Never Trust A Hippy

Never Trust A Hippy, is Adrian Sherwood's eclectic, compelling and lovingly crafted solo debut. The timing, it seemed, was right. Still, it took Real World, no mean trailblazers themselves, to provide the framework. "Even then it was by chance," notes Sherwood, "when Real World asked me to do a remix album, an Adrian Sherwood version of their catalogue."

But for a variety of reasons - some tracks he chose were religious songs and couldn't be touched, others he was unable to get clearance for - the concept proved a non-starter. Sherwood, predictably enough, had other ideas. "I proposed that I do an album under the umbrella of world music, but in my own warped way; something that reflected my influences, which is Jamaican music and a lot of African stuff as well. There's a bit in Brian Eno's 1988 album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts where he says, 'I have a vision of a psychedelic Africa', which I thought was really pretentious at the time" - Sherwood even released the lauded but piss-taking My Life In The Hole In The Ground soon after - "but to this day there's never been a mainstream African crossover record which uses the drums, the chants, the guitars and all the beautiful vocals. We tried it with African Headcharge (whose Faraway Chant was used by David Lynch in Wild At Heart), but didn't quite get it right. The idea still really appealed to me."

...It's a success because Sherwood has deliberately placed no limits on the sound.
With only himself to please, he's taken it all the way, with some sci-fi dancehall dub that seems to be from another world entirely.'
All Music Guide (UK)

...Sherwood crafts everything into haunting and catchy melodies.
The dubmaster has always operated apart from the pop mainstream, but has never provided such a convincing alternative to its dearth of creativity.'
The Guardian (UK)