POP MUSIC REVIEW : A Dazzling Display From Trent D’Arby

Cohesion isn’t Terence Trent D’Arby’s thing, but if you go for a spread-legged-toe-touching leap followed by a split and a bounce up to the microphone just in time for the next line of the song, he’s your guy.

At the American Legion Hall on Wednesday, D’Arby employed a simple strategy to escape the dispiriting stigma of a perpetually sputtering career: Ignore it and act like the biggest rock star in the world, rather than someone whose ambitious efforts have been able to attract just a cult following.

The concert didn’t really solve the lack of focus that marks his sprawling albums. But if you were ready to sit back for a display of nonstop musical morphing, it was a dazzler.

D’Arby’s array of power ballads, soul ballads, pop/R&B;, psychedelic pop, hard-rock, experimental exotica, et al. embraced everything from James Brown grit to Sam Cooke/Marvin Gaye sweetness, Hendrix aggression to a Princely blend of the carnal and the spiritual.

The hangar-like hall’s often tinny, brittle sound didn’t do him any favors, but eventually he and his five musicians generated some warmth and fullness. His raspy, supple voice was especially striking on the piano ballads, and soul-revue showmanship and his lithe, sensuous dancing enhanced the upbeat moments.

With his grandiose designs and stylistic incoherence, D’Arby can be as frustrating and confounding as he is passionate and exciting. At worst he can seem pretentious and distant, but the show’s urgency, capped by his sweet, sincere closing address about music’s connection with the divine, created the kind of bond that can transcend those traits.