Blowback

Blowback is the fifth studio album by English rapper and producer Tricky. It was released on 26 June 2001. Background The album features more accessible, popular song structures than his previous records. Tricky later said he "did Blowback for the money, basically 'cause I was broke". He recorded the album with guest musicians, including Red Hot Chili Peppers members Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Josh Klinghoffer, and John Frusciante; Cyndi Lauper, Alanis Morissette, Ed Kowalczyk, and less known artists such as Hawkman, Stephanie McKay and Ambersunshower. "I turned up at the studio and nothing was written," Morissette recalled. "We just worked on it there. He's a very funny man." Critical reception Blowback received generally positive reviews from critics, although many of Tricky's longtime fans disliked it. According to Encyclopedia of Popular Music writer Colin Larkin, it was hailed as Tricky's best record since his 1995 debut Maxinquaye, while PopMatters critic Jeffrey Thiessen later called it "a great pop album nobody liked". Simon Price regarded Blowback as Tricky's best album since 1996's Pre-Millennium Tension and "his most accessible since Maxinquaye." He wrote in his review for The Independent at the time that the artist's move to New York "away from the petty politics of the music business" had resulted in "a dark, dense album of future-funk and deep dub". In The New York Times, Neil Strauss called it a radical departure from previous Tricky records, "direct and upfront, the poppiest production Tricky has ever mustered". The Indianapolis Star described it as Tricky's attempt to "prove there's at least one more rap-rock album that's worth a listen". Writing for The Guardian, Dave Simpson was surprised by how "deliriously uplifting, even humorous", the music was, while encompassing "everything from rap-metal (of which there's lots...) to ragga, US power-pop, granite beats, supernatural ambience and even New Romantic. At the same time, it is uniquely, inimitably Tricky."