Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 30/06/08
Label: Domino Records

When you've mislaid your talent - and few have as tragically lost it in recent years as Adrian Thaws aka Tricky - one of the best places to look might be back where you first discovered it. Hence, in the wake of Portishead's astounding comeback and Massive Attack's curveball curation of Meltdown, their fellow Bristolian's new album and single explores his grimy Knowles West upbringing in a bid to revive his faded muse.

"Council Estate" opens with a muffled echo of Portishead themselves before a filthy, needling bass surges in and Tricky starts spitting and snarling his life story: "They call you council estate / They call you 'can't go straight'". It's a stark reminder that there's always been something nastier, more punk and, well, trickier, about Tricky than his more mannered rivals. It's also by some distance the most striking and aggressive thing he's released in a decade. Is it as astonishing as "Hell Is Round The Corner", "Christiansands" or "Poems"? No, but then you don't stop reading Shakespeare because you don't think "Othello" is quite up to "Hamlet".

    by Jaime Gill