Tricky
Blowback

THE REVIEW

If you're looking for the sound of Tricky's early records in this 2001 work, you certainly won't find it. The only points of contact with his recent past refer only to "Nearly God" for the multitude of collaborations present and for the enthusiastic spirit and energy that Tricky has put into it just like at the beginning of his career. This album represents a new starting point for Adrian Thaws in the true sense of the word, as many things have changed since his previous work "Juxtapose" (1999): new lifestyle (eats only organic), new record label (from the major Island to the indie Anti-Epitaph), and new manager. If this does not influence the creation of an album, I don't know what could!?

As stated in several interviews, Tricky expresses the desire to speak to anyone and not create, as in the past, musical discrimination; he wants to be more universal, not only for the variety of styles present in "Blowback" but also for the brightness of many tracks. New sounds are explored 360 degrees: Rock, Hip Hop, Raggamuffin' and, of course, the touch of Tricky's magic wand that makes the album utterly personal, unique, pure. An hybrid that by its very nature escapes any possible classification, just Tricky.

The beautiful piano of "Excess" opens the dance with the collaboration of Alanis Morissette and Stephanie Mckay; here Tricky gives us a more traditional piece than usual if only in its structure, complete with a chorus ("...i believe in people lying, i believe in people dying..."). The first single "Evolution-Revolution Love," featuring Ed Kowalczyk from Live and a talented Reggae artist Hawkman, sounds as if a sound war is just beginning. We find Hawkman again (and will find him later) in "Over Me" along with the album's undisputed first lady Ambersunshower, who duets with Tricky in the melodious and decadent lullaby "Your Name" ("...one live as two, two live as one under the mango tree...") and in the astounding "You Don't Wanna," sampling the quintessence of the electronic piece ("Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics). The sunlight arrives with the Californian sound due to the entrance of half the Red Hot formation: "Girls" is a piece in pure "Peppers" style, with Tricky clashing in a Hip Hop battle with Anthony Kiedis while Frusciante splits between this piece and the reprise of Wonder Woman's intro " #1 Da Five" with Flea on bass for an indisputably Funky track full of pure delirium. There are many tracks with Hawkman: "Give it To'Em" and "Diss Never(Dig Up We History)" are Raggamuffin' gems where the spirit of the Jamaican slums can be perfectly perceived, with a plethora of inhuman laments. "Bury The Evidence," the most beautiful piece on the album, releases a tension comparable only to "Pre-Millennium Tension" with the explosion of a Metal guitar towards the end, orgasmic. The cover of Nirvana's "Something In the Way" is even more distressing and claustrophobic and undoubtedly more of a "trip" than the original. Directly from the 80s, Cyndi Lauper sings in the polluted "Five Days," repeating incessantly ("...the five to fours i can't take it no more...") between electric shocks and blackouts. In "A Song For Yukiko," he duets with Yukiko Takahashi and sings in Japanese, cradled by a piano improvisation.

The beautiful cover by Anton Corbijn perfectly synthesizes the spirit of the album and the title (-to blow -smoke weed); indeed, passing the smoke from one mouth to another is a very "sensual and generous" gesture, just like this album.