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| Robert Del Naja and Daddy G, trip-hop pioneers |
Those Crazy Brits and Their Experiments
The late 1980s brought a wave of new and strange phenomena to the music world. Rap was starting to take the forefront of pop culture. Grunge was in its infancy. Metalheads spawned countless subgenres through marijuana smoke and cold weather. The "one man band" concept decimated the live landscape, leaving concertgoers with little to choose from. One innovation stood out. Slowly waltzing out of the bustling port of Bristol, UK, came Massive Attack. Focusing on a conglomeration of rap, electronica, soul, jazz, and dance, the young duo breezed onto the public radar with their historic debut, which we will view here today. Tune in, and chill out.
The Christening of a New Generation
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| Massive Attack - Blue Lines (1991) |
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The cover itself is reminiscent of something you'd see in a chemical treatment plant. Stark, yet iconic. That's the best way to describe this record's cover. "Safe from Harm" begins with a swirling wind noise, and a simplistic bassline (sampled from Billy Cobham's hit "Stratus") accented by record scratches. Clearly, the sound of a new generation. The lovely female vocals speak of a city in turmoil, with freaks and hustlers in the mix. The beat is astoundingly hypnotic, and rapped vocals accent the crooned lyrics. An interesting guitar sound comes in at 1:35, creating a break. The rap is back. This track is very interesting to say the least, but provides such a rough groundwork for later trip-hop artists such as Portishead and Goldfrapp. Repetition is the name of the game here. "One Love" begins with simplistic drum beats and an ambient back track. A sick electric piano line (sampled from Mahavishnu Orchestra's "You Know, You Know") slides under the lyricism of Horace Andy, who is longing for the single woman he always loved. A cool synth horn break comes in around 1:20, then fades out quickly again. The Jamaican crooner's voice works very well with this track, even if it does get a tad grating. Record scratches and synth horns stumble back in at 2:30, but the vision is cleared up around 10 seconds later. The sporadic outbursts of synths and scratches are unnecessary in my eyes, but prevent the track from being a boring yet lovely ballad. The song melts into a cool piano outro, almost like a candle. The title track "Blue Lines" starts out with a really cool electric piano line, and an almost lounge-y drum beat. This is my favorite track so far. Rapped vocals come it at around 0:40, the lyrics seem a little abstract. I love the chilled out atmosphere within the track, the vocals work extremely well with the laid-back acid jazz vibes. Picture a clean club, with a band playing and all the members are wearing white suits. This is the band Massive Attack could be. There isn't much else to say about this track, this is definitive trip-hop. The real thing. Some nifty Hammond organ licks create the opening for a wonderful cover of William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful for What You've Got", a very soulful, almost reggae track. The numerous influences are probably the clearest on this track. It's a bastard love child of electronica, reggae, rap, and soul, really. The sporadic guitars hold the fort down at 2:00, and crazy scratches mixed with distorted Hammond come in a few seconds later, but everything comes back to normal. I guess that's the MA formula, strange breaks then sudden returns to reality. "Five Man Army" breaks into the channels with laid back rap vocals spread over analog drums and strange electronic beats. This is definitely a posse cut, featuring the core duo, Horace Andy, Tricky, and Claude Williams on vocals, hence the name. It's quite a mixed bag here, rapping and scat singing over a hypnotic, acidic beat. This one is one of the longest on
Blue Lines, barely cracking the 6 minute mark. Shows how jammy these people get. "Unfinished Sympathy" starts out with brief studio chatter, then fades into a strange orchestral nightmare. The driving beat and throbbing violins give way to the wonder vocals of Shara Nelson. The lyrical theme on this album is not new, it's just about love. Seriously. Piano solo at around 2:30 and scat vocals harken back to the Golden Era of jazz, and the distant "hey hey hey heyyyy" adds to the already haunting atmosphere. The orchestral use in this track is only a snippet of what's to come in trip-hop's prime (read: live Portishead). Spoken word samples come in at 4:15, the track is nearing its downplayed climax. A sublime piano noise and sustained violin note close the track, with city sounds (what) segueing into "Daydreaming", a much simpler track. The off-tempo "boom", female vocals, and title dropping make for a very stompy track. What? Is that a Fiddler on the Roof interpolation at 2:00? These guys are quite the strange bunch. They shocked the music world, in a year where groups like My Bloody Valentine and Nirvana were stomping out the shit that was new wave. Another interpolation of Here Comes the Sun at 3:00? Jeez, way to acknowledge your influences! A West Coast rap beat breaks the surface in "Lately", an acid jazz jam whose sly attitude eludes even the best listener. Female vocals are the best for trip-hop, they complement this type of music perfectly. The glitchy background is strange. I'm not really feeling this one, it seems too... kiddy. The vocals are great, but the beat is awful to me. The closer "Hymn of the Big Wheel" starts out with subdued, yet screeching guitars standing over field recordings of crickets. A strange drum beat comes in, and simplistic vocals and synth lines follow. Lyrics about the constant cycle of life bring an almost African vibe to the track. Nothing much to say about this one either. Chirping crickets close the curtain to this opening move into the trip-hop world.
The Verdict
It's a cornerstone. This album basically created trip-hop. It's monumental, yes. But is it perfect? No. Some of the tracks are very rough and have poorly executed ideas. Although when the ideas are done right, they are subliminal.
3/5
(sorry if this seems half-assed, it's late over here in Colorado and it's been a long week. But the blog is still alive!)
-Dave
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