Don't wanna be on top of your list

Like a lot of people at the time I was terrified of Tricky.
He was harmless enough on Massive Attack's Blue Lines and a fairly competent rapper.
But lets face it. Tricky looks like a bat.
He still does.
If it turned out that he'd been sleeping upside down...hanging from a beam...in a barn...in the English countryside this whole time. I wouldn't even be surprised. Not even a little bit.
In fact it makes total sense.
Maxine Quaye is the name of Tricky's mom.
It is also the name of perhaps the very best record of 1995.
I was still listening to Portishead's monumental 'Dummy' record. A LOT.


Trip-Hop was really starting to take off in the US around then.
It was dark, it was moody, it was English. It reeked of stale pub air. And it was fantastic.
Tricky's maiden contribution to the genre was just utter brilliance.
The samples on that record alone was killer: Marvin Gaye...Isaac hayes and The Smashing Pumpkins?
The vocals, both his and Martina Topley-Bird's (and lady Goldfrapp as well) were just breathy enough...just scratchy enough...just dour enough to fit perfectly with the beats.
My favorite tune...and i'm in the crushing minority in this regard because almost all the songs on the album was amazing...is "You Don't". I can talk about this specific track for multiple hours.
A stone cold classic conflation of hip-hop, reggae, electronic, rock and soul.
Sadly I don't think a record like that can be made today.