This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
I wouldn’t go so far as to call Adrian Sherwood a hippy. But no one can deny he’s hip.
A legendary figure on the U.K. reggae and dub scene, he’s produced and mixed hundreds of recordings for artists as diverse as Asian Dub Foundation, Primal Scream and Nine Inch Nails. Surprisingly, however, Never Trust A Hippy? is his debut as a performer. Though what he played and wrote on the record, if anything, remains unclear from the liner notes. Primarily, it seems, Sherwood remained in his comfortable producer’s chair, coaching and coaxing performances from a roster of session players and then weaving them into trippy dub-reggae excursions anchored by waist-deep basslines and hip-swivelling ethno-grooves, fuelled by transcendent vocals and ear-catching arrangements and topped with an endless array of oddball samples and knob-twiddling effects. In an era when pop has become pap, you can always trust Sherwood to keep it interesting.
