Tricky

Angels with Dirty Faces (Island)
by Michael McCarthy

Tricky, Tricky, Tricky, what happened? I loved your first two albums, and the Nearly God and Grassroots side-projects were pretty damn happening, too, but… you reward us with this mess? C’mon, I know you can do better. Was it so important you cut back on samples this time around that you were willing to release a dozen songs mostly void of individual personality, sounding like twelve freakin’ demos of the same song? What’s worse, they sound like demos for your recent vinyl-only, far-superior single “Divine Comedy (Polygram).” Matter of fact, I’m pretty sure your “new” single, “Money Greedy,” actually is “Divine Comedy,” note for note with different lyrics. (What’s up with that?)

Kudos for giving Scott Ian the opportunity to play something beyond the three riffs he’s been churning out for over a decade in Anthrax, but still, this is a major disappointment after the brilliant Maxinquaye and equally brilliant Pre Millennium Tension. Am I being too hard on you? Maybe. “Broken Homes” is quite sweet and “6 Minutes” gets better with repeat listenings, but… I can say for certain that I’ll never come to love this disc as much as your previous work.
(825 8th Avenue, 27th Fl. New York, NY 10019)