Tricky Albums Ranked

Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws (born 27 January 1968), better known by his stage name Tricky, is a British record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Bristol, he began his career as an early member of the band Massive Attack alongside Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall & Andrew Vowles. He embarked on a solo career with his debut album, Maxinquaye, in 1995. The release won Tricky popular acclaim and marked the beginning of a lengthy collaborative partnership with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird. He released four more studio albums before the end of the decade, including Pre-Millennium Tension and the pseudonymous Nearly God, both in 1996. He has gone on to release nine studio albums since 2000, most recently Fall to Pieces (2020). In 2016, he joined Massive Attack on stage for the first time in two decades while continuing his solo career. Here are all of Tricky albums ranked.

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10. Knowle West Boy 

“A sizable period of time has passed since I last heard anything by Tricky and it’s fair to admit his absence has hardly made the heart grow fonder. Yet, unlike a number of artists working in genres more aligned to my default musical tastes, I’ve never once considered dropping his albums from my wishlist. From the grim malevolence of his earlier work to the relatively lighter and accessible compositions since the turn of the century, Tricky changes moods and colours like a chameleon with a personality crisis – a quality I find endlessly fascinating.”

9. Ununiform 

“Pretty good actually. Russian rappers,hole covers,slinky sombre trip hop and electro pop. His usual most recent collaborators asia argento and francesco bemonte turn up to fine effect but notably martina topley-bird returns for the first time since ‘maxinequaye’ and her turn on ‘when we die’ rivals the best other track ‘new stole’.”

8. Fall To Pieces 

“Maybe best album since the 90s doesn’t say much of someone like Tricky who has been wandering in the wilderness for years and delivering downtempo albums with beats sounding all the same. This album though, it feels like he has some new influences, could be Trap music cause his bass has a new immense bump that’s not just there to soothe.”

7. Vulnerable 

“I listened to Vulnerable sometimes back in the 00s. I don’t recall much of that, but at least I recall that I liked it more than I do now. The music on the album sounds quite nice but doesn’t seem to have much content. The fact that “Dear God” and “The Love Cats”, that are both covers, are amongst the best tracks is flattening. Fortunately, “Car Crash” and “What Is Wrong” are relatively fine and nothing on this album is actually bad.”

6. False Idols 

“The first thing I’ve heard by Tricky that has actually made me excited about him since the days of Maxinquaye and Nearly God. Yes, it’s that good. I’ve been waiting for him to bless us with another album with actual memorable music rather than track after track of stoner noodling with a bone thrown here and there to make sure we’re paying attention. The album starts with a riff on Van Morrison/Patti Smith’s “Gloria” and keeps getting more engaging from there.”

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5. Angels With Dirty Faces 

“Not everyones favourite Tricky album, but I think its great. Embracing the alternative metal influences that had been present since his debut, this is actually great angry rock record, angst ridden and paranoid. Its a bit like what Tool or maybe Soundgarden might have sounded like if they came from the ghetto and had an urban sound with samplers as opposed to guitars.”

4. Blowback 

“A quite happy and entertaining Tricky album – believe it or not. Some classic Tricky stuff, some funk experiments and even a slice of electronic minimalism…Most of it decent – but yet to incoherent…A nice effort though…”

3. Nearly God 

“A collection of brilliant, incomplete demos”, from Tricky own words. Blimey – I know a few artists who would kill everything in sight to have even a whiff of Tricky’s ability to create such moody, nightmarish sonic landscapes. This is a much much darker affair than “Maxinquaye”. Tricky uses Martina Topley Bird’s sensual vocal abilities to greater effect here [3 tracks feature his then partner], but falls short of perfection due to a dubious selection of vocalists – Alison Moyet in particular.”

2. Pre-Millennium Tension 

“Pre-Millennium Tension‘s perfectly matched title, artwork and sound make it a fine example of socio-political turmoil captured through the medium of music. The ‘turmoil’ of late ’90s England (a period of which I have virtually no memory) is hardly comparable with ’60s Race Riot America but from various accounts there were shades of paranoia and unease heading into the new millennium.”

1. Maxinquaye 

“In Maxinquaye, Tricky showed his keen intuition as a producer to piece a variety of musical styles (hip-hop, r&b, rock, to name a few) together to create his own unique, hypnotizing picture: gloomy, juicy, and sexy. Although occasionally, ideas seem to come in fragments, the combination of vocal interplays, hot grooves, and harmonic dissonance maintains irresistible.”