Massive Attack – Protection

When Massive Attack's Blue Lines first appeared in 1991 the music was completely ground breaking and the lyrics hauntingly simply and beautiful and so welcomed by the world ready for that sort of message and the way of its delivery. Protection, delivered in 1994 by pretty much the same people grouped under the banner of Massive Attack not only did not disappoint us, but in many ways reinforced and upgraded the original feeling. Most of us where so glad to be able to place Massive Attack at the top if our then current music scene and watch them reap the rewards of their well deserved success. The significance of their music and lyrics was their focus on what brings us all together and their desire to work towards the good and common of all of us, by setting their vision straight ahead, rather than looking around to point out what bothers us about ourselves. There was good uniting energy layered between the novel sounds if our chilling, down tempo experience.

The atmosphere of Protection feels as interesting to me today 15 years later as it did when it first came out. Protection is my favorite album by Massive Attack and it is not an easy choice to make. Fans of this band are most likely fairly equally divided between calling any one of their first 3 albums as their favorite. They are all great and I am choosing the middle one because I sense and I am attracted to the variation of mood which Protection delivers. I am very influenced by the lightness and the ambience of tone of this music.

The title song Protection is my favorite song of this album. The lyric is simple and powerful, the voice of Tracy Thorn is perfect to bring her message across. Melodically this title song has two layers mixed into it. There is a rather simple bass and drum based melody but the underlying electronic mood escalates and develops beautifully. I would love to have that ambient background on its own, without the drum and bass and vocal tracks. That ambient mood dances around the base melody and sound which gives us the full effect of this song. Karmacoma might have he most techno feel to it. It is the first of 2 songs on this album where the song is performed by Tricky and 3D singing or rapping it in alternating succession and this song has their tly singing parts as well. Three is one of the most beautiful songs of Protection. It is a soulful down tempo mood with great vocal by Nicolette and intriguing lyrics but the texture becomes much more dimensional by the echo of `three' rapped in the background. Weather Storm is an electronica ambient instrumental Craig Armstrong style with his unique piano playing. Spying Glass is sort of a distorted reggae song placed against the atmospheric background. Better Things has a dubbed bass feel to it musically but vocally and lyrically it is one of the best songs of the album. The difference of sound and mood and the overall dimension between Better Things and following it Eurochild is a perfect example of the greatness of this moody Protection. We are being taken from one place to another, completely different, with such ease and comfort. Eurochild is a beautiful dialog between Tricky and 3D and the sound is again Protection specific. This song is like Karmacoma played in the background with a beautiful melody playing over it and overpowering it. It is a great song with many elements and sounds coming together and taking us from place to place during these five minutes. Sly is another song sung by Nicolette. It is less complex musically and lyrics are leaving us...'wandering'... It is one of the weaker songs of this album and that is a complement. It is still a nice song. Heat Miser is a very nice instrumental reminding me of Craig Armstrong's influence again. He is the master of the mood created and sustained so well here. Picking a song by The Doors as a song to cover shows great taste on the part of Massive Attack as well as the desire to build new bridges between us. However it is not my favorite cover by any means and the sound of this recording could be more interesting as well. To be honest, this is the only song of this album which I might end up skipping over, if I was to listen to this music on repeat with a remote control right next to me. Here are some of my favorite songs of Massive Attack and Tricky (up to 2009): Unfinished Sympathy. Protection, Dissolved Girl, Trinity Dub, Car Crash, Heat Miser, Three, Contradictive, Teardrop, Safe From Harm (perfecto mix), Evolution Revolution Love, Blue Lines, Angel, Better Things, Inertia Creeps, Hymn Of The Big Wheel.