Knowle West Boy is Wonderful!This album is amazing whether you are a Tricky fan or not. After seeing him perform two tracks from this album on Later with Jools i couldn't wait for it's release! I wasn't disappointed. If this album was only half as good i still wouldn't have been. It's got everything. Council Estate has an energy i haven't heard or felt since Punk and Two Tone were born. Puppy Toy is a really strong song - it's funny too! Veronika is Powerful because of it's starkness and the lyrics, and it grows on you. C'mon Baby is one of my favourites becouse it's so catchy without being naff and has great lyrics! Buy This Album if you're a fan, try it if you're not!
Tricky,s mish-mash nod to the mainstream album...very enjoyable it is too. Few artists can manage to make music that veers from maverick left field commerciality to the outer limits of miscreant self indulgence. While he's to be applauded in theory for the latter the results have usually made me want to clap my hands over my ears rather than bring them together in appreciation. Thankfully Knowles West Boy( named after the area in Bristol where he grew up ) his first album for five years see's Tricky return in many ways to the more mercantile material of his seminal debut Maxinquaye.
Not that this album can be classed as the trip -hop of that in some ways millstone of an album. Knowles West Boy covers ragga - "Baligaga" and "Bacative" with Rodigan on vocals, Grinderman type sweaty rock with "C, Mon Baby" , a curious and fascinating folk/country , urban opera hybrid with "School Gates" while opening track "Puppy Toy" is a playful piano led duet with Alex Mills alternating between Lily Allen style observations and Christina Aguilera vocal pyrotechnics.s .
Other guest vocalists see ex-girlfriend Lubna on "Past Mistake "- the song that most easily invokes his past -with widescreen keyboards over deliberate percussion and woozy vocals underpinned by Tricky,s mumbling. It's great . So is Veronika with steely vocals by errr Veronika over itchy backing and precise subterranean percussion. "Council Estate" throws a curve ball by starting off like Portisheads "Roads" before turning all urgent and raspy like Renegade Soundwave crossed with "Xtrmntr " period Primal Scream. "Cross To Bear" is a far more delicate number with adroitly picked acoustic notes , scraping strings and a lovely keening vocal from Hafdis. "Far Away" centring on an addictive and rather funky string arrangement and rasping guitar even nods to the dance floor. "Joseph" with an unnamed busker on vocals is a pretty acoustic ballad of strangely magnetic power.
The cover of Kylies "Slow" is a mis-step because it's done so straight- a radical slowed f***ed up version would have been far more interesting and "Coalition" is just a tedious mush of beats and effects. Personally though I think the quality outweighs the dross on this album. There are half a dozen tracks that will always be welcome on my MP3 player and while some of the songs have to catch me in the right mood -the ragga ones for instance- they are not as irritating as a lot of ragga can be..apologies to any hardcore ragga fans .
I suspect , indeed I know from reading some reviews that Knowles West Boy is considered too playful and colourful by many . It lacks the depth and sonic innovation of his greatest stuff but it is , for the most part ,hugely enjoyable..... A substantial treat in fact. I see nothing wrong with that. Indeed far better this than some un-listenable elitist miscible tripe that gives a select few and superior critics major hard-ons but baffles the rest of us.
What do you expect?This is classic Tricky - forget trip-hop, portishead, MA blah blah blah labels - if you find some connection with Tricky's previous material, for whatever reason, you'll enjoy listening to this latest offering.
Personally, I hope Tricky will continue to produce material like this, which has his trademark sound all over it.
Another reviewer commented 'same old previously trodden path' - well, yeah - but the path is long and hopefully there's plenty more miles to walk.
Old paths re-trodden.Nothing here that hasn't been done before. If this is Tricky exorcising his demons, then plenty have done better. This is the sound of fury, signifying nothing, to paraphrase Shakespeare. Before you know it, this album is over. It's just a wash of sonics, with no discernible purpose other than to satisfy some need within Tricky's oeuvre. This is the sound of the middle-aged man trying to sound valuable in his decline. Some people need to be told that when it's over, it's over (refer Bowie, Scott Walker, and all those others "stiff on their legends").
It may be a cliche but this is a real return to formI have been an avid follower of Tricky since Maxinquaye, which most people deem his finest moment. Although I do think Maxinquaye is a great album I really feel Tricky began maturing with Blowback and Vulnerable, he has been finding his feet and losing that hit and miss approach, creating an instantly recognisable 'Tricky' sound, and at the same time sticking two fingers up to those that wanted Maxinquaye MKII.
This album see Tricky creating more disjointed beats and bleeps, low growls and sweet females, mixing political rants (Coalition) against long forgotten teenage angst (School Gates).
I know every release is touted as a return to form but this album is truly the strongest material he has ever released, its not easy listening and those wanting Bristolian coffee table trip hop should go elsewhere. Its Tricky and Tricky only.
He even provides another slightly odd cover, this time Kylie Minogues 'Slow'
If you dont believe me try Coalition and Cross To Bear... wonderful...
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