Blue Lines - Massive Attack

Massive Attack ~ Blue Lines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I thought I would start my music reviews with the album which despite being 14 years old I still consider to be the best album ever to hit the streets of this fair country. Blue Lines was released in 1991 to a somewhat muted response, as with so many new groups, as they had no reputation, outside their home town of Bristol. At that point in time I was enjoying the early years of my mis-spent youth, ...
...someone produced a tape called Blue Lines which was played to utter silence and chilled ecstasy, The tape never left my car and was played at least once a night for about 2 years. Needless to say I never gave the tape back, it didn’t matter we all had the CD by then anyway. Massive Attack must be one of the hardest groups to pigeon hole, they eventually landed the tag of Urban Trip Hop. This being a blend of Hip Hop, soul and dance music. To be ...

gray001 05.03.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

'Blue Lines' is regarded as one of the classic albums of the 1990's. Not easy to catergorise, it combines a vast array of musical styles from hip-hop beats to classical violins. Massive Attack's first album was released to wide critical acclaim in 1991, although commercially it has failed to ever reach the Top 10. Interestingly, it has continued to sell consistently highly since their second album was released in 1995. The first release from the ...
...to reach the Top 10, and only hit #13. Despite this relatively modest success, it is considered a timeless piece of music, and is still heard in clubs and on the radio today. It is also regularly voted as being the best single of all time by many magazines and radio stations. An eclectic mix of musical styles, 'Unfinished...' combines the haunting vocals of Shara Nelson with heavy beats and strings. Way ahead of its time, if something half as good ...

stoffy 27.12.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

...delicate production. 3) Blue Lines This track always reminds me of relaxing summers. So much of their music brings up suprises on every listen. This for me has so many little production intricacies that make it great. This is a rapping track with well cushioned delivery - the whole track is like a massage for your ears. 4) Be Thankful For What You've Got So hard to describe the style of this group. The instrumentation here is like what The Wailer's ...
...band at a beachside resort in Hawaii... and added a DJ. Horace Andy delivers the goods and we can all chill and feel the sea lapping at our feet. 5) Five Man Army In many ways this is simply a hip-hop track. It has all the elements and yet carries an entirely unique take on the genre. The vocals are rap with Horace Andy singing additional parts. It has a great bassline, well produced drums with a nice rimshot. This is one of my favourites - so ...

justaman 12.10.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

...release of their debut album Blue Lines, Trip-Hop was born. So, what exactly is Trip-Hop? It is quite hard to answer really. What we are dealing with here is a blend of hip-hop, dance, dub and soul; the outcome being something that is sometimes mellow, sometimes dark but full of subtleties and often powerful vocal parts. Since this all new genre was created (although 3-D would never admit to being the pioneer of Trip-Hop) many have followed in the ...
...Like it or not though, Blue Lines is one of the first and finest of it’s kind – later giving the band a Brit award for their efforts. -- Safe from harm – Quite a chilling start to the song and to the album – with cold harsh desert winds blowing strongly until a gritty and cutting baseline with presence breaks the mood. It’s quite easy to see how the Gulf war ties in with the creation of this one, the lyrics are quite ...

craiggy_boy 10.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

The problem with Blue Lines is that it couldn't possibly live up to the promise of "Unfinished Sympathy". More to the point, it doesn't live up to the promise of the other singles from the album, "Safe From Harm" (with Tracey Thorn of EBTG on vocals), and Hymn Of The Big Wheel. It's unfortunate really, but the rest of the album really isn't very good. Listening to the entire album in one sitting is pretty intolerable, and you'll find yourself going ...

mikegray 27.06.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

Wow. From beginning to end, there is little that can be said against this album. Like many people, I'd heard of some of Massive Attack's newer material, and ventured back to their first album to find that, although their style has changed, they have always been as great to listen to as they are now. From the epic instrumentalism of the record's most famous song, "Unfinished Sympathy" through the chilled-out trip-hop of "Blue Lines" to the curiously ...
...exudes class. It can raise your emotions, relax you and overawe you, which is quite impressive for one album alone. This is perhaps the 'tuniest' album from Massive Attack, as opposed to the barer, more drum-and-bass offerings that came later. It is a cornerstone of my collection, and the dust never has time to settle... buy it and love it. ...

georgenorton 04.11.2000 · Read full review
Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

Neary ten years on this cd still sounds fresh. It is built around the hugely influential 'unfinshed sympathy' an amazing track that was startlingly ahead of its time. The rest of the tracks never quite match this but are all very good. If you like dance music then this is one classic cd that definety should be in your collection. i think this is much better than massive attack and tricky's later work, you cant go wrong with this. I only got into ...

froze 13.07.2000 · Read full review
Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack

I had never really heard much of Massive Attack's music, until I got hold of a copy of their album "blue Lines", with songs like "Unfinished Sympathy" (being the most famous song from this album, it was used in the film Sliver), it really makes you feel relaxed and feel good about yourself. It has a hint of blues, jazz, pop and hip-hop, a real sexy mixture. It’s the type of music you'd put on to relax with a bottle of wine after a hard day at work ...

ejp79 20.06.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Blue Lines - Massive Attack