Tricky: Maxinquaye (remastered) [ISLAND]

Why you'll love it

This remastered reissue comes in a gatefold jacket. Maxinquaye reached No. 3 in the UK, was named the best record of 1995 by many critics, and has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.

This edition

• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

Some people leave a band and sulk; Tricky left Massive Attack's orbit and made a record that redrew the map. Frustrated with his limited role in the Bristol collective, he signed a solo deal with 4th & B'way in 1993, found the voice he wanted in Martina Topley-Bird, and recorded most of Maxinquaye at his home studio in London. The title honours his late mother, Maxine Quaye.

Working with fellow producer Mark Saunders, Tricky borrowed dub's tricks and bent his samples out of shape, so hip hop, soul, rock, ambient techno and reggae all drift through the haze. Topley-Bird sings most of it in a cool half-whisper, while Alison Goldfrapp, Ragga and Mark Stewart add voices of their own. "Overcome" opens the album at a slow, sleepy crawl, "Black Steel" turns Public Enemy into a roaring rock song, and "Hell Is Round The Corner" and "Pumpkin" are pure late-night smoke.

It became the key record of the trip hop boom and still turns up on lists of the greatest albums. Thirty years on it remains the sound of a Bristol bedsit at 3 AM, minus the damp.

Also at Kops: more Tricky on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Island (cat# 4884916), a reissue of the 1995 album.