Tricky’s debut album is an intoxicating listen possessed by a rare, wicked beauty.
Bristol rapper Adrian Thaws, aka Tricky (once he’d dropped the cumbersome "Kid" from his moniker), was hardly an unknown force when he released this debut album in early 1995. His whispered, husky vocals had appeared on Massive Attack’s 1991 disc Blue Lines, and he featured again on the trio’s next LP, 94’s Protection. Maxinquaye, though, was something else. It’s hard to imagine how he could have stepped out of Massive Attack’s shadow in a more dramatic fashion.
Named after the artist’s late mother, Maxinquaye is a (quite deliberately) suffocating delight of oily beats and murky atmospherics, bruised lyricism and crafty samples. Tricky relishes his frontman role, that much is clear from a venomous turn on Brand New You’re Retro (which lifts from Michael Jackson’s Bad) and the man’s captivating performance on Hell Is Round the Corner, which rides the same Isaac Hayes sample as Portishead’s Glory Box (which was released as a single just weeks before Maxinquaye hit shelves). But he’s not quite flying solo here, as his then-girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird steals the spotlight on a series of numbers. And it’s the collision of these vocal styles – one croaky and smoky, one silky smooth but able to bear teeth when called upon – that drives this album to the classic status it today enjoys.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music