Hell Is Round the Corner

by Tricky

'Bookended by tragedy, shot through with violence, ultimately uplifting' Guardian
'An insight into a singular artist' New Statesman
'Fierce, funny and indomitable' Observer
'My tears were relentlessly pricked by Tricky's memoir' Daily Telegraph

Tricky is one of the most original music artists to emerge from the UK in the past 30 years. His signature sound, coupled with deep, questioning lyrics, took the UK by storm in the early 1990s and was part of the soundtrack that defined the post-rave generation.

This unique, no-holds barred autobiography is not only a portrait of an incredible artist - it is also a gripping slice of social history packed with extraordinary anecdotes and voices from the margins of society.

Tricky examines how his creativity has helped him find a different path to that of his relatives, some of whom were bare-knuckle fighters and gangsters, and how his mother's suicide has had a lifelong effect on him, both creatively and psychologically. With his unique heritage and experience, his story will be one of the most talked-about music autobiographies of the decade.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Crime

348 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2019

Reviews

[Michael Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mirroring his music, Tricky the writer is no illusionist, he’s a master magician. Honest, funny, tragic and scary, Tricky is the world’s coolest Adrian, apart from that girl in Rocky, maybe. The Knowle West boy freestyles his tale with welcome interruptions from family, friends and collaborators, leads the reader away from his personal tragedy then walks around the block of stardom in a loop that ends with a chapter no man deserves to write. A proper gert lush blowback of a book!

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe that Tricky thinks he's experimental and as such, he's giving himself a lot of leeways, partly good, partly bad. If something doesn't work, well, on to the next thing. If it does work, it can really shine.

As such, with that on the plate, I often felt 'hell, this could have been so much better if it'd been edited properly!' when reading this book. I'm not talking about the contradictions—e.g. 'money doesn't matter to me!' vs the multitudes of times when Tricky counts how much money he's made—but of how the entire book is filled with little anecdotes that, in the end, left me feeling this book is a more a mosaic that forms a weird pattern as a whole, instead of becoming a lovely brocade. Tricky should have had a look at Bret Anderson's two autobiographical books for inspiration: those are intricate and, at the same time, filled with air and form a cohesive base that brings out the content much better than Tricky's book has.

Having said all that, there are good things going for this book. The fact that Tricky has let others take part in this book is great: in the middle of chapters, somebody comes in and provides their perspective on things. It's refreshing, even though I can't help but wonder how much has been omitted from the final book.

My first memory is seeing my mum in a coffin, when I was four years old. In those days, when somebody died, you had the coffin at home for a week or two, so all the family could come and say their goodbyes before they buried the person. When you’re that young, you don’t really understand what’s going on. Obviously I could see a lot of people were sad – family members coming into the house crying and stuff – so I knew it wasn’t good. She’d committed suicide, and I didn’t understand that, either.

He's had quite the hard life growing up:

The person who first sent me to boxing training was my auntie Maureen. One day, Maureen stabbed my uncle Martin, which I saw happen. I don’t think Martin liked Maureen’s husband very much, and he might have been trying to get money off him, so he used to go around and smash the house up sometimes. One day he went around there, and my auntie Maureen opened the door, threw pepper in his eyes and stabbed him in the stomach.

When music entered your life in the sense that it does when you're young and discover a band that's yours:

The Specials changed everything. Their first album was like my life on a record. Just called The Specials, it came out in 1979, and I was only eleven then, so I can’t quite remember how old I was when I first actually heard it, but I knew right away that they were the ones for me. Seeing them on TV was the first time kids like me had a band representing us – someone like myself on television!

He went into Massive Attack and I think there's something really telling about this paragraph on how and when he decided to leave the band or/and Wild Bunch:

I only went to London with them once, while they were mixing. No disrespect to those guys, but we came from different worlds. We drove up there to work on a song, and I was a kid – I had no money. On the way back, we were at the services, and everybody got off the bus to go and eat – we had a tour bus for some reason but we were just on a studio trip. We walked into the service station, and it was £2.50 for sausage and chips, and I was starving. I said to G, ‘Here, lend me two quid!’

I was just a kid, but he wouldn’t lend me the money. That affected me a lot. That day was when I realised I would end up leaving Massive Attack, although it was way before I truly knew it or actually thought about leaving. When he wouldn’t lend me two pounds to eat, that was the end of our relationship on a certain level. Like, you know, these people come from a different place to you. Where I grew up, they would steal that money so I could eat. That’s when I knew that it was about business, about a band and a music career – and Massive wasn’t even big at that point.

There are some lovely words on people who should be recognised more, like, say, Rakim:

I felt like these artists deserved to be opened out to a wider audience. You can’t just call Rakim a rapper. That guy is a genius. Some of his words are the most amazing poetry. It frustrated me when people said, ‘Rakim, the rapper’. He isn’t really, he’s a poet who doesn’t sing; instead he uses the avenue that is available to him. People called me a rapper, too – why? I find it weird; it puts you in a box – ‘rapper’! I might have started off thinking I was a rapper, but even from when I first started, I have never been one really.

About 'the Bristol scene':

I was being written about as part of ‘the Bristol scene’, which made no sense to me. There was a lot of music being made in Bristol, but everybody kept to their own little corner. People saw each other in clubs, because it’s a small city, but there weren’t no scene. It ain’t like Manchester, where you had all these different rock bands doing their thing – the Stone Roses are hanging out with the Happy Mondays, but the Stone Roses are one thing, and Happy Mondays are another.

Portishead made music like they did because of Massive Attack. Geoff Barrow would never have been doing music like their Dummy album if he hadn’t met us guys. He didn’t come through hip-hop like we did. Some people even thought that Portishead came before me. How can that ever happen? Come on! I’m a hip-hop head! People fell for this ‘Bristol scene’ shit. Here’s another thing: Portishead are not even from Bristol. They’re from Portishead. And when people started talking about the ‘Bristol Sound’, what they didn’t realise was, I had recorded some stuff there, like my stuff on Blue Lines, but Maxinquaye was made in Harlesden. It came from being isolated up there, not knowing anyone.

On PJ Harvey:

Most of the first touring I did was with Polly Harvey, who is a West Country girl, too. We went through England, Europe and America. Polly is lovely, and very chilled out. She ain’t got none of that popstar bullshit about her. Just as real as they come. I was lucky to tour with her at the beginning, because she’s one of the best live artists you could ever see. Normally when I’m watching a live show, I get bored, not because the show is bad necessarily, or the person is bad, it’s just that from this point on performing onstage became part of what I do for a living. It’s not that I’m not impressed, or I don’t like the songs, it’s that thing of not eating chocolate if you work in a chocolate factory. Watching Polly, though, it’s always been, ‘Fucking hell, that is some power!’

There is some lovely reminiscences in this book, but it lacks editing; if you can handle that, and love pop-culture and entertainment tidbits, read up.

[Frank Privette · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know why this is a five-star book? Because it’s fun. And entertaining. And well-written. And it’s interesting. Yes, it’s obviously egocentric (it’s a memoir, penned by Tricky, after all). But Adrian Thaws has had an interesting life, he’s a talented writer as well as musician, and he knows how to grab an audience by the.... well.....

Even if you’ve never heard of Tricky or Massive Attack, this book is well worth your time if you’re into music history, migrant history in the UK, the nineties, pop, ska, reggae, hip hop, or the “Bristol Scene”, even if only from a distance.

I honestly haven’t had this much fun reading a book in a while. Two examples:

He was offered to mix and finish “Pop” by Bono but said no. Why? Because the demo the singer gave him was too good and he couldn’t improve it. But U2 wanted to make it sound “new”. And when they relase it, well, it sucked.

The other was his allegedly first experience with racism. It wasn’t until he was already “rich and famous” and boarding a British Airways flight. He took a left, towards First Class. And the stewardess politely directed him right, to Coach. She was wrong, of course. And prejudiced.

Pehaps what makes this book so compelling, though, are two of Tricky’s choices. One is to have a a wide range of supporting “characters” contribute. So it becomes, in large part, an oral history of Tricky. From friends, family, music producers and industry insiders, to artists like Terry Hall, Perry Farrell, and Maynard James Keenan. It is, very much like Massive Attack’s genesis, and what is at their core, a collaboration. And it works.

The other interesting choice is how he paces himself. Almost a third of the book comes and goes before any mention to The Wild Bunch or Massive Attack ks made. He takes his sweet time. And it’s a book about him, not just his music.

And it works.

The last three or four paragraphs are surprising. And possibly more heart-wrenching than most of the book if you’re not quite up to speed with certain events (which I wasn’t). It’s a huge change of pace. And, sadly, it also works.

One, not sad at all, quote to remember him by:

“I was never interested in being famous or successful. Like everyone, I have bills to pay. So I have to make money. But I’ve never been interested in being the richest guy on the planet. Driving around in a Rolls Royce or Bentley sports car does nothing for me whatsoever. Making Maxinquaye, my attitude was ‘I’m gonna turn music upside down.’ That was a bit of a competitive hip hop thing like ‘no one can fuck with me, I’m gonna make music that no one has ever heard before.’ There was always a bit of that. But being the biggest artist, it doesn’t bother me. The only thing that came out of the nineties that was new was my album. I’m not saying it was the best. I’m just saying it was the only new music. When Maxinquaye came out there was nothing that came out before it or sounded like it. Things have come after it and tried to sound like it but when Maxinquaye came out, there had been nothing like it. And it wasn’t because I’m a genius. It was because I don’t know what I’m doing.”

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention by a good source (a very serious journalist who spoke with him) that Tricky not only didn’t write this book but didn’t even proof read it. He told it to a journalist, who transcribed and -one supposes-edited it. This takes away nothing from my review, I think. Precisely because it felt like such a lively, oral history kind of conversation. [maybe it takes away from the Tricky-is-a-great-writer-bit])

[Mateusz Romanowski]

Rzeczy, które robisz w świecie muzyki, będąc chłopem z Knowle West. Niewiarygodna biografia.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd been looking forward to reading this for a long time. I'd sweated on the ebook availability of Tricky's autobiography, as it wasn't clear if there'd even be one, and when I finally checked back and there was one, I hoped I wouldn't be disappointed with the book.

I mean, I was, but that's unsurprising for an autobiography: they're rarely the documents we desire.

However this one begins as it means to go on:

My first memory is seeing my mum in a coffin, when I was four years old.

That's a better opener than I'd any right to expect, so I was hooked.

Hell Is Round the Corner is presented from several viewpoints. Tricky – Adrian Thaws to his family – is clear that he believes the story is often better told by others. So, as well as personal recollections of his life we're treated to the thoughts of mates and other relatives.

What comes through most clearly is the importance of family, and of being mixed race in Knowle West. The travails of his existence are shot through with an solid love for his family, despite any flaws, and it's an interesting portrait of an intersection of cultures at a particular point in the UK.

I am absolutely delighted at this, too:

I wore a Marc Bolan T-shirt all the time, too – the first and only music T-shirt I ever had. I used to go into Weston-super-Mare wearing it, and Blackpool with my nan on holiday. I loved his lyrics. You know that song ‘Cosmic Dancer’? It goes, ‘I danced myself right into the tomb, is it strange to dance so soon?’ Proper lyrics, and what’s mad is, he died young. To me, that guy was just somewhere else – he was a psychic genius.

That's an image that'll stick with me.

Tricky's questing and individual approach to the creation of his own music comes through pretty solidly, as does his brushes – and discomfort – with fame. The downside is that this is all conveyed in a fairly impressionist way. If you're looking for precise dates and times you'll not find them, but you will find much more information about the artist's mental state during the creation of his work, which in turn (for me) influences how they sound as I revisit them.

The book runs out of puff at the moment the wind was taken from the musician's sails in real life: with the death of his daughter, Mina Mazy. Unsurprisingly, the cratering blow brings everything to a clattering halt, especially because so much of the book is spent discussing how important family is to Thaws. It's a tragedy, and it's communicated briefly, though the weight crushes.

As a fan of Tricky's work, I very much enjoyed Hell Is Round the Corner. It didn't meet my music nerd requirements for the sort of granular detail on music creation that some 33-1/3 books or other biographies might convey, but its personal qualities made it well worth the read. Like his recorded output, there's occasions where Thaws could use some reining in, but fuck, who's gonna tell Tricky to change his tune?

Hopefully one day there'll be a fulsome biography of this important artists. Until then, hearing his story from the horse's mouth is just fine.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the many different corners that a man whose first memory is of seeing his dead mother when he was four. A suicide, a very troubled and violent family, black in a poor white area, young Adrian Thaws was never going to be a normal bloke.

Seemingly destined for a life of violence, in and out of prison just like most of his family, Adrian guides us through these years, and we see that he is different - a square peg in a round hole - the time he went inside, for forging £50 notes, changed the way this life was going. Creative from the start, Adrian (or Tricky as he was being known as, because you never knew when he was gonna show) became part of the Wild Bunch, which became Massive Attack.

Splitting from Massive Attack, he released his first album which he named after his mum, Maxine Quaye. However, he quickly became sick with how it became part of the mainstream. Never comfortable with things being comfortably familiar, he moves around different cities and countries a lot.

This is a brutally honest autobiography, not glossed over, making things worse or better than they were, and not ghost-written, the times that Tricky has trouble remembering, there are other narrators to tell us. Dealing with issues such as racism, class, physical health, mental health and financial difficulty, it's more than a music book.

Eventually, as Tricky becomes older, he slows down and starts looking after himself, there's a point where everything is becoming more balanced. The usual autobiography finishing point.

But then, right at the very end, life deals him the cruellest hand. So where does he go from here?

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

No! You can't end a book like that! And that's the end of my reading challenge target too.

An autobiography with contributions is a strange thing, but this really works in parts. He's not afraid to hand over parts of his own self-account to people who are hardly uncritical. The last word is back to Adrian Thaws on his own though, and is devastating.

[Jak Krumholtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read anything that ended with more of a gut punch.

I've listened to a ton of Tricky over the years but really knew little about him. Wild life and told in a cool way it just needs better editing to prevent stories repeating so many times and keep things interesting.

That ending though. Brutal. Thankful for him sharing his life.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the very best memoirs by a musician I have read. Tricky is a musical genius, but he has lived many lives and suffered huge trauma - so the book is about so much more than just music, but manages to remind of all that great work and the various scenes and people he connected with and through.

[Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very conversational which was nice. However, it was about 100 pages too long. Some really boring and unnecessary stories. It has definitely given more depth to his music though, which is great.

[Ankedesign · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik twijfel tussen vier en vijf sterren. Waarom? Deze biografie is een diepgaand verhaal met veel verschillende bronnen, over een speciale man die gewoon goede muziek maakt. Maar het gaat nauwelijks over de muziek, omdat het een ongrijpbaar iets is in dit verhaal. De persoon Tricky zelf is zo fascinerend, dat ondanks de 300 pagina’s in dit boek, je nauwelijks de oppervlakte schraapt. Tof boek voor muziekliefhebbers, maar verwacht geen inside info over hoe je een toffe track maakt, of hoe spannend het backstage leven was. Eerder een openhartig schrijven over hoe een persoon zich de afgelopen decennia in een hoop chaos en spontaniteit over deze aardbol heeft bewogen. Vijf sterren voor hoe bijzonder de reis is, vier sterren voor dat je toch het gevoel hebt dat je er nog meer verhaal in zit.

[Jeffrey Thiessen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So uh, yes I still read.

Yes, I forgot about this app, even though I do like it.

Yes, I recommend this book as it reads like his music sounds.

[Nicky Neko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting dude

[Adam Parrilli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the BEST (music) autobiographies I've ever read. Personal and interesting, as well as unconventional. Well done, Mr Thaws.

[Jimmy Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tricky Kid is Tricky

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting format where the book comes over as Tricky talking in a room of people from his life who then join in at the relevant parts. (That'll make more sense if you read the book!) He's had an unusual life and career and was fascinating to read about.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My name is Adrian Thaws, and I've got no balls."
So said the shy little boy who would become Tricky, to a local vicar.
His step dad had set him up.

Tricky's life hasn't exactly been normal, and it's immediately clear that his book isn't going to be a conventional autobiography (for a start, it's written by multiple people!).
His earliest memory is seeing his mother lying in a coffin having committed suicide when he was four years old.
And thus the tone of the book is set. It's a hard-hitting and tough read, mirroring the fucked-up nature of the author's life.

Tricky is a man of extremes. His formative years were spent pretty much in poverty in a forgotten council estate in Bristol.
By turns he's been a petty criminal and almost-gangster in the UK, a party animal with money to burn in LA, a mentor for ghetto kids in the poorest area of Paris, and a virtual recluse in Berlin. He's learned that he's at his happiest in his own company, living a simple life without possessions. Just music.
Nothing in his life has ever been planned. He lives and creates by instinct alone. By his own admission he's a non-musician. Everything is in the moment.
If he finds a place he likes, he'll move there without a second thought. Music, and a dark, violent, family background are the only constants.

This is a phenomenal autobiography. It's not great literature, and there's a lot of repetition, but that's the key to its charm. It's down to earth and conversational, and Tricky comes across as a funny and very likeable person.
His story draws to an end in middle age, with Tricky realising that his entire life has basically been a search for his mum. On making this discovery, he is able to come to terms with the demons of his past, find an inner peace, and muse on an extraordinary life lived by the minute.

And then there's the final page.
And if you're like me, it will absolutely floor you.

[Karen Osment · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing book learning so much about Tricky's amazing life. Brutally honest about his difficult upbringing in Bristol to his very colourful music career. I was in tears at the end, such an emotional rollercoaster x

[Ritva S · Rating 5 out of 5]

The existence of this book makes me at least 47% happier as a person, on average. I have both the audio and the print version. It's fantastic how bits and pieces familiar from the lyrics are dropped here and there. I am a fangirl and I just love everything about this, so my view and rating are heavily biased!

[Mirza · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might think that a book that starts and ends with a suicide and goes by the name "Hell is round the corner" is going to be the saddest story ever. But Tricky doesn't work that way. There's no self-pity here. Coming from Knowle West in Bristol he has truly lived a life less ordinary and I very much enjoyed going on that ride with him by reading this book.

[Dan Raviv · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love tricky's music, both the 90's Maxinquaye and the newer stuff starting from False Idols, so I decided to order and read his book, thinking it can give me an even bigger appreciation of him as an artist. This didn't really turn out to be the case - the book is of pretty low artistic quality, and it is clear Tricky's talent lies in music and not long form writing; It reads more like a linear recollection and pretty bland description of his life, or perhaps a personal psychological exercise.

I found it hard not to be judgemental of him while reading the book. He seems like a very repressed person, and as a result the book is mostly a never-ending recount of his partying, celebrities he met, and humble bragging about his success - which is actually quite funny given how much he stresses again and again that he doesn't care about that type of stuff. It is also clear that while not practicing it itself - Tricky is really impressed with crime and gangster life, and proud of the little macho encounters he did have. I appreciate his honesty that this is a result of his upbringing and rough family/neighbourhood growing up, and yet I would have loved to see also more recognition of the downsides of violence and machoism.

He is so focused on recounting all the little encounters, that he almost completely glosses over the important emotional stuff, such as his connection to himself, his kids, relationship with his ex-wife, etc..; In general it seems he is aware that he "has fucked up" life, but also he seems proud of not really taking any true responsibility for anything and how things all in all worked out non the less. It seems he does have good intentions and a good heart, but I can imagine that this attitude probably did end up hurting quite a lot of people in his life. It was good to see that towards the end he did spend a few pages circling back to his mother's suicide, so there are definitely seeds of understanding there that might lead him to more peace of mind and heart.

Despite all the above - I did somewhat enjoy reading it, if only to learn more about what music Tricky likes and despite the naiveté of it, learn how he views himself and the world. I would guess writing the book did help him in getting a deeper self understanding, if only as a first step. Also, I can imagine that actually all of the above are contributing factors in making him a great musician - the conscious repression probably leads to intuitive release in the music of all those strong undercurrents. I will continue enjoying his music!

[Dragan Nanic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a must-have book for me since I saw it announced. Tricky had a profound influence on me with his first album Maxinquaye and though afterwards I drifted away from his ouvre, in the recent years I managed to catch up. I even went to his concert in Paradiso and liked it a lot. His attitude, the problems with the audience who couldn't stop talking and, above everything else, the unique atmosphere and music was definitely unforgettable.

In a manner it reminded me a lot of another autobiography I recently read - that of Grace Jones (I'll Never Write My Memoirs). It starts with an overview from a historical perspective of what it meant to grow in Bristol in a mixed family and it explains a lot about all the important members of that family before we got to the music part. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And then there is all about the music and his approach to it, a naive artist which deliberately wants to stay that way, his shyness, stage fright and how he copes with it (or not, as was the case with Beyonce collaboration). It felt honest. And another thing that really strikes me in connection with Grace Jones is that neither of them had any issues with racism growing up. Only when she moved to US or when he became famous it started happening to them. Makes one wonder where racism really starts and who is promoting it (and for what purpose).

I don't know about no-holds barred, certainly it feels that way in many respects, especially about family, music industry, fame, partying and drugs but I still felt that the Adrian Thaws is kept a bit away. And that I fully respect, although the sensationalistic part of me that is so used to yellow press has noticed it, of course. I still believe it should be kept for the closest, the real friends. It is enough that we got the peak into that part of him through his work with kids in problematic Paris area.

One more thing that I really liked is the edition itself. It is simply beautiful, especially the cover design which is at the same time magical, elegant and definitely Tricky.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

* I received a review copy of this book prior to its commercial release *

Up until reading this book, I had never been interested in the kind of music which Tricky, born Adrian Thawes, makes. However, his autobiography, named after one of his tracks of the same name, changed my mind. He is talented, even if I am not particularly fond of the genre of music which he makes.

And he tells the story like it is, too. I appreciate this as a reader because it is very clear that there is no glossing over mistakes he has made or bad things which he has done. He is honest about his habits, even when they're not entirely legal, and he doesn't try to cover them up or justify them by saying he was in a bad place or was just a kid. He's a true soul, and that is what I like about his narrative, and also his music.

His book is different to most of the genre in that it is written from different points of view. For most of it, Tricky narrates, but occasionally he switches to a friend who was there at the time who might have a different idea of what was happening. Tricky truly covers his life from what appears to be every angle, and it is definitely not boring. In fact, it is the opposite. To be able to know what both he and people who were with him at the time were thinking is something which is not often covered in the biography/autobiography genre, and one that I think should be explored some more because it makes for an all-the-more exciting book.

I really enjoyed this book, and it has inspired me to listen to Tricky's music, something which I never would have done before. I recommend it to anybody looking to branch out from their usual genre. You won't be disappointed.

[Ed, North London · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book more because of the mythology of Massive Attack, the Wild Bunch and Bristol than from being a fan of Tricky's music. I always thought he had potential to be an amazing rapper, but his solo stuff failed to deliver for me, wheezy, inaudible and over an emo, sludgy musical backdrop.

Despite this he always seemed to be a compelling and interesting figure, perverse and contrary, with a lot of cool cultural reference influences, the specials, hip hop etc.

The book really didn't dissapoint, because Tricky has had a fascinating life. I found his family history as well as his Bristolian origins in Knowle West really interesting. Tricky also had an amazing capacity to move around and reinvent himself, which i felt in awe of.

The Tricky Kid i would have liked to listen to never really emerged from the Massive Attack chrysalis.
My favourite of his songs is Nothing's Clear, which appears on a sickle cell charity compilation and was never properly released, sampling the specials and the soundtrack from Betty Blue.

However, like Oscar Wilde his real genius seemed to be in living a flamboyant and fascinating life as an outlier and a true British original.

[Dima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceeding all expectations. The book is at once a glimpse into the underbelly of England, as well as an overview of Tricky's career and the evolution of trip-hop (yes, I know he doesn't like the term) as a genre. The first part of the book is absolutely superb - it follows Tricky's early life and describes the events that shaped him. The vivid details are astounding and reveal an England that is not often depicted on pages - it's gruesome and tender at the same time. His family are ruthless and violent gangsters, but also loving uncles and aunts, who want to protect their children (albeit with a heavy dose of what we would consider, these days, neglect). The second half of the book describes the story behind each major album that Tricky put out, and how his personal life and way of seeing the world evolved. We see him at his most vulnerable self, and there is an opportunity to understand who he really is as a person, beyond the persona that the media tends to paint of him. While there are some bits of his life that are glossed over (especially, some relationships), overall - it's an intimate and revealing self portrait of the artist and his times.

[oleboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt like speaking to myself at points in this book.

it was so fun and interesting to read, i learnt so much. i didn’t want to really stop reading it to be honest it gave me a sense of playfulness. I really like his outlook and his choice of experimental. He ain’t no perfectioness and i think the reason his music is so beautiful is because there is mistakes. A true originator. Also felt suitable reading this in tha Briz! I don’t think there will be another like Tricky, he sounds like the sort of guy u meet at a dance and his so deep into it his not there i like his talks on the meditative state of mind when you walk. When your walking around the high street and everyone lays its self back and you feel zen, you don’t want to talk to anyone, your content and happy with the perturbed buzz your feeling, someone makes u jump and instantly your back to reality. I really related to this, it’s the worst feeling. Let me get lost in a bubble

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I intentionally slow read this book so I could absorb it all. I would read a few pages then go down massive deep rabbit holes of listening or watching stuff that he referred to or referenced. I think over the course of reading this I have listened to every album at least once. It was an absolute journey and I loved every second of it.

Tricky is one of my most beloved artists. When I first started listening to him as a teen the internet wasn't really that big, so a lot of my early impressions of him were from his music mainly, the occasional airplay on Channel V or MTV and through interviews. I always thought he was super interesting, but this book makes me realise interesting is an understatement. Pretty honest, heartbreaking and brave biography that I feel very grateful to have read and I feel much more connected to his music and super enthusiastic about what's to come.

[Gavin Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tricky has an interesting story to tell, particularly about his childhood and the family dramas that played out. I was engrossed in the first part of the book but it was harder work when he became famous and rich. His personality wasn't suited to the level of fame he had in the mid 90's and he lost himself in parties, drink, drugs and excessive wealth.
He seems to have reached a more balanced approach to life by the end of the book but then he's hit by family tragedy and the book's title becomes more relevant than ever.
I'd have liked to know more about the music but he doesn't seem to have any insight - it's as mysterious to him as it is to the listener.
He's remained true to himself, despite everything he's been through and it's impossible not to admire that, even if he's not always a likeable character.

[mabry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me will tell you that Tricky is one of my favorite artists. I know an embarrassing amount of trivia about him. This biography was so disappointing it changed how I think about him. The dictation-style worked against him in every way. He completely ignored (or glossed over) nearly every woman he’s worked with that arguably made (and certainly carried) his career. That would have been fine if this was only about his life and not about his work but as he tells you in very straightforward terms: they’re intertwined. Hugely disappointed. And it came out right after the biography of Massive Attack, in which he was a founding member. Now THAT is one to read and admire. Skip this if you at all care about your positive image of Adrian Thaws. Read this if you like ramblings of an simple-minded aging musician.

[Kieran Telo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of interviews arranged into a very decent biography which helps to explain this enigmatic, very talented musician - in fact my favourite artist. Not mentioned is his very latest, magnificent, album Fall To Pieces. This made way more sense when I got to the very end of the narrative. (There is one song in particular which is painful, angry, quite harrowing.)

Adrian comes across as quite guarded, reclusive almost, but essentially not giving a fuck. Such people aren't necessarily fantastically likeable but they understand some of the key things about this life of ours. What I didn't really gain a lot of insight into is his music, but I got the distinct impression he doesn't really understand it himself. Some things are beyond understanding.

4.5/5