The first masterpiece of what was only termed trip-hop much later, Blue Lines filtered American hip-hop through the lens of British club culture, a stylish, nocturnal sense of scene that encompassed music from rare groove to dub to dance.
The album balances dark, diva-led club jams along the lines of Soul II Soul with some of the best British rap (vocals and production) heard up to that point, occasionally on the same track.
The opener "Safe from Harm" is the best example, with diva vocalist Shara Nelson trading off lines with the group's own monotone (yet effective) rapping.
Even more than hip-hop or dance, however, dub is the big touchstone on Blue Lines.
Most of the productions aren't quite as earthy as you'd expect, but the influence is palpable in the atmospherics of the songs, like the faraway electric piano on "One Love" (with beautiful vocals from the near-legendary Horace Andy).
One track, "Five Man Army," makes the dub inspiration explicit, with a clattering percussion line, moderate reverb on the guitar and drums, and Andy's exquisite falsetto flitting over the chorus.
Blue Lines isn't all darkness, either -- "Be Thankful for What You've Got" is quite close to the smooth soul tune conjured by its title, and "Unfinished Sympathy" -- the group's first classic production -- is a tremendously moving fusion of up-tempo hip-hop and dancefloor jam with slow-moving, syrupy strings.
Flaunting both their range and their tremendously evocative productions, Massive Attack recorded one of the best dance albums of all time.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Safe from HarmR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 05:18 | 12 MB | 31 MB |
| 2 | One LoveR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 24 MB |
| 3 | Blue LinesR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 4 | Be Thankful for What You've Got | Massive Attack | Play | 04:09 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 5 | Five Man ArmyR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 06:04 | 13 MB | 32 MB |
| 6 | Unfinished SympathyR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 7 | DaydreamingW. Badarou, R. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 8 | LatelyR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 04:26 | 10 MB | 22 MB |
| 9 | Hymn of the Big WheelR. Del Naja | Massive Attack | Play | 06:36 | 15 MB | 32 MB |
| 45 mins | 103 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 247 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Allom | Mixing Engineer |
| 2 | Horace Andy | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 3 | Booga Bear | Executive Producer |
| 4 | Tony Bryan | Vocals |
| 5 | Neneh Cherry | Arranger |
| 6 | R. Del Naja | Composer |
| 7 | John Dent | Remastering |
| 8 | Jonny Dollar | Mixing, Producer |
| 9 | Bruno Ellingham | Remixing |
| 10 | Mikey General | Vocals (Background) |
| 11 | Paul Johnson | Guitar (Bass) |
| 12 | Wil Malone | Conductor, String Arrangements |
| 13 | Massive Attack | Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 14 | Shara Nelson | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 15 | Bryan "Chuck" New | Mixing Engineer |
| 16 | Kevin Perti | Engineer |
| 17 | Marc Picken | Management |
| 18 | Tricky | Guest Artist |
| 19 | W. Badarou | Composer |
| 20 | Gavin Wright | Leader |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |
Related Releases
