Ah, I only said not to *buy* Protection first, because it's not as good as the others. I hold no opinion about which order one should listen to all three in if one has already committed to owning all of them.

And you want to start from the beginning with Tricky... consensus about whether he's still any good or not decreases slightly with every album he puts out. (The last one finally broke my back due to the appearance of the fucking Red Hot Chili Peppers.)