Editorial Reviews
Angels with Dirty Faces
Music Review:
Music Review
Glad Tidings: Favourite Carols & Classical Christmas
Five Centuries Of Music For Brass Ensemble
Music: Goa Classics, Vol. 2 [Import]
If Ever I Feel Better [Import]
Ich Weiss Was Dir Fehlt [Import]
How Great Thou Art: The Greatest Hits of El Vez
Infinity, Vol. 1 [Explicit Lyrics]
Amazon.com
What's really tricky is following up a debut as innovative and exquisite as 1995's Maxinquaye. Third time out (fourth if you count 1996's perplexing duets project Nearly God) and the artist formerly known as Adrian Thaws is still struggling to find the right balance of ambition and ability on Angels with Dirty Faces. The album has its moments: including a stirring collaboration with Polly Harvey on the bluesy "Broken Homes" and singer Martina Topley-Bird's eerie rendering of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" on "Carriage for Two." If you liked the claustrophobic mire of last year's Pre-Millennium Tension, Angels won't disappoint. Otherwise, you may find it a downer. --Aidin Vaziri
Spin
Rather than the lush digital soundscapes of Maxinquaye or the shimmering desolation of Pre-Millennium Tension , Angels resounds with cellos, tremolo guitars, and bass clarinets, as well as the usual electro-wheezes and shuddering bass loops. Referencing the electric period of that other dark magus, Miles Davis, Angels may be remembered as the album on which Tricky rediscovered that ancient mystical implement known as "the drummer." The organic instrumentation adds to the sense... read more