''Nearly God'' is the unofficial second album by English rapper and producer Tricky. It was released in February 1996 under the pseudonym "Nearly God", which originated from an interview during which Tricky was asked "so how does it feel to be God... well, nearly God."The Face – April 96
/ref> Described by Tricky as a compilation of exceptional yet unfinished demos, ''Nearly God'' was the result of a clause in his recording contract with

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, which allowed him to release an album once a year under a name other than his own. According to Tricky, "I needed it to come out, but Island would never let me release two Tricky albums in the same year"; his official second album ''

Pre-Millennium Tension ''Pre-Millennium Tension'' is the second album from English rapper and producer Tricky, released in 1996. It was a conscious effort by Tricky to depart away from the trip hop label with which critics had described his previous music. The album ...

'' was released in September 1996. An austerely produced

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

record, ''Nearly God'' was well received by critics and featured collaborations between Tricky and artists such as Alison Moyet,

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk roc ...

, Terry Hall, and

Martina Topley-Bird Martina Gillian Topley-Bird (''née'' Topley; born 7 May 1975) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, '' Maxinquaye'' (1995). S ...

, who had worked with him on his previous album ''

Maxinquaye ''Maxinquaye'' is the debut album by English rapper and producer Tricky, released on 20 February 1995 by 4th & B'way Records, a subsidiary of Island Records. In the years leading up to the album, Tricky had grown frustrated with his limited ro ...

'' (1995).

Recording

''Nearly God'' 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"''. The tracks were re-worked & mixed in London by

Ian Caple Ian Caple is an English recording engineer, record producer, programmer and mixer. History Caple's career began at EMI Music in 1979. After training at Abbey Road Studios, he became an engineer at EMI's KPM studios in Denmark Street London. ...

& Tricky. Originally, ''Nearly God'' also included a song with Blur frontman

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...

, 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."'' 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

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 The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...

), Alison Moyet, Cath Coffey,

and

. The first track is a cover of "

Tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

", a

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of popular

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Scott McKeating of ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' describes ''Nearly God'' as a much darker-sounding album than ''Maxinquaye'', calling it a "dark, zoned out, Class-A substance damaged

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

affair which still manages to force melody through dark mesh. Realistically though, this isn’t a dyspeptic, career destroying ''

Metal Machine Music ''Metal Machine Music'' (subtitled ''*The Amine β Ring'') is the fifth studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed. It was recorded on a three-speed Uher machine and was mastered/engineered by Bob Ludwig. It was released as a double album ...

'' themed 'fuck you'. Because while the songs forms are barely scratched in, never mind being fleshed out; Tricky makes the sound of dark nights, of want and solitude just as engaging as anything on his debut."

Critical reception

''Nearly God'' received positive reviews from critics. James Hunter of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' found the music gripping, "recalling the early intimacy of

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

, the raw aggression of

Public Image Ltd. Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

and the spaced oddities of Scott Walker". '' Spin'' magazine's Terri Sutton was impressed by Tricky's production and the record's "obsession with debilitating stasis", comparing it favourably to

Sly & the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi- ...

's 1971 album ''

There's a Riot Goin' On ''There's a Riot Goin' On'' (sometimes referred to as ''Riot'') is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released lat ...

'': "''Nearly God'' is most indebted to ''Riot'' for the idea that an attention to details, a precise awareness, can capture from entropy's numbing flow small gifts of nuance and emotional resonance." Roger Morton from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' was less enthusiastic: "The loopy loops and dysfunctional mantras of Tricky's smoked-out backing tracks are less structured and more spartan than on ''Maxinquaye''. Sometimes it sound like he's just kicked the sequencer and walked out. The onus is heavily on the singers to carry the weight, and it doesn't always work." In ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'',

Taylor Parkes Taylor Parkes (born 30 April 1972) is a British journalist. He is best known for his music journalism which appeared in '' Melody Maker'' from 1993 to 1998. Parkes was a champion of Saint Etienne, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers and the Romo scen ...

deemed it "a mess, albeit a hugely affecting one, a stop-gap, when three more months spent on arrangements and production would have fastered a masterpiece to surpass ''Maxinquaye''". At the end of 1996, ''Nearly God'' was voted the 19th best album of the year in the

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, the poll's creator, later gave it a one-star honorable mention, indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like". He cited "Together Now" and "Children's Story" as highlights and felt the record indulged in a sluggishness "true Tricky albums only play with". As of September 2003 it has sold 54,000 copies in United States according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. In naming it trip hop's eighteenth greatest album, John Twells and Laurent Fintoni of ''

FACT Magazine A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' wrote: "What sounds like it could have been a self-indulgent victory lap for (back then) one of the UK’s most notorious stars is somehow a coherent, exemplary document of a peculiar time in British music." The music video for Poems won a D&AD Pencil Award. Directed by Pinko for Stark2 Films with Nick Verden producing, the video was filmed on location at Paddington Basin London.

Track listing

# "

" (

Siouxsie Sioux Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She was the lead singer of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996). They released 11 ...

, Steven Severin, Budgie) # "Poems" (with Terry Hall and

) # "Together Now" (with Neneh Cherry) # "Keep Your Mouth Shut" (with

) # "I Be the Prophet" (with Martina Topley-Bird) # "Make a Change" (with Alison Moyet) # " Black Coffee" ( Paul Francis Webster,

Sonny Burke Joseph Francis "Sonny" Burke (March 22, 1914 – May 31, 1980) was an American musical arranger, composer, Big Band leader and producer. In 1937, he graduated from Duke University, where he had formed and led the jazz big band known as the Duke ...

) (with Martina Topley-Bird) # "Bubbles" (with Terry Hall) # "I Sing for You" (with Cath Coffey and Dedi Madden) # "Yoga" (with Björk) # "Judas'" (US Release) (with Martina Topley-Bird) (Cover of

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

) # "Children's Story" (US Release) (with Martina Topley-Bird) (Cover of

Slick Rick Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence with Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs " The Show" and " ...

)

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. * Art direction and design – Cally On Art Island * Co-producer –

Pete Briquette Patrick Martin Cusack (born 2 July 1954), known by the stage name Pete Briquette, is an Irish bassist, record producer and composer. He is a member of the Boomtown Rats and has also played in Bob Geldof's band. Boomtown Rats He was born in B ...

(tracks: 1, 6, 8) * Photography – Moi Lucas * Recording, Programming & Mixing -

* Producer – Tricky * Sleeve (concept) – Tricky * Vocals – Bjork (tracks: 4, 10), Martina Topley Bird (tracks: 2, 5, 7), Terry Hall (tracks: 2, 8), Tricky (tracks: 1 to 5, 7, 8, 10) * Songwriting – Bjork (tracks: 4, 10), Terry Hall (tracks: 2, 8), Tricky (tracks: 2 to 6, 8 to 10)

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1996 albums Tricky (musician) albums Experimental music albums by British artists Island Records albums Lo-fi music albums