Although a huge admirer of Tricky in his considerable pomp, I would be the first to concede that his powers have steadily waned since the mighty Maxinquaye, and it’s taken me a couple of weeks to get ‘round to giving his latest long-player, False Idols, a listen.

Fuck me! It sounds wonderful! (The man himself has been calling it a superior record to his debut: he may even turn out to have an improbable point.) Not the least of its joys is “Somebody’s Sins,” a sublime re-fashioning (to be honest, “cover” doesn’t really cut it) of Patti Smith’s opening verse-and-a-bit to “Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)”...

The obvious, but wholly worthy, point of reference is Maxinquaye’s unforgettable take on Public Enemy’s “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos.” Again, a female vocal (Francesca Belmonte) takes the lead and fleshes out some of the most poetic lines ever to grace popular music—and in such a way it’s as if you are hearing them for the first time.

Tricky, it’s very, very nice to have you back.