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| Tracklist: 1. Excess 2. Evolution Revolution Love 3. Over Me 4. Girls 5. You Don't Wanna 6. #1 Da Woman 7. Your Name 8. Diss Never (Dig Up We History) 9. Bury The Evidence 10. Something in the Way 11. Five Days 12. Give it to 'Em 13. A Song for Yukiko Running time: 50 minutes Released: 2001 |
I doubt I will like this much. I didn't get on with Angels with Dirty Faces to the point where I excised the whole disc from my library. Whilst I am not sure that Blowback will get quite such short shrift, I do think it will contain a fair amount that is not for me, and that Tricky's output in general leans that way. Pity I have at least a couple more albums in the tank if so. Still, one can hope to be surprised.
The opening of Excess has a nice roll to it, a consistent rumble, and after the first exploratory vocals there is a small flash of augmentation to that, keys providing a melodic touch, which builds a rather pleasant and accessible track. Not what I was expecting. Of course, I have a problem with it. There is a little too little of the melody, and the track elongates and stays beyond its welcome - not by introducing anything unpleasant but by simply not introducing anything new to the picture. A shame, it could have been much better.
OK, so I recognise Evolution Revolution Love when it starts. For some reason I thought this tune was on a different album. The track is, again, accessible in a way I didn't find anything on Angels. The chorus is the bit that sticks in the memory, but it is the variation in vocal styles applied throughout the piece that makes it work. Like Excess there isn't a whole lot of change or variation in the music here, but switching between a few different deliveries keeps the track a fair bit fresher. You could probably knock 30-40 seconds of its length without noticing it, but I actually think it works all the same.
I don't get on so well with the vocal styling on Over Me. This is a duet of sorts between a very... something low bassy vocal and a waifish female voice doing the chorus. How to describe that male voice? I can't begin to find words. Whilst not a million miles away from one of the approaches on the prior track, here it just grates, and the backing remains pretty staid. Nothing to grab my attention. I am therefore glad when Girls introduces a nice rocky guitar riff. Tricky's angry lyric suits this style, but the more traditional rock vocal that joins/forms backing at some point is a bit feeble. Still, the track is rather catchy up until the point the hook gets old. To be fair as that point slips by the structure of the track does change up a little, but the switch is temporary and too short. At 3 minutes the track feels like it has gone for 5 and by the time it ends (4:21) it feels more like a lifetime. A pity - because I rather enjoyed the lead vocal here.
I'm sorry, I can't get past the altered sample of "Sweet Dreams" in You Don't Wanna. I find it fails to work, and worse than that there are points where the vocal harmonies applied over it are dissonant to my ear, and the lead vocal line is affected and hard to like at the best of times. Not for me. This is the first track that has been a complete flop though, and I feel comfortable declaring this a more easily approached record than the previous listen. Apparently the next track is chock full of Red Hot Chilli Peppers; whatever. It feels bland and boring whenever it isn't Tricky's rasping voice in play, and even then the backing is dull. The weirdness continues when we move on to something based around "Under the Bamboo Tree". It maintains the rhythm of the inspiration and feels really out of place here, light, weightless and plastic - a world away from the interest in the disc which largely resides in the darker parts.
Having said that the next track provides interest in a more positive way. I don't much like the vocal on Diss Never but the way the chorus opens up musically is rather appealing, and there is nothing dark about the feel to this track. That said, I am more engaged when the threat and tension return. I find that Tricky's ear for a good riff is evident here and he has the rasp to really compliment a strong rocky guitar well. Alas what seems to be lacking on Blowback is much in the way of changing up those riffs so that they don't get over repetitive. Either that or the brevity needed to keep tunes to a length that would prevent boredom with the looping. Maybe I've just got a short attention span this evening, though - after all, he's the successful musician. I'll gloss over the bad Nirvana cover (I wouldn't have known but for the album's entry in Wikipedia) as I am not familiar with the original and frankly there is no interest for me in this track anyway. Then the novelty of hearing the voice behind Girls Just Want to Have Fun on a dark track. Sure, Cyndi Lauper is more than that one song, but I'm damned if I know her from anything else. This track is just dull, no life in the rhythm, no life in the duet, no melody at all and far too much repetition, not just in the loops and percussion but also in the lyrics. It feels like it lasts the period described in the title.
Two tracks to go and my overall impression has gone from surprised and positive early on to pretty flatly bored and negative near the end. Flat is probably the best single-work description that I can offer. The early tracks aside there is very little here that lifts any of the tracks above background noise, and when there is, those tracks quickly become flat from lack of variation. This post must read likewise, seeing as it is constantly covering the same theme - and to avoid doing that any further I have nothing more to say about the closing.
The opening of Excess has a nice roll to it, a consistent rumble, and after the first exploratory vocals there is a small flash of augmentation to that, keys providing a melodic touch, which builds a rather pleasant and accessible track. Not what I was expecting. Of course, I have a problem with it. There is a little too little of the melody, and the track elongates and stays beyond its welcome - not by introducing anything unpleasant but by simply not introducing anything new to the picture. A shame, it could have been much better.
OK, so I recognise Evolution Revolution Love when it starts. For some reason I thought this tune was on a different album. The track is, again, accessible in a way I didn't find anything on Angels. The chorus is the bit that sticks in the memory, but it is the variation in vocal styles applied throughout the piece that makes it work. Like Excess there isn't a whole lot of change or variation in the music here, but switching between a few different deliveries keeps the track a fair bit fresher. You could probably knock 30-40 seconds of its length without noticing it, but I actually think it works all the same.
I don't get on so well with the vocal styling on Over Me. This is a duet of sorts between a very... something low bassy vocal and a waifish female voice doing the chorus. How to describe that male voice? I can't begin to find words. Whilst not a million miles away from one of the approaches on the prior track, here it just grates, and the backing remains pretty staid. Nothing to grab my attention. I am therefore glad when Girls introduces a nice rocky guitar riff. Tricky's angry lyric suits this style, but the more traditional rock vocal that joins/forms backing at some point is a bit feeble. Still, the track is rather catchy up until the point the hook gets old. To be fair as that point slips by the structure of the track does change up a little, but the switch is temporary and too short. At 3 minutes the track feels like it has gone for 5 and by the time it ends (4:21) it feels more like a lifetime. A pity - because I rather enjoyed the lead vocal here.
I'm sorry, I can't get past the altered sample of "Sweet Dreams" in You Don't Wanna. I find it fails to work, and worse than that there are points where the vocal harmonies applied over it are dissonant to my ear, and the lead vocal line is affected and hard to like at the best of times. Not for me. This is the first track that has been a complete flop though, and I feel comfortable declaring this a more easily approached record than the previous listen. Apparently the next track is chock full of Red Hot Chilli Peppers; whatever. It feels bland and boring whenever it isn't Tricky's rasping voice in play, and even then the backing is dull. The weirdness continues when we move on to something based around "Under the Bamboo Tree". It maintains the rhythm of the inspiration and feels really out of place here, light, weightless and plastic - a world away from the interest in the disc which largely resides in the darker parts.
Having said that the next track provides interest in a more positive way. I don't much like the vocal on Diss Never but the way the chorus opens up musically is rather appealing, and there is nothing dark about the feel to this track. That said, I am more engaged when the threat and tension return. I find that Tricky's ear for a good riff is evident here and he has the rasp to really compliment a strong rocky guitar well. Alas what seems to be lacking on Blowback is much in the way of changing up those riffs so that they don't get over repetitive. Either that or the brevity needed to keep tunes to a length that would prevent boredom with the looping. Maybe I've just got a short attention span this evening, though - after all, he's the successful musician. I'll gloss over the bad Nirvana cover (I wouldn't have known but for the album's entry in Wikipedia) as I am not familiar with the original and frankly there is no interest for me in this track anyway. Then the novelty of hearing the voice behind Girls Just Want to Have Fun on a dark track. Sure, Cyndi Lauper is more than that one song, but I'm damned if I know her from anything else. This track is just dull, no life in the rhythm, no life in the duet, no melody at all and far too much repetition, not just in the loops and percussion but also in the lyrics. It feels like it lasts the period described in the title.
Two tracks to go and my overall impression has gone from surprised and positive early on to pretty flatly bored and negative near the end. Flat is probably the best single-work description that I can offer. The early tracks aside there is very little here that lifts any of the tracks above background noise, and when there is, those tracks quickly become flat from lack of variation. This post must read likewise, seeing as it is constantly covering the same theme - and to avoid doing that any further I have nothing more to say about the closing.
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