So, to start: Massive Attack started as a sound system in Bristol called "The Wild Bunch". Now, there are a couple of things that hit me whilst looking at that sentence.
1) Bristol - When I think of Bristol, first I think of trip-hop. Then I think of the slave trade.
2) Sound System - When I think of "Sound Systems" (In this context) I think of Dancehall music and MCs and... not white people.
These two pieces of information are important to the album Blue Lines, and to Massive Attack as a whole. If we look at the members, we will notice that two of the 3 primary members at the time were black. So was frequent contributor Horace Andy. So here is a primarily black group, sitting in the slave capital of England in a scene which is largely of black culture.
Why did Blue Lines find the sound it did? Why didn't it turn out to be a hip-hop album? Because let's face it, it is a completely different entity to hip-hop at that time (for example Dr Dre's "The Chronic" was to be released the following year).
There are several likely reasons. This was not The Bronx. Hip-Hop was not as influential in the UK as the USA (our biggest hip-hop producer at that moment was Coldcuts). The influence was moreso reggae and dancehall music, joined with the dance scene of the late 80s and early 90s. Hip-hop, no doubt, was an element, but not necessarily the primary one.
And with this said, there was obviously more of a white influence on the music than in hip-hop - with Del Naja providing a creative force, and Cameron McVey producing, the album was not one which was racially confined, as early hip-hop was (Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" was hardly aiming to reach a white audience, was it?). As evident in the track "Unfinished Sympathy", Shara Nelson shows that the more accessible genre of soul was closer to Massive Attack's sound.
Indeed, the various of influences of trip-hop seem to have amalgamated in the legendary club "The Dugout", which Del Naja described as "probably the only place in Bristol where black and white people could hang out together, because of the music". DJs played funk, soul, hip-hop, electro and reggae there, a highly fertile soil for the genre that would germinate from it. We can look at the width of blue lines, and see "One Love" next to "Daydreaming", with a vast sea of difference between the two.
But by the by. Nobody wants to hear a history lesson, do they? So without further ado, here is a track by track breakdown of Blue Lines.
1. Safe from Harm - An establishing song and single. It still gets plenty of airtime, frequently used in adverts, etc.. To be frank, I consider it much more typical of Blue Lines than Unfinished Sympathy.
The first track on the first trip-hop album starts as you'd think. A rolling bassline with chilled beats and eerie keyboards, not to mention Shara Nelson's haunting (a cliché, I know, but a true one) vocals, and holding it together are the male vocals; not quite rapped, not quite spoken, not quite whispered.
The song is also notable and typical of trip-hop style as it is heavily sample based, taking nearly all of its key elements from Billy Cobham's song "stratus" - another indication of the varied influences which amalgamated in Blue Lines.
2. One Love - From the full sound of Safe from Harm, the tempo dips considerably into the sparse "One Love", dub influences at the ready, Horace Andy ready to fire, sir. Whilst this does show variety in the album, it does not represent Massive Attack's sound at all. However, it's still quite enjoyable, simply because of a few chilled samples and Horace Andy's crooning.
3. Blue Lines - My favourite from the album. The perfect title track, summing up the whole album. Lyrically - incredibly strong. Musically - chilled as fuck. And you are getting plenty of Massive Attack for your money, including Tricky (before he put his (oversized) experimental boots on).
Trick delivers the lines that sum up the whole album to me.
How we live in this existence, just being
English upbringing, background carribean
This says it all. Here, they firstly display the fusion between their black roots and British sensibilities, which influences the music they had chosen to make. Also, the line "How we live in this existence, just being" sums up Blue Lines perfectly. In Mezzanine, it would seem highly inappropriate, but Blue Lines was written by a group who fell into place - not aimed at making money (or even a real album as a real band), it represents these young people who made music because they enjoyed it.
4. Be Thankful For What You've Got - A William DeVaughan cover. This song works nicely, is chilled and shows soul roots. But it's just a cover.
5. Five Man Army - Another track where you're looking at a lot of Massive for your money. It also includes Daddy G's biggest vocal contribution to the album - a voice so deep that it nearly matches the groovy bass loop in frequency. This track seems to be a throwback to the soundsystem partying feel. It also contains the lyrics
This is the miracle of the dubplate dub selection
So whether you're black white or half-caste in your complexion
Yes pull out your phono plug and tuck you in your phony
It's started by marconi resumed by sony
A summary by wireless history and only
The massive attack enorme explosione
How accurate they are.
6. Unfinished Sympathy - This is not my favourite song on the album by any means, and I really don't want to go into the details of why. Just look on a list of the greatest songs of the 90's for more information (if you even need it, which I doubt since this is one of the most whored songs ever).
7. Daydreaming - Setting a precedent for the "uneasy" style of trip-hop that would follow, and a natural ancestor to much of mezzanine, such as Inertia Creeps. However, it's not actually that enjoyable. There's something about when Shara Nelson's cry of "I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalking on air" which depresses me to the point of not being able to listen to the song, firstly because it sounds so desperate, and secondly because it reminds me of Home and Away. Which is a depressing thing to think of.
8. Lately - A lazy song, with a squelchy bassline which reminds me of very primitive bass sequencers. However, this plodding bassline makes the song incredibly catching, as does the falsetto chorus. And a sampled sweeping sound breezes through the song every couple of bars, which adds a bit of scenery. Essentially, the song does very well for itself, considering its simplicity.
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel - The album finisher, and a very strange choice in reality. Strangely, this was released as part of "Massive Attack EP", along with Be Thankful. Some sort of environmental anthem (I prefer The Postal Service's "Natural Anthem" to be honest) emerges here. Unfortunately, it's not particularly well produced, which detracts massively from the grandeur that I suppose it wanted. In fact, my favourite part of the production is the bass drum which is bowel-moving. I suppose that in all, it is quite an inspiring song, but it would have been nice to hear a song which was closer to the Massive Attack sound to finish this piece of Trip-hop history. But hey, you can't have everything.
So, that is Blue Lines. Enjoy listening.
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