Nigor Mortis – Terence Trent D’Arby

It was some time in 2007 that Whatsisname over there with the dreadlocks who now lives in Northern Italy began working on the follow-up to his double disc set “Angels & Vampires.” We were all made aware of this because the MP3 files were immediately made available for download via his official website, just like they were when he was making “Angels & Vampires,” which means that he released about four or five songs at a time and put them all under different headings, or chapter names. Such examples include “If You Were Living Here (With Me) You’d Be Home By Now,” “Suck My Contradiction” and “Pussy For Perjury! (Songs From An American Grave).” I kid you not, these are the names of some of the chapters. A few of these songs I’d already heard and…..kinda dug to a certain extent, but since I knew how it was gonna work, I just decided to wait till he was done with all the chapters and what not just so that I could listen to the music on my stereo via an officially pressed CD. This is the best way to go – believe me. Eventually the finished product made its way into the retail section of his official site some time in 2009, which means it took him about two whole years to complete the record. That’s not too bad actually….I mean he could’ve done like Maxwell or D’Angelo and kept us waiting for almost 10 years. All righty then, here’s another track for track analysis for ya:

O Lovely Gwenita: Let’s see what we’ve got here: a live piano, a live drum kit, live instumentation in general. Terry’s vocals sound nice n’ sweet….actually it even sounds a bit like his nose is a bit blocked…..did he record this with the flu? We all know that could be a possibility. One of the lyrics in this song is “It is not a tangible thing, but if it were a tangerine I would eat it.” When I heard that for the first couple of times, I was like “That wasn’t serious was it?! Nah no way.” I soon got over that though. This is a nice opener…quite catchy, too “O lovely Gwenita, I’m so happy to meet ya…..” The strings are really nice too. According to the lyrics page on his website, this song is all TTD. Impressive.

This Town: Another entirely solo composition from Terence Trent D’Arby. He can be heard pounding the hell outta his snare drum on this cut. Also there are some really great horns here. “This town won’t love you if you pay your taxes on the run…..and stamp your heart with an expiration date.” For real? Wow. I didn’t think that was possible. Another great track…..which even features a reference to Bruce Springsteen.

With A Girl Like You: If you go back and listen to his “Symphony Or Damn” album, you’ll notice that it was here that he expressed some kind of interest in the country/western genre. On this particular track, he’s gone completely all the way out. He sounds like he’s boot scootin’ at a square dance or something. I’m not exaggerating. There’s even a banjo and a fiddle on this track, which is definitely something else. Lyrically he’s just talking about how he can do so many great things with his woman like “swing through the jungle” and “follow the rainbow.” By the way, when was the last time you heard Terence Trent D’Arby saying “I was raised on chicken and cornbred?” Yeah exactly. You never did! I think it’s possible that he made this reference because of the way in which the song was turning out…y’know, as I said earlier, all country & western flavoured. EDIT: He is indeed a Southern boy, hence the lyric. So far, so good.

I Never Knew How Much: Is this a cover of that song “Fever”? You know, “I never knew how much you loved me, never knew howmuch you cared….” Oh. Wait a second. It’s not. It’s actually an original composition. I sure did get the impression that he was gonna sing that very song though. Guess he fooled me on that one. The music also threw me for a loop, as I thought it sounded rather unorganised and somewhat thrown together. Gave me the impression that it was Terence Trent D’Arby on some other shit all together and with lyrics like “Kiss my jazz,” I probably wouldn’t be all that far off with my comments. He’s done songs like this one before, mind you, in particular “Baby Let Me Share My Love” and “Rolly Polly.” It’s definitely not one of my favourites…..well…..not at this stage anyway. Who knows? Maybe in 10 years I’ll like it.

At The Crossroads: Thankfully we’re back to normal here. This is another great rocker from Terry D’Arby. Sounds like he was trying to find some kind of answer to life in this track ala Cat Stevens in songs like “On The Road To Find Out.” This would then give me the impression that it’s a personal song. Maybe it isn’t, although you never really know with these singers and songwriters. Still, this is a really great song, which, if I were a radio DJ I’d play on my own show. I’d have to introduce him as TTD though, or Terence Trent D’Arby. None of this “Sananda” business, but that’s just me of course.

A Wife Knows: On this next jam, Terence is backing himself up with nothing but a bass guitar and a live drum kit. Very stripped down indeed. I never really picked up on this, but this gives the track quite a trip-hop inspired type of feeling. Whether or not that’s what he was trying to go for, I don’t know. I must say though, I found this song just a tad bit difficult to get into. Lyrically he’s talking about how a wife knows whenever her husband is feeling some kind of pain. Such lyrics certainly seem fitting for this particular musical backdrop. This was one of the songs that was featured in the first chapter of the album and therefore one of the first songs that I heard from Terry D’Arby’s “Nigor Mortis.” Same goes for the next two tunes that follow it.

These Stones: Now that Terry is completely free from all record label politics, he can release as much material as he pleases. What’s more, if he records a song….and he crosses the beat as he’s laying down the vocal track, just like he does in the first two seconds of this song – he’s not gonna go back & fix that mistake, he’s just gonna leave it at that. Seems a bit silly, but hey if he likes it like that, then so be it I suppose. Anyways, this song is all about how he’d more or less kill himself if he found out that his woman was going to up and leave him. He’ll off himself by bashing two stones against his mellon. That’s a bit extreme. Let’s hope that never happens. Overall, the songs not too bad.

If I Just Stay With You: This was the first song in the group of songs from chapter one. I thought it sounded a bit like a reject from the “Angels & Vampires” sessions. I still kinda think it sounds like that. It probably is, too as it has that sorta uneven rhythm behind it, combined with the live bass and guitar. Lyrically he’s talking about how if he stays with his woman, he’s more or less going to continually feel some sort of love for her and will be overcome with joy….that’s not quite what he says, but it’s probably what he was suggesting. It’s just a guess, but the song’s probably not that deep. I only feel like this because it says “blah blah blah” in the lyrics sheet. It’s almost like he said “Yeah, whateva!! It’s just a song, nothin more nothin less.”

Has It Been Too Quiet?: I dunno, buddy. You tell me. That’s certainly a question that doesn’t get answered in this song though, which seems to be all about a failed relationship which may or not have been fictitious. This woman beat him like a drum and played him like piano keys. Such lyrics make you wonder whether or not this song’s a metaphor for the way he got done by the music industry. I wouldn’t necessarily rule this out though because Terry D’Arby is always very angry at those folks whenever he does an interview. Regardless, it’s quite a catchy song: “I know I asked you for some quiet, but baby has it been too quiet now?/I know I asked you for some peace, but now it feels like I lost a piece of me.” Hmmm……interesting.

Free Me: Apparently this song and all of the other ones featured in Chapter 4, was inspired by a certain time in his life when he was living in Southern California. Does that mean that he was using personification? Probably. So I guess that could also mean that the “woman” in this song could be the state of Cali herself. The woman is somebody who will drive you crazy, like a red Mercedes Benz. Then, she’ll destroy all your chances of ever trying to get yourself a date. As you can tell by the title, Whatsisname just wanted to be set free from such madness. Fair enough.

I Don’t Give A Fuck About You: Oh yeah? Well guess what? I’m not too concerned about you either, pal! In all seriousness, though, I wasn’t too impressed to see the title of this song for some reason or another. In fact I thought it was somewhat classless, but then when I finally heard the song for myself, I was greatly impressed. He’s talking about some woman who dances with the devil and stepped all over this particular character’s world, so he wants to kill her. Sounds pretty full on, but I think this song is pretty cool actually. The bassline is what really drew me to it. Again, it also sounds like he had a cold or something when he recorded this one, but we’ll let that slide.

Mrs. Gupta: This is another one of those moody, almost trip hop sounding songs. I decided to do a Google search for Gupta just because the use of such a name piqued my curiosity. In doing so, I discovered that it’s a common, mostly Hindu surname in India, hence Terry’s “Guru voice” towards the end of this song, which…..at first I thought was supposed to be a German accent or something. I certainly wouldn’t pick it for an Indian one. Anyways, as far as the lyrics are concerned, he’s just saying that he wants to give his heart to this….Mrs Gupta…. whoever she is…..I think he basically just wanted to sleep with her, because he said he wanted to knock on her door, which is of course a metaphor for sex anyways.

Ooh Carolina: For a while there, I thought he was going to be covering that Shaggy song from 1993, but thankfully this was not so. Every now and then, he serves us up with one of those classic Terry D’Arby songs. This is definitely one of those moments because you instantly recognise his voice and you get straight into the melody of the song. Absolutely. No questions asked. Not to mention the fact that he sings the song very sweetly. “Ooh carolina, I just wanna love you.” Well go right ahead then. Great stuff.

Family Reunion: Just a simple little ditty, which is all about a family reunion. It’s definitely feel good music, which doesn’t feature any silly lyrics like “Boolay Boolay” or any references to “little people short and grey.” Thank God for that. This song only runs for about a minute and fifty five seconds. Nice, brief and straight to the point. Just the way I like it.

Where Did The Money Go?: I don’t know, but this song is another one of those Terry D’Arby is on some other shit types of jams with talks of having a joke, a smoke and a few drinks of wine. I think he had one too many when he sat down to write this one down. Musically it’s another raw rock song, which….I don’t think too much of to be honest with you.

Because You’ve Changed: According to Terence, the stockmarket’s fallen and the bus has stopped running all because “you’ve” changed. Whoever “you” is, I have no idea. What I will say, though, is that if you’ve ever heard a Terence Trent D’Arby album before, you’d be very well aware of the fact that he can sing his ass off. In several octaves. Well, in this case, he sings so hard he sounds like he’s about to burst a vocal chord! I kid you not. This muthafucka is truly bad! That blusey piano that backs him up only makes this song even more authentic. Gives it that real cocktail bar type of feeling. Joe Cocker could do this song pretty well.

Superstar: I remember hearing this song some time in 2008 and assuming, like most people out there, that it was an autobiographical song. At the time I think it was a free download on his myspace page….correct me if I’m wrong there, though. I was later informed via whomever it was that was controlling his myspace account that this song actually wasn’t autobiographical at all. There was even a statement made where TTD clarified this fact himself. Still, it’s a great little slice of funky rock, which is basically all about a star who couldn’t sing, was assumed to be gay and eventually disappeared off the face of the Earth.

December In The Rain: This melodious, acoustic based pop tune is all about a man falling in love with a woman in the month of December, which, in America is obviously quite cold. In Europe, it’d be the same. Down here in Australia, it’s blazing hot around that time of year. Anyways, Terence is more or less comparing the feeling of love and the way in which it becomes contagious to that of pnuemonia and/or a general fever. I suppose you could say that’s quite clever, but somewhat deadly and disturbing at the same time. Still, it’s a decent tune.

Angel (Not A Saint): I recall Terry D’Arby bigging up Dwight Yokham’s album from 1998 on his old site back in the day and actually he even mentions meeting him in the chapter sections for this album. I suppose that’s why he’s come back at us with that funky fiddle, which comes to us courtesy of an artist called Lucio Fabbri. It’s quite a good song. I especially like the first chorus which says, “I’m an angel, not a saint, so put your body on my canvas and paint.” Really? Wow. Just. Wow. That’s all I gotta say about that.

What Would You Like?: Normally I don’t like it when Terry does a song where the lyrics refer to children’s characters or anything else along these lines, ie “O Jacaranda I’ll be your panda.” In this song, however, he’s singing about Dorothy and Toto from the Wizard Of Oz writing a script and shopping it around to certain directors. Eventually the show makes them both filthy rich to the point where Dorothy can’t even afford a nose job. Me thinks there is some kind of thinly veiled referencing going on here…..whether that be about the music industry, or the entertainment industry in general, I really don’t know. Still, I’m lovin the shit outta this song right now. I mean, who would’ve thought that the words “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do” could be sung ever so soulfully? He tears that muthafucka up in this song. Hell yeah!!!

Cowboys & Injuries: For the sake of this song, I shall refer to the artist as Terence Trent YEEHAW D’Arby. Why? Because once again we have quite a country western inspired type of jam gracing our ears. This time sans banjo and fiddle. The electric guitar sort of mimics that fiddle, though. He could’ve easily called this song “If you don’t know,” but he decided to go with “Cowboys and injuries” instead, which I think is a much more creative title myself. He says he kicks butt in his cowboy boots and jeans hence the title of the song. It’s pretty cool.

Priscilla: When this song was first released, it was subtitled “Don’t Let Your Dragons Fall.” He’s always had a thing for dragons, the ole Terry D’Arby. That’d be a good question to ask him, “So, mate, exactly what is the fascination with all the dragons? Emotional or otherwise?” Anyhow, I was somewhat expecting the song to sound the way it does, just him strumming his beloved six string. Upon first listen I didn’t really like it, but after a while it grew on me.

The Lost Highway: This one was originally the third song from chapter one. By the time the album was available for purchase in its entirety, it had been a while since I’d heard it, so I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure or whether or not I’d heard it before. I think it works quite well as the closer of the album. Again it’s somewhat country inspired. Seemed like he was on a bit of a country and western kick on this record. Nothing against that though, it’s always refreshing to hear an artist trying something new instead of the same ole same ole.

Verdict: I suppose you could say that, save for a few songs on the record, I pretty much bought it blind and as a result I wasn’t really sure what to expect, or even if I was going to like it or not, especially because of the fact that I thought “Angels & Vampires” was, overall not that great. I know others will strongly disagree with that. Cool. So be it. As for “Nigor Mortis,” I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, which is something that I quite surprised myself with. Let’s see what the next record is like…..will it be better or worse than this one? Even better I hope!!!