Massive Attack: Mushroom, 3-D, Daddy G.
Additional personnel: Nicolette, Tracey Thorn, Tricky, Horace Andy (vocals); Chester Kamen (guitar); Craig Armstrong (piano); Rob Merril (drums).
Bristol's trip-hop pioneers crystallize their melancholic splendor on PROTECTION. It's a simmering shadow of a soundtrack to urban life, where dub, hip-hop, electronica and soul mesh into something quite singular. Imagine the chilling threnody of scene-mates Portishead allied with rough dancehall, club and South Bronx bass-beats, set ablaze by Mushroom, 3-D and Daddy-G's sour gaze into the millennial horizon. A host of fine guest vocalists help drive the vocal tunes, in turn making the instrumentals stand out all the more.
It is a juxtaposition of cold and hot, alienation and unity, that informs PROTECTION. Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl steals the show with her sure, silky vocals on the title track, her voice a sweet fire that thrives in a frosty wind, just barely anchored by the entrancing swirl of wah-guitar, strings and phased keyboard drones. Old-school reggae favorite Horace Andy tears up "Spying Glass" with a haunting lilt over the house-dub beat. "Sly" evokes the icy landscapes of Bjork's late-'90s work, albeit with the warm gust of string passages. "Karmacoma" features fellow trip-hopper Tricky, adding further motion to the forward-looking pop vision of PROTECTION.
What the critics say…
Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p.106) - Ranked #8 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records".
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.79) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (4/6/95, p.64) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - "…this English dance-pop outfit…delivers brilliant body music that doesn't neglect the brain. Cool, sexy stuff, it smoothly fuses dub, club and soul, grounding its grace in sampled hip-hop beats…"
Spin (2/95, pp.77-78) - Satisfactory - "…the dark depressive flipside to Soul II Soul's sunny, self-determining optimism. The beats are even slower, the grooves more contemplative than propulsive, the arrangements… influenced by METAL BOX-era P.I.L….The songs rarely allow for emotional release…"
Alternative Press (7/95, p.106) - Ranked #93 in AP's list of the `Top 99 of '85-'95' - "…PROTECTION return[s] Massive to their reggae roots…Thundering bass echoe[s] beneath percolating hip-hop beats and smooth soul grooves…Unlike that of increasingly cartoonish gangstas, Massive's might [is] no media pose…"
Vibe (2/95, p.88) - "…well couched in the sound-system ethic….PROTECTION is a weird piece of work that fits right into the defining mantra of British dance music…A surreal forging of dub, hip hop, soul, and random bugged-out elements…"
New York Times (Publisher) (1/6/96, p.C16) - Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums of `95 - "…full of loops, echoes, ghostly voices and the conviction that space is as important as sound…"
NME (Magazine) (12/24/94, p.22) - Ranked #13 in NME's list of `The Top 50 Albums Of 1994.'
NME (Magazine) (9/24/94, p.49) - 8 - Excellent - "…Rolling pianos, soft handclaps and a quiet little bass noodle: odd and very grown-up, but cinematically sexy…"
