Neither Fish nor Flesh
Released
After the multiplatinum debut of Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby put the world on notice that a new, immensely talented singer-songwriter was here to shape the zeitgeist, D’Arby’s career stopped cold two years later with his sophomore album. He’d felt entitled to the artistic leeway afforded his (white) rock ’n’ roll contemporaries, or at least Prince. The new album’s Brian Wilson vocal experiments (“…And I Need to Be with Someone Tonight”), Keith Richards guitar hooks (“This Side of Love”) and more paved the way for the alternative R&B of Janelle Monáe, Frank Ocean, etc. But in 1989, the creative stretches made for a commercial flop.