Blue Lines
Audio CD
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£5.47
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Reviewer
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As others I bought this album on the strength of 'Unfinished Sympathy' which is a fantastic track and is well deserving of its place as a classic in the electonica genre. But the rest of the album isn't up to much really.
There's a couple of decent tracks like `Safe from Harm' and `Lately' but the rest for me at least are just fillers. At just 9 tracks in total it seems the band were struggling artistically to fill the album. I know that Massive Attack and this album are highly regarded and I'm sorry if I've stepped on anyone's toes but it just didn't do it for me, sorry.
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Should i ever be asked to name the album i consider to be the most influential in the history of music( given that i have,nt heard every album in the history of music) i would plump for Massive Attacks 1991 debut album Blue Lines. Trip hop years before the term became synonymous with ....well anything , it triggered a shift in dance and electronic music to what the music critic Simon Reynolds called "a more meditational sound " running ( or maybe loping ) at lower tempo,s .
The band merged black music influences like hip -hop , reggae and soul but allied them to the more ambitious prog aspects of bands like Pink Floyd and King Crimson( without the middle class patina) and the savvy dub tones of Public Image. The music is infused with an empirical funkiness but is also emotionally charged .It combines the thrill and life of dance music with the visceral gut wrenching power of great pop or rock music .Jesus, no wonder Blue Lines is so revered.
Several tracks are illuminated by the sky-scraping vocals of Shara Nelson( who gives a lesson in how to sing big ballads that your Mariah,s Leona,s and Celines should be taking notice off .Incidentally her debut solo album is well worth investigating too) Most notable amongst these is the incredible "Unfinished Sympathy" -frequently gushed about as one of the best songs of all time , mainly because it is one of the best songs of all time. With it,s iconic video of Shara Nelson wandering through the streets of L.A. and the sampled "Hey , hey, hey" of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, this is one of those precious songs that straddles genre specifics effortlessly.It,s a smooth laidback dance track sure but it has the inexorable emotional pull of any great piece of pop, rock or classical music. It remains one of the most timeless and wondrous five minutes in music history.
Not that this song is the only moment of brilliance on Blue Lines. The grumbling bass line that underpins another Nelson vocal on "Safe From Harm" , the dub influenced paranoid beats of "Five Man Army " , the gliding soulful tones of "Be Thankful For What You Got" ,the cleverly arranged rapping on the title track ( featuring Tricky ) the glorious "Daydreaming" " ( Shara Nelson again ) or the hypnotic aptly circuitous Hymn Of The Big Wheel " ( featuring Horace Andy who also guests on "One Love") -all these songs contribute hugely to a influential cohesive work impeccably arranged by Neneh Cherry who is also acknowledged by the band as being a major driving force behind the recording .
Is it possible to overstate how important this album was in developing a new direction for dance music and melding together a new collage of sounds? Probably not. Even putting that aside though Blue Lines is an incredible album , even more so given that it is Massive Attacks debut. It oozes confidence , class and almost effortless talent . Astonishingly they were to match it withProtection . It,s no wonder Blue Lines appears regularly in those greatest albums of all time lists. Most pertinently , unlike a lot of albums in those lists, it fully merits it,s place.
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In reference to the review dubbing this a one track album, what album were you listening to???? I am offended by your review!
Yes unfinished sympathy is a truly great song, but is by no means the best on the album! Blue lines is one of the greatest albums ever and every track is a classic!
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The outright winner here is "Unfinished Sympathy", a thing of beauty so superbly crafted and utterly satisfying that, ironically, it makes all the remaining tracks on this album sound dull. Bedazzled and blinded by genius, or just plain ripped off? Whatever the truth is, I'll be inclined to download that one track and spare myself the cost of the album.
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I came to this album very late - 13 years late to be exact - and I'm still in the honeymoon period with it, playing it constantly. I'm probably about to say the same as everyone else but there's not a duff track here, mainly because of the different styles at play (jazz, hip-hop, dub, dance, bits of soul, the beginnings of trip-hop, tribal beats with 'Hymn of the big wheel' and of course, orchestral music on 'Unfinished Sympathy'). There's a wonderfully sparse, late-night feel on tracks such as 'Blue Lines' and 'Five Man Army' - the way 3D and crew languidly interact with each other on these tracks is awesome - and 'Lately' has such a dreamy, atmospheric quality to it, not forgetting a wicked bassline. Then there's the magnificent 'Unfinished Sympathy', but I don't think I need to go on about the chilling effect it has on my mind, body and soul because that's all old hat really. Not that this album will ever be old hat - I'm pretty sure I'll still be listening to it in another 13 years.
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