A trip-hop album from 30 years ago might seem like a rather counterintuitive choice for an anniversary review, especially considering the metal leanings of Tuonela Magazine, but take it from the horse’s mouth (I was there when it happened some 3,000 years ago!) – not only have those few mid-1990s Bristol acts influenced myriad metal bands over the last three decades but there was one album in particular that instantly proved “metal as fuck,” if you will, with its iconoclastic Devil-may-care approach. Mind you, at the time of its release, I was in my early twenties, going through a phase of uppity music elitism, with my radar adjusted to detect only the most obscure vintage prog-rock from the 1970s or the budding metal subgenres of the early 1990s. Then, a few select UK-based electronica artists gradually softened my views on music – Björk, ORBITAL, and MASSIVE ATTACK, especially – until, finally, on February 20th, 1995, the very fabric of reality unraveled completely. Released through an obscure subsidiary of Island Records called 4th & B’way, along came this haunting debut album of Adrian Thaws, better known by his artistic alias Tricky, after rising to fame in the ranks of MASSIVE ATTACK. He decided to embark on a solo career after the breath-taking 1994 album “Protection,” frustrated with his limited role with this seminal Bristol act – and he sure started with a bang. Entitled “Maxinquaye,” this debut is a wild mixture of hazy downbeats, fragments of rock and reggae, and all sorts of experimental flourishes. If the album’s wild amounts of artistic freedom weren’t enough to ruffle some feathers at the time, the lyrics sure packed enough punch to raise a few eyebrows, touching on themes such as obsession, sexual dysfunction, fear of intimacy, and violence.
The first traces of Tricky‘s brooding and poignant vision unfold right from the go in the opener, entitled “Overcome,” a reworking of the ideas he had written for MASSIVE ATTACK‘s 1994 song “Karmacoma.” Apart from the lyrics, these two songs convey significantly different moods. Tricky‘s revisionist take resonates with a substantially darker air, almost like an inauspicious fever dream. Maybe that’s why the song ended up on the Strange Days soundtrack later. It certainly sets a rather somber tone for the album.
The next track, “Ponderosa,” is not such a bad account of drugged-out desperation, of being stuck in a depressing reality where there is no way out. Sandwiched between the brilliant opener and what comes next, the song is fated to sound a bit like a filler, I’m afraid. In isolation, it sounds much better. The thing is – Tricky‘s cover rendition of the 1988 PUBLIC ENEMY banger, “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos,” shortened to “Black Steel” on this album, is pure genius and dark magic! The unholy alliance of distorted guitars and hip-hop had been on the menu of many artists in both hip-hop and metal frameworks. None of them had ever really succeeded in making this seemingly dysfunctional marriage work before Tricky’s haunting effort here. This version oozes the original raw energy of punk. Oddly enough, when vocalist Martina Topley-Bird added her vocals, the legend has it that she’d had not heard the track before she went into the recording booth; she was handed the lyrics and she basically ad-libbed the melodies in one go – as she did with quite a few of the other tracks on this album as well. That’s magic.
Back in 1995, I recall, it was a bit awkward to realize that two artists had used the same sample as the very foundation block of one of their biggest songs. First, PORTISHEAD had written their seminal 1994 hit “Glory Box” around the iconic Isaac Hayes sample from “Ike’s Rap II.” Next year, Tricky constructed his song “Hell Is Round the Corner” around the same line-cliché progression from that 1971 soul classic. I think PORTISHEAD used it better but it must be stated that there is something deliciously unsettling in Tricky‘s vision, too. Then, if you take the music video into account, Tricky takes the prize –because in the video, it looks almost as if he’s channeling the ghost of his mother through some occult Voodoo ritual. Let’s keep in mind that his debut album was named after his mother, Maxine. Her presence from beyond the grave seems to hover over the album from front to end, not only in this music video.
Amidst all the introspective and smokey trip-hop vignettes, a few more tracks stand out. The first single, “Aftermath,” was the very spark that ignited Tricky‘s solo career. He had offered the song to MASSIVE ATTACK in 1993 but they didn’t like it; eventually, after pressing a few hundred vinyl copies of the song independently, Tricky was offered a deal by Island Records – and the rest is history. Further into the album, “Pumpkin” is a rather unexpected, slightly erotic if not even sultry duet with Alison Goldfrapp. She was an up-and-coming powerhouse vocalist at the time, probably best known for her contributions to ORBITAL‘s brilliant techno album “Snivilisation,” released in 1994. The song features a sample from THE SMASHING PUMPKINS‘ song, “Suffer,” from 1991, hence the title. Tricky has later dismissed the use of the sample as a mere piss-take but it is Jimmy Chamberlain‘s drumming that holds the flow of this enticing song together.
One more track to single out is “Abbaon Fat Tracks.” As if the aural malaise of the song is not enough to confuse you – I mean, the main riff sounds as if it gallops in some off-kilter meter but it doesn’t – I find it pretty raunchy when Topley-Bird sings, “I fuck you in the ass, just for a laugh.” Some people find this song erotic in its peculiar way but, for me, it sounds more like it is loitering on the brink of the abyss for shits and giggles. Tricky later confirmed that the title is just a puerile word-play on ABBA. And speaking of the lyrics, amidst all the explicit depictions of sexual paranoia and whatnot, the lyrics drop quite a few thought-provoking one-liners. “Suffocated Love” deals with the topic of dysfunctional relationships rather poignantly, ending with the line, “I know why the caged bird sings.” Then, the introspective fall through the darkness in “Strugglin’” states, “In hell, I’ll be lost in the layers of weakness.” Who would have thought at the time that one of the most poignant poets of the era came from the Bristol hip-hop underground?!
Okay, If there is one track that doesn’t impress me that much, it must be “Brand New, You’re Retro.” It sounds like a piss-take on NINE INCH NAILS or something, though it samples Michael Jackson and PUBLIC ENEMY.
“Maxinquaye” is a blistering collision of claustrophobic beauty and intense violence and as such it certainly is a serious heavyweight in the list of classic albums from the 1990s – regardless of the genre, I might add. It came out amid the Britpop craze when everyone’s attention was fixed on the verbal shenanigans of certain Britpop royalties. Tricky‘s debut beat them all in the end-of-the-year polls – and for a bloody good reason, too. Now, 30 years later, it sounds as poignant as ever like a true masterpiece only should.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Overcome
- Ponderosa
- Black Steel
- Hell Is Round the Corner
- Pumpkin
- Aftermath
- Abbaon Fat Tracks
- Brand New, You’re Retro
- Suffocated Love
- You Don’t
- Strugglin’
- Feed Me
Lineup
Tricky – composition, production, “vocals”
Martina Topley-Bird – vocals
Alison Goldfrapp – vocals on “Pumpkin”
FTV – guitars and drums on “Black Steel”
Howie B – composition, production
James Stevenson – guitars on “Brand New, You’re Retro”
Mark Stewart – vocals
Mark Saunders – production, guitars, keyboards on “Overcome”
Pete Briquette – bass on “Suffocated Love”
Ragga – vocals on “You Don’t”
Tony Wrafter – flute on “Aftermath”
Label
4th & B’way Records
