Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Collection includes: Ponderosa, Overcome, Pumpkin, The Hell EP, Grassroots EP, Nearly God - Poems, Christiansands, Makes Me Wanna Die, For Real, Mission Accomplished EP, Council Estate.

Originally, Tricky was a member of the Wild Bunch, a Bristol-based rap troupe that eventually metamorphosed into Massive Attack during the early '90s. Tricky provided pivotal raps on Massive Attack's groundbreaking 1992 album, Blue Lines. The following year, he released his debut single, "Aftermath." Before he recorded "Aftermath," he met a teenage vocalist named Martina, who would become his full-time musical collaborator; all albums released under Tricky's name feature her contributions.

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 Attack's second album, Protection. Tricky's 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 Tricky's 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, Tricky's official second album, Pre-Millennium 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. Tricky's next full-length solo effort, Angels With Dirty Faces, appeared in 1998, followed a year later by Juxtapose, a collaboration with Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs and DMX's Grease. In 2001, Tricky returned with the Mission Accomplished EP, which was released by the Epitaph subsidiary label Anti. Blowback, his first for Hollywood Records, appeared later that June and included various collaborations with Hawkman, Live's Ed Kowalczyk, and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante. Increasingly aware of his brooding persona in the media and annoyed that popular music magazines had started labeling him "the Dark Prince," in 2003, he made Vulnerable as an attempt to expose himself as a more accessible artist. The same year, the Back to Mine label released an album of remixes that he compiled, before he took a five-year hiatus from recording new material. Knowle West Boy, his most critically acclaimed recording since Pre-Millennium Tension, marked a strong return by the trip-hop pioneer in 2008, and Tricky toured for a solid year behind it. In August of 2010, he emerged with the single "Murder Weapon" a reworking of Echo Minott's '90s-era dancehall hit that obsessed him. Following in the tradition of his infamous read of Public Enemy's "Black Steel" with backing vocalist Martina Topley-Bird, "Murder Weapon," like its precursor, also featured a female voice, in this case, Irish-Italian singer Franky Riley, one of his backing vocalists on the road. Tricky followed the single with the album Mixed Race later that fall. Unhappy with Domino Records, he started his own False Idols label for the release of his tenth solo album, also named False Idols.

Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Continuing a tradition of experimentation and collaboration, Tricky teamed up with American hardcore rap group Gravediggaz following his debut solo album Maxinquaye to produce The Hell EP. Containing a mere four tracks, including the original version of "Hell Is Round the Corner," the EP does not provide much in the way of new material; however, the album offers two unique tracks: "Tonite Is a Special Nite" and "Psychosis." The latter follows Tricky's traditional format by containing eerie background vocals that repeat the phrase "Jesus falling; slowly falling; Jesus Christ" with heavy trip-hop beats. "Tonite Is a Special Nite," which later appeared on The Crow: City of Angels, is clearly the most innovative track, containing beats and lyrics reminiscent of both Maxinquaye and 6 Feet Deep. Unfortunately, the album fails to realize much of its potential. This is most clearly demonstrated by the uninspiring Hell & Water remix of "Hell Is Round the Corner," in which the Gravediggaz do not even appear.

Review by John Hinrichsen, Allmusic.com

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Perhaps in an effort to establish himself in the American hip-hop market – which largely ignored his groundbreaking debut, Maxinquaye – Tricky released the Grassroots EP in the summer of 1996. Recorded in early 1996, Grassroots consists primarily of one-off collaborations with a variety of underground and relatively undistinctive New York rappers and musicians, whose music is given weight by Tricky's menacing, hazy production. Tricky appears in the background of each song, murmuring indecipherably, but it's only when he takes the forefront on "Tricky Kid" that the EP matches the tense, psychotic soundscapes of Maxinquaye and Nearly God. The remaining four tracks have their moments – Drunkenstein's backing vocals are evocative, and "Devils Helper" is entrancing – but, for the most part, Grassroots consists of experiments that never quite reach their full potential.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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Tricky - Singles & EPs Collection 1994-2008 [13CD]

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