Bristol shaman Tricky (Adrian Thawes) is one of today's odder and more inspired artists. His 1995 debut, Maxinquaye, revealed an eccentric sensibility at play, creating nightmarishly gorgeous tracks such as "Overcome," contrasted by a raucous Smashing Pumpkins sample on the chorus to the brooding "Pumpkin." A little guy with a wicked grin, Tricky is the trip-hop equivalent of Stanley Kubrick, at once original and clever, yet as dark and gloomy as his spliff-produced smoke rings. With rappers DJ Muggs (from Cypress Hill) and Grease, Juxtapose is streetwise, yet largely missing Tricky's hallucinogenic imagery. On "For Real" Tricky mutters "Some families have to live for real / I don't have to, I've got my record deal" over an itchy blues thump. A classical guitar melody begins "Contradictive," as Tricky grouses about "Mickey Mouse" and spouts "You a hardcore loving machine." "She Said" sounds conspicuously like an Underworld track, especially its lyrics. "I Like the Girls" features Muggs in a hilarious rap about lesbians, whip cream, and group sex. The raps grow more wicked on "Hot Like a Sauna" with the mumbled lines "Wanna be like Jeffrey Dahmer" and "Every day like Hanukkah." "Call Me" and "Wash Away" recall Tricky of old, with groggy vocals and Caribbean-tinged grooves creating wonderfully queasy tableaus. Tricky continues to evolve at his own irascible pace, a riddle always about to reveal itself. His journey remains equally fascinating and frustrating. --Ken Micallef Amazon.com
Tricky with his fourth major album was back to his blistering best form. After the disappointing "Angels with Dirty Faces", Tricky teams up with DJ Muggs (from Cypress Hill) and Grease (amongst others) for a match (or matches) made in heaven with "Juxtapose".
The album kicks off with "For Real" - an ever-so-smooth dig at Gangster rappers and their "fake" lifestyles. The album then does a u-turn with "Bom Bom Diggy" - where Tricky is rapping some incredibly drugged fudged but memorable lines ("Drop the Bombz/Who Killed the Fonz/Henry Winkler/How does he thinker/How does he sinker" - total class peoples! To complete his epic little trilogy of songs - Contradictive is another smooth but dark song with what sounds like Iggy Pop being sampled for the chorus.
Juxtapose is short but hella sweet. Tricky even delves into some "gangster rap" of his own with cautionary tales like "She Said" and "Hot Like a Sanua".
After breaking up with Martina after his last album, Tricky continues to bring fantastic female vocalists into his dark fold - including "Wash My Soul" and "Call Me".
Overall - this is one of Tricky's best albums. Up there with, if not surpassing, Maxinquaye and Post Millennium Stress. Of course - a Tricky album isn't easy - but this is probably one of his more accessible releases. An underrated, overlooked but bonafide Tricky classic.
April 16, 2006 |  | Tricky's descent into bad music |  |
This is definitely the downward spiral in a slew of bad albums Tricky came out with. Everything before Juxtapose had the good vibes of a darker sort of trip hop and hypnotism, even in what Tricky called his "punk" work. This album takes things a step closer to hip hop, but not to any noticeably positive effect. Essentially what you get is the positive remnants of the rhythm heavy Angels With Dirty Faces, and superimpose onto it poor vocals and lyrical themes. For any fan of Tricky's oldest work, the addition of new, far more conventional rappers here is probably going to be a killing blow. I can understand that Tricky wanted to evolve his music into a more accessible format (that is especially evident later on in his catalogue), but I feel that while this CD was a genuine effort at that, it was a ultimately miserable failure because Tricky had already been writing brilliant music. When Juxtapose is juxtaposed with Tricky's older material, it is clear by the contrast that this CD is really not worth mention.
March 15, 2006 | | Sneaky preview of what you get | |
I like the way that the headliner of this project, Tricky, approach to. This album is simply amazing with his texture compose by hip-hop, tribal-afro-music ( listen Bom Bom Diggy and I Like the Girl) and the dark side of this album is rapresented by Wash My Soul and Scrappy Love. This is not only a Tricky work but there are also Dj Muggs of Cypress Hill with his acid scratch, he didn't put any beat didn't work like in Cypress, and Mad Dog an mc from east London. Of course is a bit different from all of his works but you are buying a great record, with this album you can be sure that you can't fail. If you like hardcore Triky like Pre-Millennium Tension please stay back from this is more ipnotic.
July 31, 2005Like many of Tricky's albums, the songs on this album are results of collaborations with various artists, so it was no surprise that this has a more "street" feel to it, as opposed to Pre-Millennium Tension, which was surreal and dirty. Despite this, I think the album still bears Tricky's indelible stamp: His menace and growls still permeate the album and are used to great effect on songs like "For Real" and "Wash My Soul." Fans of PMT will enjoy songs like "Call Me" and "Scrappy Love" which have a more visceral and gutteral feel than the other songs. "Bom Bom Diggy" foreshadows the type of riffing that would appear on his next album "Blowback." It's got a great groove and rapping courtesy of Muggs, but it's more restrained than say "Girls" (from Blowback).
Overall, I'd say this is a great "rock" record in that Tricky succeeds in taking the styles of Muggs/Grease and blending them with his own mutant approach to music-making. That's what it is: a mutation. Fans of Maxinquaye and PMT may not enjoy Juxtapose, as it's not entirely innovative or groundbreaking, but it does offer good variations of the mutant rock that Tricky helped invent. March 10, 2004
 | | Often overlooked, But some of Tricky Best songs (4.5 stars) | |
Having previously been unsuccessful, in his attempts to break into the Lucrative american market, teamed up with "Cypress Hill's"..."D.j. Muggs" (with the help of rapper "DMX's" producer "Grease"), to create a "Hip-hop" themed version of his Distinctive style of Brooding Electronica he's so famous for. Right off the bat...the down right Breathtaking "For Real" (a Scathing look at wannabe gangsters how watch "Too many gangster films", & people obsessed with "Record deals")...Tricky growlingly snarls "How Do you expect to become a Crime Family???...Your Profile's too Big!!!". This track stands out for being easily as good (if not better than any individual track Tricky has produced), and yet that isn't the whole of this consistently bleak album as "Contradictive" sees Tricky move into altogether more accessible songs with a male Vocal supplanting this kind of track that is usually reserved for his female vocalists, and against all the odds, ends up being some of Tricky's most distinguished work. But regardless of the praise heaped by me on this album, those new to Tricky (or only possessing one album) should probably steer clear...because as with "Angels with Dirty Faces" this is a tough, Difficult and initially unrewarding listen. But those that have most of Tricky's catalogue of Albums, will be entering into this with their eyes open, and expect the dramatic shifts from Downtempo, Trip-hop, Rap, Alternative Rock....and for these people, it'll take a while....but the brilliance of this album will unearth under (admittedly a fair few) listens.
February 14, 2004More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(48 reviews)