Blowback (album)

Blowback
Studio album by Tricky
Released	2 July 2001
Genre	Trip hop, electronica, electronic rock, nu metal
Length	58:36
Label	ANTI-, Hollywood
Tricky chronology
Juxtapose (1999) Blowback (2001) Vulnerable (2003)

Blowback is the fifth album by Tricky, released in 2001. Like Nearly God, Blowback contains several collaborations, but the album's sound is much brighter and more relaxed by comparison. Tricky himself said that he wanted to get airplay with this album, while most of his earlier albums were made to stay off the radio. Guest performers on Blowback include Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Josh Klinghoffer, and John Frusciante from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cyndi Lauper, Alanis Morissette, Ed Kowalczyk and less known artists such as Hawkman, Stephanie McKay and Ambersunshower, with whom he already worked in 1996 for the charity compilation Childline.

A new song called "Question" and an alternate version of the song "Diss Never" (both with Alanis Morissette's vocals) are still unreleased, because her label Maverick Records held them back.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[4]
Los Angeles Times	[5]
NME	6/10[6]
Pitchfork Media	3.1/10[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Spin	5/10[10]
The Village Voice	A[11]

Blowback received generally positive reviews from critics,^[1] although many of Tricky's longtime fans disliked it.^[12] According to Encyclopedia of Popular Music writer Colin Larkin, it was hailed as Tricky's best record since his 1995 debut Maxinquaye,^[3] while PopMatters critic Jeffrey Thiessen later called it "a great pop album nobody liked".^[12] Village Voice journalist Robert Christgau named it the fourth best album of 2001 in his list for the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.^[13] He later called Blowback Tricky's most "songful" release, writing that it had been "criminally neglected" by listeners.^[14]

Track listing

1. "Excess" – 4:43
2. "Evolution Revolution Love" – 4:09
3. "Over Me" – 2:57
4. "Girls" – 4:21
5. "You Don't Wanna" – 5:25
6. "#1 Da Woman" – 2:40
7. "Your Name" – 3:35
8. "Diss Never (Dig Up We History)" – 2:50
9. "Bury the Evidence" – 4:51
10. "Something in the Way" – 3:24 (Nirvana cover)
11. "Five Days" – 4:19 (With Cyndi Lauper)
12. "Give It to 'Em" – 3:04
13. "A Song for Yukiko" – 4:10

Track notes

• The song "Excess" appeared in Fastlane, Bad Company, Glory Days, Queen of the Damned, Thir13en Ghosts and Bully.
• The song "Evolution Revolution Love" appeared in Smallville, The West Wing, and in a Fox Kids 2001 promo for Beast Machines.
• The song "Over Me" appeared in Scrubs.
• The song "Bury the Evidence" appeared in 24, Bad Company and Bully.

Additional information

• "Excess" (track 1) contains backing vocals by Alanis Morissette. Morissette also appeared in another song, "Question", that was never officially released but was leaked via the internet.
• "Evolution Revolution Love" (track 2) features Ed Kowalczyk of the American rock band Live singing the vocals for the chorus.
• The music for the song "Diss Never" was originally intended for the unreleased song "Question" which featured only Alanis Morissette on vocals throughout the entire track. Morissette's record label, Maverick Records, wouldn't allow the song to be released, although a limited number of advance copies of the album were released in Canada which contained the song.
• The backing track for "You Don't Wanna" is sampled from the Eurythmics' song "Sweet Dreams".
• "Girls" features former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante on guitar and current vocalist Anthony Kiedis on backing vocals.
• "#1 Da Woman" (track 6) features Frusciante and band-mate Flea, respectively on guitar/chorus vocals and bass. It also features Josh Klinghoffer, current Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist on drums. This song contains an interpolation of the title song for the TV series Wonder Woman. It is used by professional wrestler Cheerleader Melissa as her entrance theme.
• "Something in the Way" (track 10) is a cover of the song originally performed by Nirvana on their album Nevermind.
• "Five Days" (track 11) contains guest vocals by Cyndi Lauper.
• "Your Name" is a version of "Under the Bamboo Tree", written by Bob Cole.

Charts

Year	Country	Position
2001	UK Albums Chart	34
2001	Billboard 200 (US)	138

References

1. Metacritic
2. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r538010/review
3. Larkin, Colin (2011). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 3535. ISBN 0857125958.
4. Sellout, you say? Think again: Tricky provides just enough wicked topspin to give his pop a loopy bounce. [13 July 2001, p.86]
5. Los Angeles Times review
6. NME review
7. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/8155-blowback/
8. Q (8/01, p.141) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It should remind long-disillusioned fans what they liked about tricky in the first place....still strange and uncategorisable..."
9. http://web.archive.org/web/20100226181324/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tricky/albums/album/201787/review/5945945/blowback
10. Gross, Joe. "Blowback". Spin (New York): 134–135. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
11. Christgau, Robert (7 August 2001). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved 5 April 2016.
12. Thiessen, Jeffrey (24 January 2013). "A Great Pop Album Nobody Liked: Tricky's 'Blowback'". PopMatters. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
13. Pazz & Jop 2001: Dean's List. The Village Voice.
14. Christgau, Robert (26 November 2010). "Expert Witness: Shad/Tricky". MSN Music. Retrieved 5 April 2016.

External links

• Reviews at moon-palace.de