Mission Accomplished doesn't do much to reinvent the club/dance sonics
Tricky forged on
Maxinquaye, but it does offer some of the biggest beats he's ever cooked up. The title track mixes storm-tossed live drums with subtle fuzz guitar (and a rip from
Peter Gabriel's "Big Time," too), while "Crazy Claws" is gestalt hip-hop: Both in your face and somehow aloof, the MC outlines his sordid trysts with ghetto women while shrouded in a haze of club-drub drums and druggy bass. It's just the sort of dark-and-chic portrait of underbelly dwellers that made
Tricky seem so fresh at the beginning of his career. "Divine Comedy," on the other hand, bears a strong message -- Polygram,
Tricky's former label, sucks because it won't hire minorities with criminal records -- but its throwaway sonics aren't commensurate with
Tricky's anger. Discardable as it may be,
Mission Accomplished shows that
Tricky's still got plenty up his sleeve. ~ Christian Hoard