Nearly God

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Nearly God
File:Tricky - Nearly God.jpg
Studio album by Nearly God
Released April 29, 1996 (1996-04-29)
Length 64:44
Label Island
Producer Tricky
Nearly God chronology
Maxinquaye
(1995)Maxinquaye1995		 Nearly God
(1996)		 Pre-Millennium Tension
(1996)Pre-Millennium Tension1996
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Entertainment Weekly A[2]
Robert Christgau (1-star Honorable Mention)[3]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[4]
Alternative Press 5/5 stars[5]
Spin 8/10 stars[6]

Nearly God is an album released by Adrian Thaws (Better known by his Tricky alias). It was released as a side-project[7][8] under the name Nearly God[9] (rather than Tricky), on 29 April 1996.

Album name, recording history, collaborators

The album's title comes from an interview where Tricky was asked "So how does it feel to be God... well, nearly God."[10]

It was recorded in three weeks during the summer, in New York and London, and Tricky himself describes it as "a collection of brilliant, incomplete demos".[11] It was mixed in London by Ian Caple & Tricky.

Originally, Nearly God also included a song with Blur frontman Damon Albarn, but it was removed at the last minute, with Tricky expressing displeasure at Albarn's working methods, saying: "He wants to work on something for like two months and then do the vocals again and again and again, and I don't work like that." [12] The song was later recorded again with former Madness singer Suggs, but this version ("I'll pass right through you") was not released either. Four of ten rumoured songs with Neneh Cherry were released on her singles "Woman", "Kootchi" and "Feel it" in 1996 and 1997. Tricky also recorded another song with Cath Coffey, a cover of the Grease song "Summer Nights" which was released in 1997 on her first album Mind the Gap (released only in Japan so far).

The final product contains collaborations with Terry Hall (singer of The Specials), Alison Moyet, Cath Coffey, Neneh Cherry, Björk and Martina Topley-Bird. The first track is a cover of "Tattoo", a b-side of popular post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees.[13]

Track listing

  1. "Tattoo" (cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees) (Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, Budgie)
  2. "Poems" (with Terry Hall and Martina Topley-Bird)
  3. "Together Now" (with Neneh Cherry)
  4. "Keep Your Mouth Shut" (with Björk)
  5. "I Be the Prophet" (with Martina Topley-Bird)
  6. "Make a Change" (with Alison Moyet)
  7. "Black Coffee" (Paul Francis Webster & Sonny Burke) (with Martina Topley-Bird)
  8. "Bubbles" (with Terry Hall)
  9. "I Sing for You" (with Cath Coffey and Dedi Madden)
  10. "Yoga" (with Björk)
  11. "Judas'" (US Release) (with Martina Topley-Bird) (Cover of Depeche Mode)
  12. "Children's Story" (US Release) (with Martina Topley-Bird) (Cover of Slick Rick)

"Together Now" was featured on Neneh Cherry's album Man and it could be considered a co-authored track, rather than simply Cherry featuring on Tricky's album. "Keep Your Mouth Shut" samples the song "Dedicated" by Das EFX from their album Hold it Down, and features lyrics from Björk's song "You've Been Flirting Again", from the album Post.

"Poems" uses a small loop from "Strugglin'" from Tricky's debut record Maxinquaye.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,293750,00.html
  3. ↑ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=1624
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone (8/22/96) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...engrossing music, recalling the early intimacy of Laurie Anderson, the raw aggression of Public Image Ltd. and the spaced oddities of Scott Walker and Underworld. Blues guitar notes get ripped away from tradition....subtle beats provide accent and flavor below floating orchestrations..."
  5. ↑ Alternative Press (10/96, pp.96-97) - 5 (out of 5) - "...Through an obfuscating veil of Indo smoke and relentless ambition, Tricky transfigures himself as musical divinity..."
  6. ↑ Spin (9/96, p.150) - 8 (out of 10) - "...In place of the usual bass-heavy beats, Tricky here glues together stark and melodic rhythm tracks out of bits or refuse; a steel-drum fragment fastened to a vague rustle, tied up with a synth hoot like the passage of a ghost in a silly horror movie..."
  7. ↑ http://www.moon-palace.de/tricky/spin96-2.html Spin review of Pre-Millenium Tension
  8. ↑ http://www.moon-palace.de/tricky/raygun96.html Raygun (1996)
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ The Face - April 96
  11. ↑ http://www.trickysite.com/biog/ Official Biography
  12. ↑ The Madness of King Tricky I - Raygun 96
  13. ↑ Boyd, Brian. "He Be The Prophet". The Irish Times. 24 May 1996. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
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