TRICKY 'Blowback'

This album is a great return to form for the old Trickster. his last album 'Juxtapose' was a slick reinvention, finding comfort in the American form of Hip Hop. Here TRICKY seems to have become homesick and has once again returned to the paranoia surrounding his beautiful first two albums. The controversial front cover was banned from posters in Hollywood, it is of him receiving a "blowback" (a form of Cannabis smoking) from a seemingly near-naked lady. This controversy is carried through in his choices of singers employed. Collaborating with Alanis Morrisette and Cyndi Lauper on "Excess" and "Five Days" respectively would seem offputting. Don't be fooled, their voices seem somehow fit, like Terry Hall's and Alison Moyet's did in his Nearly God project. Having said that this is no 'Maxinquaye', the dark blend of Hip Hop and downbeats is there, but there is also something else; As TRICKY matures he has become aware of the music that surrounds him and what charts. There is a certain pop tinge to this album, but this is also good.