no that’s not the case at all. Musically he’s backed by a drum machine and even a few programmed strings, but other than that it all seems to be real instruments that he’s using….there’s a guitar or two in there somewhere. Lyrically he’s just telling his girlfriend that he wants to “go forward” with their love. I suppose you could interpret this as him….sorta proposing to her….who knows if that was the intention or not though? Probably not. Again, great stuff.
Rain: The live instruments are back in full effect on this cut – especially the live drums, which definitely dominate the track, as they very well should do. It’s another nod to that whole funky/soulful James Brown style and it runs for about two minutes and fifty eight seconds, just like an old school song oughta. I kid you not, the chorus to this song is “Rain, rain, go away, go away.” Yes, just like the nursery rhyme of the same name. He still manages to pull it off though. Maybe he wrote it cause it was raining outside! It’s funny though, that I can dig him singing about the rain in a nursery rhyme style, yet I don’t think too highly of him talking about “O jacaranda I wanna be yo panda.” Maybe I dug this song cause I was little and felt I could relate to the way he sang the chorus.
Sign Your Name: Here it is. His biggest hit single. The song that folks still associate him with to this very day. It’s a very silky, sexy, classy soul ballad about a certain girl whom he was at first very good friends with, but then that friendship evolved into something bigger. Other words those four letters L.O.V.E. Makes you wonder whether or not men and women can be platonic friends….I think that depends on the situation, but obviously in the case of this song, Terry wants his woman to “sign your name across my heart” and would rather be in hell with the baby they could’ve had. If that’s not a deep enough lyric for ya, I seriously don’t know what is. Another thing I noticed about this song when I heard it on the radio several years back, is that it’s vocally quite Prince/Marvin Gaye influenced. Just listen to those harmonies, especially during the “Shooda wap wap” section. Yes. This is one heckuva timeless ballad.
As Yet Untitled: Terence is backed by nobody but himself on this track and he really shows off his singing range, reaching super high octaves! If I take a stab in the dark, it’s all about how Terry was on his way to becoming a man, probably after coming back from the army and experiencing the death of his father, which he also refers to in this song. It’s definitely not what you would expect from a typical, run-of-the-mill garden variety pop artist. It was later remixed by a New Zealand-based dance artist called Benn Watt. I shudder to think what he did to this beautiful creation. Terry and his people were cool with it though, cause they mentioned it on his site back when it first came out.
Who’s Lovin’ You: To cap it all off, Terry presents us with a cover of Smokey Robinson’s classic ballad “Who’s Loving You,” which was also recorded by a very young Michael Jackson at one point in time. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the original, but Terry certainly makes it his own and he sure as hell sings his ass off like you wouldn’t believe. As you can probably imagine, I used to think this was an original song of his…..obviously now I know a lot better than that. What more can I say? Great closer for the album. Hell yeah!!! Sing that shit, Terry!!!!
Verdict: Back when this album was released, Terry caused all kinds of controversy while he was promoting it because he did an interview for “Rolling Stone” magazine where he said that this album was better than “Seargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” and that he wanted to be “The Jerry fucking Lee Lewis of this generation.” Yes, he was arrogant as hell, not doubting that the ego is still there, but that was quite an extreme proclamation. Still, it’s plain to see why he would even say such a thing because this is a brilliant album from beginning to end. What’s more, absolutely nothing on it sounds dated. Not to me at least. That’s what makes for a classic album to me. This is exactly that. No doubt.
