Tricky, Maxinquaye (1995)
It was $50. And so I left it in the shop for a week to consider it. I figured that if it was gone when I went back it was not to be. If it was still there I’d think about it. But that’s bullshit – if it was gone I woulda just got them to order me one. Anyway, I did let it sit there a week and then I went back and took the plunge. A good move. Hadn’t played this album in years – but used to love it (still do – just hadn’t played it in a while). Tricky is a genius – for his first two records alone. Anything else on top of that or before that is a bonus. But the first two solo albums: incredible. And by first two I mean this and Pre-Millennium Tension. (The Nearly God thing is cool too but I’m not counting that). Tricky would go on to other albums and even though a lot of people forgot about him he’s still making worthy stuff. But this is the one. An album that stands up today. Not a blast of nostalgia (or at least not just a blast of nostalgia). It sounds fresh, at times gob-smackingly so. That Public Enemy cover and also Overcome, Ponderosa, Hell Is Round The Corner. I noticed – hearing it as an LP – how front-stacked it is. It would have been made as a CD, the running order chosen to suit the compact disc. It’s great and there are strong songs on side two also but as a record, listening to it on vinyl, it just might be the greatest side one I’ve ever heard. Welcome to my collection Maxinquaye. It’s good to have you in the (gate)fold.

Sample Track: Feed Me

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown