** 1/2 TERENCE TRENT D’ARBY : “Terence Trent D’Arby’s, Vibrator” <i> Work/Columbia</i>

After two brilliant albums failed to live up to the commercial level of his 1987 smash debut, D’Arby sounds here as if he’s trying too hard, pushing both his pan-pop palette and amazing Sam Cooke/Otis Redding voice to their limits with each note. But D’Arby is among the few with both the ambition and the reach to get away with it.

In lesser hands, such excesses as the overheated soul vocalizing of “Holding On to You” (which sounds custom-composed for Rod Stewart) or the orgiastic sex-play of “Supermodel Sandwich” would seem, well, excessive. With D’Arby, who like the obvious comparison Prince has never been shy about setting high standards for himself, it almost seems essential. That plays out musically in D’Arby’s continued travel in both time and place, mixing ‘60s Memphis soul session horns with ‘90s Manhattan funk riffs and even the odd 18th-Century Vienna classical reference, with an overall foundation in a stylized vision of ‘70s progressive R&B;, with numerous nods to Curtis Mayfield.

If there’s a problem, it’s that D’Arby’s idealistic proclamations of love and faith are a bit buried in his showing off. But if that puts “Vibrator” a notch below its predecessors, there’s no denying its tour-de-force quality.