Terence Trent D'arby
Neither Fish Nor Flesh

This album was not understood!

That's the only thing that comes to mind when re-listening, twenty years after its release, to "Neither Fish Nor Flesh," the much-maligned second work of the late Terence Trent D'Arby (now Sananda Maytreya). 

Sure that the polish and brilliance of the first "Introducing the Hardline" would overshadow any attempt at replication by the Afro-American-Irish artist, no one would have expected such a bewildering album, so far removed from his debut that most did not understand it, in fact, they accused the young multi-instrumentalist of arrogance and bravado, both completely unjustified.

The sonic hodgepodge that characterizes NFNF, however, more today than then, should be considered an effective snapshot of a moment, that of the late eighties, where anyone with an ounce of sensitivity would have recognized a certain confusion of intents. An inability to fully understand what the following decade could bring socially, politically, and also musically. This explains why NFNF is not precisely an album of singles, as its predecessor was. This especially explains why "Neither Fish nor Flesh" (..a soundtrack of love, faith, hope and destruction) overflows with ideas in the arrangements and production, ideas that were never revisited in subsequent albums (though "Vibrator" from '95 is also notable).

The album was born with the intent to work on songs with a rather simple structure (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus) but laden with imposing soundscapes, sometimes baroque. The results? Back then, too much was "too much," and Terence was accused of presumption. Today, the idea of getting the album off the ground only by the fourth track (To love someone deeply is to love someone softly), that is, after an intro, a song for voice and harp ("I have faith.."), a strange twilight ballad like the splendid "It feels so good to love someone like you," seems to me a result of uncommon genius and intemperateness.

"Neither Fish nor Flesh" then matures in the middle with pieces that are still of diamond-like beauty today: "This side of love" or "You will pay tomorrow". And excuse me if I haven't yet mentioned the fateful words funk-soul-R&B. For this album, they wouldn't be the correct key to understanding, at least not sufficiently. Try listening today to the dynamics of "You will pay tomorrow" with the intertwining of horns, strings, and kazoo (!) or the bass work of Cass "Skunk Anansie" Lewis. Chills.

There's so much in this album, truly. And I say "so much" to avoid saying "too much." There isn't only Terence's splendid voice: raspy and warmly intense when needed. There's a sense of anticipation, courage and expressive strength. There's research and the desire for identification.

Né carne Né pesce (indeed): a soundtrack of love, faith, HOPE, and destruction.

p.s. the sample includes in sequence: 1) It feels so good to love someone like you 2) To love someone deeply is to love someone softly 3) This side of love 4) You will pay tomorrow.