Whenever it's overcast out here in LA, the morning commute sucks the 'zack and if you're not careful it'll seep into the rest of your day. Today started out as such but instead of punkin' myself out (on a Friday, no less( I'm getting a lift pumpin' Massive Attack's Protection album (another one of those jam-riddled LP's that I'd ripped eons ago and I'd forgotten I had until the shuffle button dug it up for me)...I recall that I bought this whole jam based on the title track which opens the set. It's very Sweetback meets Art of Noise (in a good way)...there's something about the singer's voice that I can't quite put my finger on but I started feeling it again on the third cut, aptly titled "Three" which is a lugubrious bossa nova that sashays all the way through it (kinda like at the very beginning of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" just before the guitar chords come in) and the vocalist's silky delivery takes the listener straight down to Sao Paolo, it's a nice, rainy day jam to be certain.
"Spying Glass" is one of those Massive 'n Horace Andy-esque dub factor cuts that seem to evoke the sound of water bubbling in up in a hookah which is a relaxing sound to think about when you're waiting for the sun to come out -- the techno keyboard vamp and moogy loops will get your head bobbing before you know it; a perfect set up for the song that follows.
I remember when I copped this LP I didn't like the tune "Better Things" I thought the protagonist's tone was a trifle strident when she coos "there's freedom w/o Love...there's magic w/o love...I hear they say better things will surely come my way" but I stand corrected -- on a day like this, it works. "Eurochild," the next cut is another hot track...this LP just keeps on rockin', yo! It's hip hop, it's funktified, it's moody: "I walk in a bar and immediately, I sense danger..." No he didn't just clip a line from The Specials' "Blank Expression"...yes he did! And it's all good...I'm starting to recollect why I loved Massive Attack when I first heard 'em...truly an audiophile's outfit...The Protection set closes with a reggae version of the Doors' "Light My Fire" which is fitting...I think I see the sun cutting over the Burbank mountaintops (raising cup of coffee)...man, it's hard to believe that this album's 11 years old...it's rough out there, Protect yourself, yo!
My Trusted MOGs
Plus there's the awesome Tricky vocals on "Karmacoma"
...Jamaica and Roma
I think Theivery Corporation may be filling the "Massive Attack role" in pop music today...but I just can't get into them. You got any suggestions of now-stuff that's the same as _Protection_ except completely different?
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Great write-up!
It's heresy, perhaps, but Protection ranks behind Mezzanine and Blue Lines for me. It just doesn't feel like a whole album to me, at least in part because of the daft closing number.
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Well I'm assuming that you've already checked 1998's Mezzanine which holds cuts like "Angel", "Inertia Creeps" and "Teardrop" -- if you liked "Spyglass" on Protection, you oughta check "Man Next Door" on this one...too there's 1998's 100th Window on which you'll find one three of my fave Massive cuts "What Your Soul Sings" (feat. Sinead O'connor), "Small Time Shot Away" and "Anti-star" (which has an ending that you've gotta wait for a couple of minutes to hear but is kinda trippy to hear late at night when you thought the album had stopped playing4 minutes ago...check 'em out and LMK what you think. -cP
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Massive Attack..Massive Love for me.. And Karmacoma had one of the most interesting videos ever.
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Yes yes yes! This album, for me, has gotten better with age (unlike Blue Lines which, although originally my favorite, seems to be fading a little as time passes).
Nice recommendation on "Man Next Door". Horace Andy is an incredible vocalist.
100th Window, though? "What Your Soul Sings" is great and I like "Prayer for England", but the rest of the album for me is a pretty big failure.
Still and all: I heart Massive Attack with all my nodes, glands, cells, and ions.
My Trusted MOGs
I'm feelin' you on that Jess...I get the same way with Radiohead's LP The Bends "High & Dry" (which got overplayed way back when and caused me to start loathing it) but then it's got "Fake Plastic Trees," "Bones" and "(Nice Dream)"...so I'll listen to the whole plate for the cuts I like while I'm working (writing) and can really absorb 'em through every pore of my nodes, glands, cells and ions too...(BTW, your epidermis is showing)...I've never been super keen on Blue Lines, meself -- but one man's cookie is another man's cake, case in point: Anti-Star on 100th window...
-cP
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Cheers to that.
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Hi Guys Im letting life take my music from me...work school I just dont get to MOG anymore...its hard to do the big girl thing...I think I need to learn to balance....I need more music in my life...