Tricky with DJ Muggs and Grease "Juxtapose" Island 314 546 432-2 1999 (35:44)
For Real (3:29)
Bom Bom Diggy (4:06)
Contradictive (3:05)
She Said (3:30)
I Like the Girls (2:58)
Hot Like a Sauna (4:19)
Call Me (3:36)
Wash My Soul (3:52)
Hot Like a Sauna (Metal Mix) (3:35)
Scrappy Love (3:14)
Tricky is back a mere year after "Angels With Dirty Faces" and with a new posse of collaborators, namely DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill), producer Grease, ragga rapper Mad/Street Dog and a few new female vocalists to replace former partner Martina. Tricky's original goal was to create a more mainstream friendly hiphop album with Muggs under the "Stonepony" name, but there was a change of heart somewhere along the way. The result is a much too short "album" of pop, hiphop and "alternative" sounding tunes. "For Real" and "Scrappy Love" are the cream of the crop, the former for it's catchy guitar and piano hooks and the latter for it's cool piano, beats and overall ominous vibe. "She Said", "Call Me" and "Wash My Soul" aren't all that far off from the "Angels.." sound: claustraphobic beat and bass patterns, stabs of electric guitar, female co-vocals, etc. "Contradictive" is really nice thanks to pretty guitar lines and Bob Khaleel's co-vocals. Mad/Street Dog unfortunately contributes his nearly undecipherable British accented ragga vocals to "Bom Bom Diggy" (an otherwise decent song), the dreadful "I Like the Girls" and both versions of "Hot Like a Sauna". "I Like the Girls" is Mad Dogg's chance to share his silly sex escapades over a rather dull orchestral hiphop backing. "Hot Like a Sauna" has a KMFDM vibe (especially the "metal mix" which is heavily saturated with electric guitar samples) and is also marred by Mad Dogg's co-vocals, but is somewhat redeemed by Kioka's chorus vocals. Tricky hasn't changed all that much, he still grunts/whispers his vocals and is exploring many of the same theme lyricallys: drugs, guns, record companies, women, etc. So, overall, this is a decent album but not nearly as brilliant as much of his past work. I think Tricky let the quality control dip with this many hands in the production cookie jar. Hopefully he will realize that he doesn't need anyone else's help to either improve his music or increase his credibility in certain genres. And with any luck the next album will be longer than 36 minutes, considering "Juxtapose" would have made a nice EP if "I Like the Girls" and "Hot Like a Sauna" never happened. My recommendation: listen before you buy and/or consider the "For Real" singles instead ...
Where did I get this cd? - a local CD Warehouse