Massive Attack
Like many teenagers in the 90s Massive Attack held a deep fascination for me. I was just old enough to appreciate their second studio album, Protection, but it was Mezzanine that made me go out and buy their CDs. Mezzanine struck that rare balance between memorable ballads and deep, dark atmospheres. After several years besotted with grunge, this was one of the albums that encouraged me to explore new genres. I can still listen to Mezzanine on a pair of big studio headphones and become totally immersed in it.
History
A friend at school told me Massive Attack was formed by members of The Wild Bunch. I didn’t even know that was a western, and I certainly didn’t know what a “sound system” was. I’ve Googled it and tried to listen to tracks online, but it doesn’t mean much to me. If you’re interested, knock yourself out.
What’s important to me is Blue Lines came out in 1991 and it still sounds incredible. Even if you’re not a fan, you’ll have heard Unfinished Sympathy. It’s an amazing piece of music that the evil ad many desperately tries to ruin, but it never loses its sheen.
It’s not Unfinished Sympathy that I come back to though, it’s the last track Hymn of the Big Wheel. It’s a simple song, and the religious metaphors and eco symbology should ruin it for me… but I still love it.
Tracks Everyone Knows
Unfinished Sympathy of course, but beyond that:
- Safe from Harm – Blue Lines
- Protection - Protection
- Karmacoma - Protection
- Angel - Mezzanine
- Teardrop - Mezzanine
- Inertia Creeps – Mezzanine
Teardrop is the track that gets played to death. Any fond memories I had of that track have been eroded by endless clichéd TV abuse.
Tracks Less People Know
- Nature Boy – Moulin Rouge Soundtrack (2001), with David Bowie
- I Want You – Something to Remember (1995), also available on Collected (2006), Madonna
- I Against I – available on Collected, with Mos Def
- Fake The Aroma – an alternate version of Karmacoma, available on The Help Album (1995)
Videos
Directed by Baillie Walsh, Unfinished Sympathy is one of Massive Attack’s most iconic videos. In fact, many of their videos are memorable, especially Teardrop with its animatronic singing foetus. They’re on YouTube and iTunes, you can watch them without waiting for music channels to remember they exist.
11 videos are available on the Massive Attack: Eleven Promos DVD, released in 2001. You’ll be able to get it off Amazon New and Used or ebay (along with The Help Album if you’re interested).
Random Massive Attack Memories
- 1995: Someone gave me a cassette of Protection at school. It went through many walkmans until I lost it
- 1998–1999: Mezzanine playing in a shop where I worked in Nottingham. Digging through Nottingham’s record shops looking for Mo’Wax vinyl
- 2001: Watching the Eleven Promos DVD in Battersea when I’d just moved to London
2010: Heligoland
I’ve been listening to it for the past week. It’s a strong album. I can already tell I’m going to appreciate it more than 100th Window. Some tracks have a modern glitchy sound, which as a sub–genre within electronica has already started to fade, but it works well with their sound.
iTunes has a deluxe version with a tonne of extra remixes and iTunes’ own brand of ridiculous ways to dress up pictures as bonus content. It looks like this:
A Note for the Perplexed
I’m writing a lot of technical articles lately. I need a break!