MASSIVE ATTACK

MASSIVE ATTACK
PROTECTION (1994)
320 KBPS

Bristol's Massive Attack released a classic with their first album, Blue Lines, but only those who were paying careful attention noticed; soon, they were overshadowed by the likes of Tricky and Portishead, who were colleagues. But not so after the release of Protection, which sported a massive hit and was just as critically acclaimed as their first album. (The hit was the title track, for which Everything but the Girl's Tracy Thorn lent her divine pipes--a move that made the act's name, and also presaged EBTG's move to the dance floor.) Eschewing the showmanship of their scene mates, Massive prefer subtler soundscapes and using a diverse range of vocalists (including Horace Andy, Nicolette, and Tricky) who give them a number of flavors and moods with which to work. Protection is an understated album with a rich palette; it reveals more of itself on repeated listens, growing better--and deeper--each time.

1. Protection
2. Karmacoma
3. Three
4. Weather Storm
5. Spying Glass
6. Better Things
7. Euro Child
8. Sly
9. Heat Miser
10. Light My Fire (Live)

NO PROTECTION (1995)
320 KBPS

This is the studio work of London's prodigious dub godfather, Mad Professor, who takes Massive Attack's Protection album as raw material to create a completely new experience. Bits are added, dropped out, accentuated, run through sonic effects, drenched in reverb, turned inside out until the songs disappear and in their place emerge reborn textural soundscapes. No Protection gives a sort of discursive aural commentary on Protection's original songs, pointing out all the obscured details--the minutest percussive rings and beeps, the most mesmerizing bass loops.

1. Protection (Radiation Ruling the Nation)
2. Karmacoma (Bumper Ball Dub)
3. Three (Trinity Dub)
4. Weather Storm (Cool Monsoon)
5. Sly (Eternal Feed Back)
6. Better Things (Moving Dub)
7. Spying Glass (I Spy)
8. Heat Miser (Backward Sucking)