Friday, October 12, 2018

Tricky & Gravediggaz - The Hell E.P. (1995)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Gravediggaz - Nightmares in A-Minor (2001)

Collaborative EP by Tricky and Gravediggaz, neither of whom should need any introduction. In actuality, only the second half of The Hell E.P. is truly collaborative, as "Hell Is Round the Corner" -- one of two classic trip-hop tracks to sample "Ike's Rap II" by Isaac Hayes -- and its hella-tight remix are all Tricky.

Just gonna use this space to point out that, despite his icon status, Tricky is horrifically undervalued as an artist. He's one of those artists whose entire catalogue tends to get compared unfavorably to a legendary (and deservedly so) debut album. This is particularly true in the case of Angels with Dirty Faces, one of the most singularly misunderstood and brilliant records of its time, which I'd definitely dedicate a whole post to if I weren't sure that it'd get hit with a copyright claim faster than you can say "unfairly maligned piece of brilliance."

Track listing:
1. Hell Is Round the Corner (Original Mix)
2. Hell Is Round the Corner (The Hell and Water Mix)
3. Psychosis
4. Tonite Is a Special Nite (Chaos Mass Confusion Mix)

Are you someone else?

You'd also like:
Killah Priest -
Heavy Mental (1998)
David Holmes - David Holmes
Presents The Free Association
(2002)

9 comments:

  1. "Nearly God" is another that doesn't get the respect it deserves.

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    Replies
    1. How about upload it? :)
      US edition with „Judas” & „Children's Story” songs

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  2. Never got the hype behind maxinquaye maybe I just need to get real high and listen to it in full

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  3. Angels with dirty faces was the first Tricky album I’ve heard and I was totally blown away. Then I went backwards to Maxinquaye and Pre-Millennium tension (a difficult one, at least for me).
    But after Angels his work tends to be less daring and original.
    Surely gonna check this one out. Gracias!

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely, from Blowback on it’s all been spotty at best. Those early records are literally brilliant imo

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  4. Mega thanks DEAR_SPIRIT for the tip on Angels with Dirty Faces. Amfuckingamazing. I've no idea what he was going for and that's exactly why it's so freakin' awesome. I've never know much about the guy and the primer here from you and your readers opened something huge for me. Thanks all.

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  5. DEAR_SPIRIT, as a Follower of Tricky since '92 (the year of my birth) thanks to my mom I've heard all the evolution of his music and it's definitely one of the most influential artists for me. In 2011, Tricky visited my country (México) and it was one of the best shows ever! He had a band FULL of woman musicians and he smoked like 3 huge blunts during the show! Even my dad had the chance to go on stage and grab Adrian's head jajaja...
    Anyway, this comment is pointed to the last show he did in México, one month ago. It was SO SAD for me to see a boring, fatigue and voice-less Tricky show. He just had a (lame) drummer, a guitarist and a female vocalist, AND, most fuckin horrible of all was the continuous PLAYBACK of the songs... like if Martina Topleybird voice was insulted... fuck, man, it was so sad to pay a whole lot of money for this fucking show!!! I screamed to Adrian saying: FUCK YOU, MAN!!!
    After the show, I was so angry that I expressed my opinion in Tricky Instagram and he blocked me! LOL.
    I also want to point out that many old followers of Tricky were complaining about the same things as I...

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  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmDFbb0rKxg

    this is true cult! :D

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