For many, one of the most salient points of reissuing and compiling popular music is to help listeners rediscover lost gems that may have fallen into the cracks. Ordinarily, one would not consider a debut record that sold 12 million copies, spun off three Top 40 hits and won a Grammy a "lost gem." And yet, it seems that at least one record, 1987's Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, has earned such a strange distinction.
Terence Trent D'Arby has always been something of an enigma. An American living in Europe in the 1980s, he seemed poised to grab the music-listening public by the balls, marrying old-school funk sensibilities to then-modern sonic textures. The fact that he wrote and arranged his own material and even played some of his own backing tracks - not to mention his stunning, video-ready physical features - made the comparisons to Prince, James Brown or Michael Jackson all too rampant. And audiences on both sides of the Atlantic were transfixed, thanks to catchy singles from the chart-topping "Wishing Well" and "Dance Little Sister" to smoldering ballads like "Sign Your Name," a Top 5 hit.
But the thing that contributed to D'Arby's eventual fall from favor wasn't changing demographics or record label politics - it was himself. He possessed a wildly outsized ego in interviews, touting himself as a genius and claiming Introducing the Hardline... - a solid, if slightly dated LP - was greater than The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Eventually, that pretension spread too far into his work and audiences sought other channels for their soul-dance-rock fixation, namely Seal and Lenny Kravitz. D'Arby's commercial prominence never recovered, but he's still happily making music in Europe under a new name, Sananda Maitreya, and bypassing the major label/physical product industrial complex in the process.
While the man may have gone off the deep end from time to time, his unique presence and rather exciting debut would be a great subject for rediscovery in the halls of catalogue titles. As always, find the potential bonus content after the jump.
Assuming the title is done as one of those Legacy Editions in a digipak with an O-card and all, this is how I'd do it.
Disc 1: Original LP and B-sides
- If You All Get to Heaven
- If You Let Me Stay
- Wishing Well
- I'll Never Turn My Back on You (Father's Words)
- Dance Little Sister
- Seven More Days
- Let's Go Forward
- Rain
- Sign Your Name
- As Yet Untitled
- Who's Loving You
- Loving You is Another Word for Lonely
- Sunday Jam (One Woman Man)
- What a Wonderful World
- Elevators & Hearts
- Greasy Chicken (Live)
- Under My Thumb/Jumpin' Jack Flash (Live)
Tracks 1-11 released in U.S. as Columbia C 40964 and in U.K. as CBS 450911-1
Track 12 was the B-side to "If You Let Me Stay" - Columbia 38 07398
Tracks 13-14 appeared on "If You Let Me Stay" U.K. 12" promo - CBS XPR 1338
Track 15 was the B-side to "Wishing Well" - Columbia 38 07675
Tracks 16-17 were B-sides to "Sign Your Name" U.K. 12" single - CBS TRENT T4
Disc 2: Remixes and Rarities
- If You Let Me Stay (Shep Pettibone Remix)
- Wishing Well (The Cool in the Shade Mix)
- Dance Little Sister (Shep Pettibone Remix)
- Sign Your Name (12" Extended Mix)
- If You Let Me Stay (Capital Radio Session)
- Wishing Well (The Darbinian Mix)
- Sign Your Name (Lee "Scratch" Perry Remix)
- If You All Get to Heaven (Lee "Scratch" Perry Remix)
- Rain (Lee "Scratch" Perry Remix)
- Dance Little Sister (Parts 1 & 2)
- Wishing Well (Three Coins in a Fountain Mix)
- The Incredible E.G. O'Reilly - The Birth of Maudie
- The Incredible E.G. O'Reilly - An Chúileann
Track 1 released on 12" single - Columbia 44 07450
Track 2 released on 12" single - Columbia 44 07543
Tracks 3 and 10 released as 12" single - Columbia 44 07787
Tracks 4 and 7 released as 12" single - Columbia 44 07877
Track 5 released on U.K. 12" promo - CBS XPR 1338
Track 6 released on U.K. 12" single - CBS TRENT G2
Tracks 8 and 9 released on U.K. 12" single - CBS TRENT G4. Previously unreleased on CD.
Track 11 released on U.K. 12" single - CBS TRENT T2
Tracks 12-13 released as U.K. 7" single under the pseudonym "The Incredible E.G. O'Reilly" in 1989, not long before TTD's second LP - CBS EGOR 1. Previously unreleased on CD.
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Would snap this up in a second. Love all of his work including the Wild Card album which was put out under his "new" name. Althou I have all the B-sides and most of the remixes, I had no idea about the E.G. O'Reilly stuff. Any good? What a talent... There is some great footage of him performing with Inxs on YOUTUBE. What could have been!
No joke, that INXS footage is sort of what got the ball rolling on this post. I just did the INXS/Kick post a day or two ago and remembered that the two had collaborated (too brief a time, I say - had they done a full tour that would have been amazing).
As for the E.G. O'Reilly stuff, I sort of stumbled on it by accident. I believe that name was in some of the credits on singles and stuff, and it's actually the name of the bar that TTD goes into in the "Sign Your Name" video. Although it'd technically be lumped into the time period of his second album, Neither Fish Nor Flesh, I figured Hardline would be a more likely candidate for reissue and figured it wouldn't hurt to put such rarities into the mix.
A good bit of trivia there in the name of the bar being E.G. O'Reilly! A shame about the Inxs collaboration. Too brief indeed. Imagine if they had really had time to rehearse and work out some new arrangements! Especially the more funky Inxs tunes like Original Sin etc...
Hi Michael,
Only just came across this post & whilst your choice of tracks for a reissue is good, I think I can make it more definitive:
Disc one:
Introducing the Hardline Acc to… – #1-16: around 75 mins
1. If You All Get to Heaven
2. If You Let Me Stay (original album version) 3:13
3. Wishing Well (Three Coins in a Fountain Mix) 6:13 – full length version; 3:30 7"/album version is an early fade of this
4. I’ll Never Turn My Back On You (Father's Words)
5. Dance Little Sister (Parts I & II) 8:40 – full length version; 3:55 7"/album version is an early fade of this
6. Seven More Days
7. Let's Go Forward
8. Rain
9. Sign Your Name 5:48 – full length version; 4:37 7"/album version is an early fade of this
10. As Yet Untitled
11. Who’s Lovin’ You
12. Loving You is Another Word for Lonely – If You Let Me Stay b-side
13. (Sunday Jam) One Woman Man – If You Let Me Stay 12" doublepack & Dance Little Sister b-side
14. Wonderful World – If You Let Me Stay 12" doublepack & Wishing Well b-side
15. Elevators & Hearts – Wishing Well b-side
16. Heartbreak Hotel – Dance Little Sister cassette single b-side
As for disc two, here's a list of all the remaining Hardline & Neither Fish Nor Flesh era non-album tracks that saw commercial release... take your pick!
Walkin' the Line 2:40 – Brian Wilson's 1988 eponymous album; TTD on backing vocals
Seven More Days (Remix) 4:32
If You Let Me Stay (Extended Remix) 6:03
If You Let Me Stay (Pettibone Mix) 7:25
If You Let Me Stay (Pettibone Dub) 6.30
Wishing Well (Cool in the Shade Mix) 7:50
Wishing Well (Darbinian MIx) 8:27
Wishing Well (Pettibone Remix)
If You All Get to Heaven (Upsetter Mix) 4:54
Rain (Upsetter Mix) 2:54 – as abv
Sign Your Name (Upsetter Mix) 5:18
Sign Your Name (Connection Remix) 6:27 – appeared on a DJ remix service 12"
If You Let Me Stay 3:06 – Capitol Radio session 1987
Soul Power, Under My Thumb, Heartbreak Hotel, Mannish Boy – Peel session 2.8.87
1987/88 live tracks that were released as b-sides on various singles between 1987-90, usually bearing the legend: "Recorded live somewhere on the road in the early days & mixed by Phil Legg":
Greasy Chicken 4:40
Under My Thumb 4:50
Jumping Jack Flash 4:30
Dance Little Sister 8:15
Rain 3:15
I'll Never Turn My Back On You 4:06
Wishing Well 6:50
If You Let Me Stay 4:40 – recorded at the Grammy Awards 2.3.88; TV transmission & included on Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume II CD
In addition to all the above, a complete Hardline era live show on DVD wouldn't go amiss. We certainly got numerous snippets on various commercial & promo videos, but these were generally spoiled by being truncated or having interviews & unrelated footage spliced in.
The Birth of Maudie 3:00 – 'The Incredible E.G. O’Reilly' UK & Euro 7" & Euro 3" CD single released just ahead of the Neither Fish... album
An Chuileann 3:45 – The Birth of Maudie b-side; instrumental
Sad Song for Sister Serenade 6:00 – This Side of Love b-side; instrumental
Loose Variations On a Dead Man’s Vibe in C#M 6:35 – To Know Someone Deeply... b-side; instrumental
One World One Voice – various artists album 1990; appears on track #21
It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding 3:42 – British Electric Foundation's Music of Quality and Distinction Volume 2 album 1991
This Side of Love (Extended Mix) 8:00
This Side of Love (12” Remix) 9:00
To Know Someone Deeply... (Dance Mix) 5:34
To Know Someone Deeply... (Samba Mix) 5:00
To Know Someone Deeply... (Upsetter Mix) 4:38
Billy Don’t Fall (12” Remix) 7:20
Miscellaneous non-tour live tracks:
Roly Poly, To Know Someone Deeply... – Arsenio Hall Show 1989
As Yet Untitled – Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa 16.4.90
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away 4.00 – John Lennon 50th birthday tribute concert 5.5.90
Motown 30 'What’s Goin' On!' – TV special 11.90; various tracks
That's the lot – phew!