Maxinquaye - Tricky

This was one of the seminal hip hop albums of the early 90's, Tricky was the producer and performer du jour, having links to other members of the Bristol Trip Hop mafia, Massive Attack, he even has one song with the same basic tune overwhelmed by his moody beats and vocals. This really is a startling album, dark, nasty, brooding and incredibly heavy, it has a real edge to it but it's that which makes it so incredibly listenable, the vocals are wonderful with Martina Topley-Bird contrasting her sweet mellow voice with Tricky's rough rasping local twang. The album is still the highlight of Tricky's career for me, it is wonderful. I would recommend this to ...  Read the complete review

Tricky's Maxinquaye is one of those all time great albums! The mix of hip hop with complete mellow chillout music is blended together with absolute precision. You never tire of the songs here, and each time you listen to it you love it. Black Steel is one of my favourites, along with Hello is Round The Corner which are just excellent. The female vocals on some tracks with Tricky's vocals on others, and both together are a welcome diversion to keep the tracks different throughout. if you don't own this album then you really should! ...  Read the complete review

Underworld, the Chemical Brothers and Leftfield all had a major effect on drawing alternative music fans over to dance. But just as great was the amount of pull exerted by Bristol's holy trinity of Massive Attack, Portishead and Adrian Thaws, aka Tricky. In '95, i was languishing in Indiekidsville, Idaho. i can still remember the fantastic impact "Dummy" had, when i first listened to it, staring into the dark, wondering why music like this hadn't been done before. It sounded entirely natural, and yet completely new, a quantum leap in style (the number of imitators they spawned verify this). But to then put on "Maxinquaye" shortly ...  Read the complete review

Arguably Tricky's best work. Much more cohesive and accessable than his later work. Martina's lilting vocals over the languid slow drum loops and samples from funk and Smashing Pumpkins tracks are just wonderous. Even better are the clashing of the lyrical stylings. Martina's completely breath taking melodic voice over the hushed raspy whispering of Tricky creates such a dissonance of emotion. And the lyrics and as a concept album, where most of the songs are about the reluctance to lose one's self in love... Make this Cd a true Classic ...  Read the complete review