Massive Attack remain one of the UK’s pioneering trip-hop acts since releasing the genre-defining Blue Lines album back in 1991. Since then, they have produced three more albums that are rich in quality, featuring their distinctive blend of moody, atmospheric beats and deep, dark soul. Protection was another classic, as was Mezzanine, while 100th Window may have drawn some detractors but still spawned some classic cuts such as "Butterfly Caught."
The Bristol-based outfit are currently in the studio and have completed seven tracks for their fifth album, Weather Underground with long-time cohort and co-producer Neil Davidge, and is due for release in early 2007. In the meantime, they have put out Collected, an apt reminder of their musical legacy to date that features tracks chosen by the band themselves. Needless to say, it drips with quality.
The highlights pick themselves – from the melancholy but hypnotic beats of their all-time classic "Unfinished Symphony" to the achingly beautiful "Teardrop," featuring the mesmerizing ethereal vocals of Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins. In between, there’s the atmospheric menace of "Angel" to the no-less intoxicating Protection featuring the shimmering vocals of Everything but the Girl’s Tracy Thorn. The new single, "Live With Me," featuring the hypnotic, haunting vocals of one Terry Callier, draws the album to a close in splendid fashion to show that Massive Attack have lost none of their ability to conjure dark but memorable records.
There are so many classics here that will bring back memories of when you first heard them and it’s so good to listen to them again. Needless to say, Collected provides an essential collection of the very best work of one of the UK’s seminal bands of recent years. |