Along with a new tour and album – Wildcard – D’Arby is sporting his new name. A couple of years ago, he legally changed his name to Sananda Maitreya. According to D’Arby, the name change came about after a “series of dreams in which the inhabitants of my dream-dimension were calling me Sananda, and it took about three dreams before I realized that they were speaking to me, directing their energy at me.”

New stuff aside, it’s been a wee while since D’Arby has made headlines. His last North American tour was in 1995 – right at the time of the release of his Vibrator album.

As to what he’s been up to between albums, D’Arby told The Times in an interview earlier this year, “Basically I have been putting my life back in the direction I wanted – and it took all this time, wrestling control from the music industry.”

The music industry-wrestling D’Arby refers to concerns a legal battle with his then-record label, Sony, that lasted a good six years. Liberated from the contract, he eventually went on to form his own label – Sananda Productions.

With one battle behind him, D’Arby is now facing off against Universal in Germany. The allegations claim, “the old version [of his new album, Wildcard] is still being illegally exploited by Universal-Germany who are selling surplus copies to unlicensed territories at mark-down prices and they have also been less than honest with regards to the number of CDs sold in order to avoid paying moneys due,” according to his Web site.

Because of the Universal deal, D’Arby has released the “final edition” of Wildcard, titled The Joker’s Edition. The new disc comes with 19 songs as well as new packaging and photos.