It’s probably a testament to the input of the then virtually unknown singer, Martina Topley Bird that the belligerent and handsomely wayward Tricky has had to employ the services of not one replacement but five for his eagerly-awaited follow-up to 1995’s, ‘Maxinquaye’ album. Yeah, I know it’s not a follow-up in the strictest sense of the word. There was the interesting, but vaguely short-changing collection of demos that made-up the ‘Nearly God’ album in 1996 (more notable for its collaborations with terminal glumster, Terry Hall, Siouxsie Sioux, Bjork, and – perhaps – strangest of all – Alison Moyet), ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ (1998) and 2003’s veil-lifting, myth-busting, fan-launching ‘Vulnerable’ album. There’s also been a good half-dozen in between. ‘Knowle West Boy’ is more its ‘spiritual’ follow-up, if ever such a shocking and grotesquely pretentious thing existed. Not its twin, exactly, more its bastard half-brother: funnier, grittier, noisier, faster, more – the album’s lower-case sophistication corrupted by forays in grinding, post-hardcore rock (‘C’Mon, ‘Council Estate’), funky Miami vices (‘Slow’) and woozy, and gorgeously high-kicking bar-room blues (‘Puppy Toy’). That it’s eclectic goes without saying. For every rough edge there’s a smooth curve, for every square beat there’s a round chord – and so forth. Sensitive sorts will enjoy the liquid classicisms of the bio-luminescent ‘Joseph’, the quasi-baroque trippyness of the predictably nourish, ‘Past Mistake’ (a ‘Glory Box’ for neuromancers everywhere) and the folky and esoteric, ‘Cross To Bear’ – whilst there’s no shortage of reggae and middle-eastern flavas for the Tricky traditionalist.
Who are the birds on the album? Some unknown Spanish sort Tricky roped in on the spur of the moment, his soon-be-ex partner, Hubna, Icelandic friend Hafdis, Italian bird, Veronika and sassy, plain speaking Leeds bird called Alex Mills (signed to Trick’s Brown Punk label).
Recorded in London and LA and mixed by Switch, it’s by far Tricky’s most immediate and satisfying album to date – high on drama, high on incident and high on life. Exits and no exits – that’s what British council estates are all about, isn’t it?
KNOWLE WEST BOY – TRICKY – RELEASED 30.06.08
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