Tricky
Blowback
Hollywood Records

Tricky's first album, Maxinquaye, was a trip-hop classic, with massive down-tempo grooves and the artist's almost sultry rasp permeating through the mold. The follow-up (after the collaborative, not-quite-second album, Nearly God), Pre-millenium Tension, was also great, though not quite the equal of Maxinquaye.

Then began the downward spiral. With each successive album, Tricky seemed to buy more into his own obscurity. Not even Juxtapose, a DJ Muggs-aided detour into hip-hop, seemed to help. Tricky's music became more and more alienating.

Sometime after Juxtapose, Tricky must have become painfully aware of all this, and so he created Blowback, which sounds almost like a gag reflex to his recent music's impenetrability. And to ensure this album's accessibility — as well as its variety — Tricky called on a bunch of better-known singers, ranging from Anthony Kiedis to Alanis Morissette. This strategy yields mixed results.

The album opens with "Excess," and the moment the distorted guitar and drums kick in, it's obvious Tricky has realized what he is best at: amazingly catchy, brooding dance beats.

Blowback's second track and first single, "Evolution Revolution Love," carries on in the same vein. It is easily one of Tricky's most radio-friendly songs, with Ed Kowalczyk repeating the chorus until it becomes a mantra, much like Damon Albarn on Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood." This song is unrelenting in its beat furor, and the future looks bright for the rest of the album.

And then the bottom drops out. On "Evolution Revolution Love," we are introduced to Hawkman. We meet him again on "Over Me." And again on "Diss Never (Dig Up We History)." And again on "Bury The Evidence." And so on.

To put it bluntly: Do not buy this album if you're not a big fan of reggae or rasta-ish singers. Of 13 songs, Hawkman appears on six. And while his contributions on "Evolution Revolution Love" are a great addition to the song's dark beats, nearly every track on which he appears ends up becoming a psuedo-Marley affair on methamphetamines. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the awful, awful cover of Nirvana's "Something In The Way."

With so many different guest artists, it becomes increasingly difficult for Tricky to exercise restraint on their contributions. The best examples of this are on "Girls" and "#1 Da Woman", which sound like B-sides from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' One Hot Minute guest starring Tricky. This makes perfect sense, since drummer Chad Smith is the only Pepper missing from these songs.

Another problem the mix of guests brings is a complete lack of cohesion. After the first two songs, the rest of the album is all over the map, with Tricky never quite able to bring it all together. This results in what some might call "delightfully schizophrenic," but what is really just "damn annoying," causing Tricky's attempts at eclectics and accessibility to blow back in his face.

— Andrew VanZandt (symm1@hotmail.com)