Neither Fish nor Flesh (A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope & Destruction) is the second album by American singer Terence Trent D'Arby, released in 1989 on Columbia Records. A follow-up to his debut Introducing the Hardline, the album was a commercial disappointment, spending only four weeks on the UK Albums Chart, and was largely dismissed by critics as self-indulgent and overreaching.

Reception

In a review of Neither Fish nor Flesh for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said despite D'Arby's pretensions and awful lyrics on some songs, the psychedelic pop record's music "proves D'Arby a master of the black spectrum from the trad R&B of 'I'll Be Alright' to the reconstructed Prince-funk of 'This Side of Love'". Andrew Martin, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, chose it as "Album of the Week" and called it "as a complete work, a masterpiece". He concludes: "D'Arby's wit, verve and self-professed genius remains intact." Rolling Stone critic Mark Coleman said D'Arby's effort "fails to establish him as a visionary pop godhead. It does, however, demonstrate convincingly that he's far more than a mere legend in his own mind." AllMusic's Tom Demalon retrospectively called it "a sprawling, overly ambitious work that incorporates Middle Eastern flavorings and even more of a gospel influence into his gritty mix of rock, R&B, and funk", although he felt D'Arby's "pretensions run a bit wild". On the album commentary on his website, D'Arby (now known as Sananda Maitreya) claimed that the album's lack of commercial impact was due to his record company's "wholesale rejection of it" as well as being hindered by German record producer Frank Farian who decided to release an album of D'Arby's performances with funk band The Touch (from 1984) in Germany just weeks before Neither Fish Nor Flesh was due for release. Maitreya states that Neither Fish Nor Flesh was "the project that literally killed 'TTD', and from whose molten ashes, began the life of Sananda".

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Terence Trent D'Arby.

Personnel

with: Alan Smale and Katherine Smale appear as The Degani Ensemble, while Simon Clarke, Roddy Lorimer, Paul Spong and Tim Sanders appear as the Kick Horns.

Production

Charts

Sales and certifications