Tricky
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Tricky signed a contract with 4th & Broadway in 1994. The contract contained a clause which allowed him to release side projects under different names, in addition to regular Tricky releases. Ponderosa and Overcome were released over the course of 1994; that same year, he made a cameo on Massive Attacks second album, Protection. Trickys debut album, Maxinquaye, appeared in the spring of 1995. Not only did the album receive overwhelmingly positive reviews when it was released, but it entered the U.K. charts at number two, despite the total lack of daytime radio airplay. Throughout 1995, Tricky was omnipresent in the U.K., collaborating with and remixing for a wide variety of artists, including Björk, Luscious Jackson, and Whale. In the fall of 1995, he released Tricky Vs. the Gravediggaz, a collaboration with the American hardcore rap group, as well as a single called I Be the Prophet, which was released under the name Starving Souls. At the end of the year, Maxinquaye topped many year-end polls in Britain, including ~Melody Maker and ~NME.
In February of 1996, Nearly God -- an album featuring Trickys collaborations with artists as diverse as Terry Hall, Björk, Alison Moyet, and Neneh Cherry -- was released, again to strong reviews; the album was released in the U.S. six months later. After completing the second full-fledged Tricky album, he relocated to New York City early in 1996, where he began working with underground rappers. An EP called Grassroots was released in the U.S. in September. Two months later, Trickys official second album, Pre-Millenium Tension, was released. Again, Tricky received positive reviews, though there were a few dissenting opinions.
In addition to his three releases of 1996, he remixed artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Garbage, Yoko Ono, and Bush. Trickys next full-length solo effort, Angels With Dirty Faces, appeared in 1998, followed a year later by Juxtapose, a collaboration with Cypress Hills DJ Muggs and DMXs Grease. In 2001, Tricky returned with the Mission Accomplished EP, which was released by Epitaphs subsidiary label Anti. Blowback, his first for Hollywood Records, appeared later that June and included various collaborations with Hawkman, Lives Ed Kowalczyk, and Red Hot Chili Peppers Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante.
