Rating:  -
Good CD. This is 2007 and it is not necessary that every track on a CD be great, because you just rip the best tracks to your iTunes and delete the bad ones. Simple. I'll buy a CD for one track, if it's hot enough.
Now on this Tricky piece, I would keep tracks 1,2,4,8,9,10,12,and 13 and delete the rest. Use the AIFF (un-compressed) setting on iTunes.
Rating: -
on tricky's album blowback [2000], he pairs himself with the likings of anthony keidis and flea of the red hot chili peppers, ed kowalcyzk of live, alanis morissette and even cyndi lauper. that's one of the pleasures of being a beat mastermind, you can imagine absolutely anyone's vocal techniques to your music and make it happen. flowing on the waves of punk rock mixed within soulful background vocals and guitar chatterings, tricky grew from his pure trip hop roots to share a part that has never been seen before.
in the hot summer of 2000 seeing tricky perform with a full band feeling the songs of his album blowback vividly live in front of me put all his music on a completely different level. whether it was right or wrong, it felt hard to deny the intense attraction and mystery to each vampire melody. warm from the sun still on a high from seeing the show, there would be days of driving with friends upon lost roads in the woods of new hampshire laughing and staring at everything that went along to this soundtrack. drifting through the calmness of new england air, the surprise of sudden curves in emerald tree-lined roads... listening over and over again to the sensual duet between tricky and cyndi lauper, the way their different patterns came together almost made absolutely every detail fall into weird perfect sense. it still does.
dont stop//yr gonna break my heart
Rating: -
I approach this album basically the way I approach Blood Sugar Sex Magik or Ten or something along those lines, in other words a pop/rock record. I really didn't like it when I first got it, most likely because I am a huge Massive Attack fan and was hoping for something in that vein. I listened to it once and was underwhelmed, shelved it for about a year. Then I randomly decided to give it another go when all my other CDs weren't doing it for me, and discovered it to be hugely enjoyable, interesting, and all-around excellent album. The songs are basically structured like pop songs, voiced by a plethora of guest singers. The music has a distinct and original character to it. It's not the psychadelic wash that most electronic music is, the songs are focussed and direct. But they are far from being trite rock/pop tunes, the production is very contemporary and the vocals are diverse and energetic.
The vocals also are not the typically pleasant-but-vapid deliveries common to electronic music. The tense beats and FX add unusual depth to the singing; also the MCing by Tricky and Hawkman put against the pop verses of other singers instantly pushes the album into its own area of style and originality. It's like uptempo ragga trip-hop rock.
Another key sign that you have a good album on your hands is if there is a low number of regularly skipped tracks. I find this CD so entertaining to listen to, the only track i'm ever compelled to skip is the one wih Ed Kowalczek (spelling?), whose vocals on the album don't impress so much as others. The Chili Peppers songs are awesome, funky head-banging teched out madness. Other favorites of mine are "Over Me" and "Diss Never", both of which bring a ragga/dancehall vibe to the proceedings. "Bury The Evidence" is a masterpiece of atmosphere, sort of reminds me of the Deftones, darkly cinematic and very wide and deep in the mix. Also worth noting is the unnerving cover of Nirvana's "Something In the Way", droned and groaned by Hawkman. This inclusion I think solidifies the fusion of very contemporary trip hop/dance/electro with the attitudes of good old-fashioned 90's hard rock.
The diversity of the album is really what makes it I think. Obviously the songs are well-executed as well, but what keeps things interesting is the blend of so many different styles and approaches. We get everything from straight-up rock on "#1 Da Woman" to synthy, programmed trip-hop on "You Don't Wanna", and peppered all through the album are the dark growling words of Tricky and dub-style vocal drops by Hawkman. It's really just interesting and entertaining stuff to listen to, if you are a trip-hop die hard than you may be turned off however, this is coming from more of a pop/rock songwriting direction.
Rating:  -
I think this album is Tricky's most "focused" work, cleverly-crafted songs that produce a vivid, dark landscape that is quintessential British trip-hop at its best. This record grows on you, and the Nirvana cover "Something in the Way" is brilliantly executed, a subliminal masterpiece that Kurt Cobain would be proud of. "Song for Yukiko" is great, and it reminds me of the U2 song "Ito Okashi" from their "Passengers" CD.
Rating:  -
I bought this cd because it is Tricky. I love all his solo albums because they are so unique and challenging. For me I don't like his collaborations and this is no exception. My favourite track is "A song for Yukiko" which is the only Tricky song on the album.
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