Maxinquaye
Encyclopedia
Maxinquaye is the debut album of the English musician and actor Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...

, released in 1995. Expanding on the sonic template of fellow Bristolians Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...

, and featuring then-girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird
Martina Topley-Bird
Martina Topley-Bird is a British vocalist and songwriter who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, Maxinquaye...

 on vocals, Maxinquaye is a dark, mysterious album featuring a combination of hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...

, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

.

Maxinquaye, named after Tricky's late mother Maxine Quaye, received great critical acclaim upon release. The album was re-issued in the UK on 2 November 2009 by Universal Island with a second disc of remixes as a "Deluxe Edition".

Album background

Tricky chose Mark Saunders
Mark Saunders
Mark Saunders, is a British record producer who has worked on a number of albums. He relocated to New York City in 1996 and currently works from his facility in Manhattan - Beat360 Studios....

 as co-producer of the album due to his previous work with The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...

 on the albums Wish and Mixed Up, and they recorded the album in the first half of 1994 at Tricky's home studio, with later work done at the Loveshack and Eastcote studios in Notting Hill, London.

The sessions for the album were somewhat chaotic, and Saunders, who had the impression that he would serve as an engineer, frequently found himself serving as a DJ and programmer. Tricky frequently instructed him on what to sample, regardless of different tempos and pitches, and asked him to piece the result together, something Saunders achieved by pitch-shifting the respective samples.

Various contributors were occasionally called in to play instruments, such as guitarist James Stevenson
James Stevenson (musician)
James Stevenson is a UK punk / rock guitarist, at one time appearing with The Alarm, Gene Loves Jezebel, Generation X and Chelsea.-Music career:...

, bassist Pete Briquette
Pete Briquette
Pete Briquette is the stage name of Patrick Cusack . His pseudonym refers to the fact that he hails from the Irish countryside; peat briquettes are a type of refined turf burned in fires instead of coal.-Boomtown Rats:He was the bass guitarist, backing vocalist, occasional songwriter, and sometime...

, the band FTV
FTV
-Related to television:*Fairchild TV, a Canadian Cantonese television network*Fashion TV, a television network*First Time Video*Federalna televizija, a public service broadcasting organization of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina*Filipino TV, a Canadian...

 (on "Black Steel") and even Saunders contributed guitar, with the resulting improvisations treated as samples. Adding to the free-form atmosphere of the sessions, Martina Topley-Bird's vocals were recorded in the first take without any planning beforehand.

Reception

  • Q
    Q (magazine)
    Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

     (6/00, p. 75) - Ranked #36 in Qs "100 Greatest British Albums"
  • Q (12/99, p. 84) - Included in Qs "90 Best Albums of the 1990s".
  • Q (2/96, p. 67) - Included in Qs 50 Best Albums of 1995.
  • Rolling Stone
    Rolling Stone
    Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

    (13/5/99, p. 80) - Included in Rolling Stones "Essential Recordings of the 90's".
  • Rolling Stone (25/1/96, p. 41) - Ranked #3 in the 1996 Critics' Poll.
  • Spin
    Spin (magazine)
    Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

    (9/99, p. 125) - Ranked #14 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
  • Spin (12/95, p. 62) - Ranked #2 on Spins list of the '20 Best Albums of '95'.
  • Melody Maker
    Melody Maker
    Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

    (23–30/12/95, pp. 66–67) - Tied for #1 on Melody Makers list of 1995's 'Albums of the Year'.
  • Village Voice (20/2/96) - Ranked #2 in Village Voices 1995 Pazz & Jop
    Pazz & Jop
    The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...

     Critics' Poll.
  • Mojo
    Mojo (magazine)
    MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

    (p. 57) - Ranked #77 in Mojos "100 Modern Classics".
  • The New York Times
    The New York Times
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

    (5/1/96, p. C16) - Included on Jon Pareles
    Jon Pareles
    Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...

    's list of the Top 10 Albums of '95.
  • NME
    NME
    The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

    (23–30/12/95, pp. 22–23) - Ranked #1 in NMEs 'Top 50 Albums of the Year' for 1995.

Track listing

Track notes

  • The lyrics of "Overcome" are the same as "Karmacoma", a song by trip-hop collective Massive Attack
    Massive Attack
    Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...

    . "Hell Is Round the Corner" contains the same lyrics as "Eurochild
    Protection (album)
    -Sound:Protection was featured in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine's 'Coolest Albums of All Time List,' calling it "great music for when you're driving around a city at 4 am," due to the 'chill out' nature of the album...

    ", also by Massive Attack. Tricky appears as a rapper on both of these songs, from the 1994 Protection
    Protection (album)
    -Sound:Protection was featured in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine's 'Coolest Albums of All Time List,' calling it "great music for when you're driving around a city at 4 am," due to the 'chill out' nature of the album...

    album.
  • The song "Black Steel" is a cover of the Public Enemy song "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
    Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
    "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song by the American hip hop group Public Enemy from their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...

    "

Singles

UK singles, with release dates and peak positions in the singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

:
  • "Aftermath" (24 January 1994) – #69
  • "Ponderosa" (25 April 1994)
  • "Overcome" (16 January 1995) – #34
  • "Black Steel" (3 April 1995) – #28
  • The Hell E.P. ("Hell Is Round the Corner") (24 July 1995) – #12
  • "Pumpkin" (30 October 1995) – #26

Soundtrack appearances

  • The song "Hell Is Round the Corner" appeared in the film Transporter 3
    Transporter 3
    Transporter 3 is a 2008 French-English action film, and is the third installment in the Transporter film series, as well as the first not to be distributed by 20th Century Fox in the United States. Both Jason Statham and François Berléand reprised their roles, as Frank Martin and Tarconi,...

    and the TV series Skins
    Skins (TV series)
    Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...

    , Sleeper Cell
    Sleeper Cell (TV series)
    Sleeper Cell is a one-hour drama on the Showtime network that began airing on December 4, 2005. The tagline for the first season was "Friends. Neighbors. Husbands. Terrorists." and the tagline for the second season was "Cities. Suburbs. Airports. Targets." The series was nominated for an Emmy award...

    , Rescue Me
    Rescue Me (TV series)
    Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...

    and New York Undercover
    New York Undercover
    New York Undercover is an American police drama that aired on the FOX television network from 1994 to 1998. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's 4th Precinct who were assigned to...

    .
  • The song "Overcome" appeared in the films City of Industry
    City of Industry (film)
    City of Industry is a 1997 crime film starring Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff and Timothy Hutton. It is directed by John Irvin, produced by Evzen Kolar and Ken Solarz and written by Ken Solarz...

    and Strange Days
    Strange Days (film)
    Strange Days is a 1995 cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and produced and co-written by James Cameron and Jay Cocks, starring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott and Vincent D'Onofrio. Despite positive reviews, the film was a...

    .
  • The song "Abbaon Fat Tracks" appeared in the films The Book of Revelation
    The Book of Revelation (film)
    The Book of Revelation is a 2006 Australian film directed by Ana Kokkinos, which she adapted with Andrew Bovell to screen from the novel by Rupert Thomson. It was produced by Al Clark, with original music by Cezary Skubiszewski...

    and Virtuosity
    Virtuosity
    Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...

    .
  • The song "Aftermath" appeared in Veronica Guerin
    Veronica Guerin (film)
    Veronica Guerin is a 2003 Irish biographical film directed by Joel Schumacher. The screenplay by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue focuses on Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996....

    , Silent Cry
    Silent Cry (film)
    Silent Cry is a British thriller film directed by Julian Richards, starring Emily Woof, Douglas Henshall, Frank Finlay, Clive Russell, Kevin Whately, Craig Kelly and released in 2003.- Synopsis :...

    and Le confessionnal.
  • The song "You Don't" appeared in Boiler Room
    Boiler Room (film)
    Boiler Room is a 2000 American drama film written and directed by Ben Younger, and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, Ron Rifkin and Jamie Kennedy....

    and Go Now
    Go Now
    Go Now is a 1995 television film directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Robert Carlyle as an MS-afflicted soccer player/construction worker struggling with the onset of multiple sclerosis....

    .
  • The song "Pumpkin" appeared in Go Now
    Go Now
    Go Now is a 1995 television film directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Robert Carlyle as an MS-afflicted soccer player/construction worker struggling with the onset of multiple sclerosis....

    .
  • The song "Black Steel" appeared in Beavis and Butt-Head
    Beavis and Butt-Head
    Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...

    .

Personnel

  • David Alvarez - art direction, design
  • Howie B - composer, producer
  • Pete Briquette
    Pete Briquette
    Pete Briquette is the stage name of Patrick Cusack . His pseudonym refers to the fact that he hails from the Irish countryside; peat briquettes are a type of refined turf burned in fires instead of coal.-Boomtown Rats:He was the bass guitarist, backing vocalist, occasional songwriter, and sometime...

     - bass, guitar (bass)
  • Cally - art direction, design
  • FTV - guitar, drums
  • Alison Goldfrapp
    Alison Goldfrapp
    Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp is an English singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp has a soprano vocal range.-Early life:...

     - vocals
  • Martina Topley-Bird
    Martina Topley-Bird
    Martina Topley-Bird is a British vocalist and songwriter who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, Maxinquaye...

     - vocals
  • Kevin Petrie - producer
  • Ragga (Ragnhildur Gísladóttir) - vocals
  • Mark Saunders
    Mark Saunders
    Mark Saunders, is a British record producer who has worked on a number of albums. He relocated to New York City in 1996 and currently works from his facility in Manhattan - Beat360 Studios....

     - keyboards, guitar, producer
  • James Stevenson
    James Stevenson (musician)
    James Stevenson is a UK punk / rock guitarist, at one time appearing with The Alarm, Gene Loves Jezebel, Generation X and Chelsea.-Music career:...

     - guitar, guitar (bass)
  • Mark Stewart
    Mark Stewart (musician)
    Mark Stewart is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. A pioneer of industrial hip-hop, he has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records.-Career:...

    - vocals ("Aftermath")
  • Tricky - Composer, vocals, producer
  • Tony Wrafter - flute
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