Protection

I’m not sure what if anything to make of this. All I know is I won’t be enthused to hear them again.

Never heard of this group but I'll check out more of their stuff.

Love this album. Heard it so many times

Love massive attack! This was a good album! Love the vibe!

This didn’t really do anything for me? I dunno. Just a bit… dull? Maybe not in the mood.

Prey boring overall. The only good song was Heat Miser and it was short. Everything else felt twice as long as it was. 2/5

Weakest Massive Attack album I've listened to so far, which means its still a great album. But how does this list have two Massive Attack albums, but not their best one in Mezzanine?

I think from the beginning you kinda get sucked into this hypnotic and sensual atmosphere. The albums limited rotation of vocalists lend itself to be like a cascade of dreams and hallucinations, like some talking heads coming to speak your or other peoples thoughts into your head. And I mean all of that in a good way, there's a sort of subtleness the lyrics come across that do not overshadow or over control the beat. Protection, Weather Storm, Better Things, Eurochild, Sly are my favorite tracks. I think tracks like Three, Spying Glass, and Heat Miser are alright and have some moments I enjoy but overall I find those the most skippable. This album was very enjoyable, and I feel like this is a great intro for me personally into british hip hop / trip pop.

Nice background music. Very chill. I can understand why some people would rate this a 5, because it evokes a period in the 90s when this kind of music was peeking into mainstream territory. I think there are better Massive Attack albums, though, so I'll give it a 3.

6.40

Love the production

i like this band but found this album just a little primative

Weird. Not my style. Amazing

Ganske snork

I was liking the beginning of the album, but then just found the rest of it boring and monotonous. The last song especially was a rough listen. I could see why someone would like this album though.

Had protected myself from listening previously. Wish I hadn’t!

1. Protection - Decent. Groovy. But a little boring. 5.5/10. 2. Karmacoma - Nice little train track rhythm. Repetitive 6/10 3. Three - Bjork sensibility + Eartha Kitt charisma. Cute. 7/10 4. Funky. and this is where I stop lol DNC

When it comes to trip hop I prefer Portishead.

Massive Attack were simply one of the best groups to ever do it, when it comes to trip hop. This is an album of theirs I'd not heard before, being familiar only with Blue Lines and Mezzanine, and it sits at a great halfway point between the two. There's just no matching the cool, moody, urban sound these guys cook up! That said, one thousand plagues on Robert Dimery's house for leaving Mezzanine out of the book. What the actual fuck???

Excellent stuff! Especially enjoyed the songs with Tracey Thorn. Sly was also a standout.

First time listening to these guys. Loved it! If I had to describe today's listen in one word, it'd be "alluring". It's the sick band name. It's the whole atmosphere they set with their trippy, hypnotic rhythms. It's their cryptic cover arts, and the way this one references what I recognize as their debut album's. It all forms an aesthetic that I find heavily enticing, and what I heard today definitely makes me curious to dive deeper into their discog -- especially when the general consensus seems to be that Protection snubbed their actual best album's place in the 1001 list. Standouts: Protection • Three • Weather Storm • Euro Child

So good. I will join in the chorus of voices clamoring to know why Mezzanine isn't on here, but Massive Attack never had a bad album and this was a pleasant surprise for me. Could see this becoming a 5 but that cover of Light My Fire kind of sucks.

Fairly dull stuff here.

Chronologically this album sat between two great ones (Blue Lines and Mezzanine). Protection is good but not up to those exceptional standards. That said, the opening two tracks are fabulous. The basic rule of thumb for this album is that if the primary vocals are provided by either Tracey Thorn or Tricky (here using some lyrics also included on his solo material), the track is a winner.

I'd previously ignored Massive Attack, wrongly assuming they were some ultra death metal group or similar. I was therefore surprised when I listened to this album. I've learned a new genre - Trip Hop. It seems that I should look for more of this type of music. Whilst it's got roots in hip hop (which I detest) it's a much more subtle UK flavour without the stream of expletives and gun/sex references that hip hop often includes. Smooth music with good vocals and very listenable. It's the first album of the 1001 that I played a second time immediately after the first listen.

Sumptuous and bass-heavy music that entertained from start to finish. Even the presence of Tracy Thorn wasn't enough to spoil this experience, although she almost ruined two tracks with her annoying voice. Interesting variety of styles, seamlessly joined together, apart from the last track, which was obviously live, but a bit of a jarring change of vibe. Glad they put the live track on the end. Four stars.

This was really cool, such an interesting mix of vibes and feeling almost split down the middle with the old school reggaeton and some times slow trip hop, sometimes both! Rather enjoyed this

The more I listen to trip hop on the list the more I enjoy it - this has so many great features on it with great vibes too it’s not as good as their other album on the list but it works mmm

I wasn't really much of a fan of this. It really feels like elevator music in a lot of ways, but not the groovy kind, the boring kind. There seems to be no variance at all, and it makes me really want to fall asleep. Good on the people that enjoy it, but not me. Their other album on the list is a lot better.

not my cup of tea

there are better massive attack albums tbh

Reminds me of nineties cafe music and turtle necks and air

lots of nice, bassy kicks on this album. I liked Euro Child but other than that it’s not really my thing. never been into trip hop. super atmospheric, though

- i have always wanted to like massive attack more than i do - was honestly bored till "euro child"

Moderate Offense Track I kinda liked: Three. Would I revisit: no.

My second Mass Atack album- this one was interesting. It was a broader mix of genres- definitely electronic influence but with more ethereal and downtempo elements. Complex- a lot of good somes and some moments that didnt quite hit for me. Overall- good album

Ba chiar mi-o plăcut extrem de mult e super calm și are vine albumul

If I was rolling Molly or some shi, this would be fire. But alas, I’m sitting at work sober listening to this at 9AM and it is not hitting

Not bad, pretty vibey with some solid vocals from Tracey Thorn and Nicolette. I particularly liked Better Things and Sly. However, some of the other tracks were less interesting and I didn't like how they mostly just cut out suddenly. That might have been because of where I was listening to them though.

Great

meh. Some good tracks on here, but got a bit boring.

A little sleepy for me, wished it sailed up the funky spacy vibes

Decent, I didn't like it quite as much a Blue Lines but it hit the same trip hop itch

Inégal mais globalement très oubliable.

An inconsistent album full of ups and downs. Almost felt like I enjoyed every other track.

Hmmmmmm lol

I can’t understand

Meh

meh

niet overtuigd

man this was way more subdued than I'm used to with this genre and Massive Attack in general. I think that played a huge part in making it listenable to me. Everything is clear and produced well here, its almost odd to call this electronica. What a pleasant surprise, the featured artists add a lot to their tracks as well.

Stellar album. Massive Attack and their combination of genres and artists is always great.

I liked this but it made me feel stressed and freaked my dog out.

Solid effect from MA here. 3.5 stars

Opening two tracks are great stuff. A lot of this albums makes me feel like I’m playing some long forgotten game for the Playstation 1. I like it, but I don’t think I’ll ever revisit it.

me sabe a humooo me sabe a humooo

Nunca escoitara nada de Massive Attack fóra de cancións sueltas do Blue Lines ou do Mezzanine. Sei que son unha asignatura pendente, máis cando igual os vexo en directo dentro duns meses. O que non teño claro é por que non o fago, se levo dende que me erguín hipnotizado coa liña de baixo de 'Weather Storm' e, en xeral, cun álbum, este, que me pareceu fantástico. (#25 dos 1.001 discos que escoitar antes de morrer: 4/5)

ja sabeu, sempre amb protecció

Es un disco agradable, pero prefiero no volver a escucharlo y ponerme por 167 vez el puto Mezzanine que es uno de mis discos favoritos de la historia. Si ha existido para que exista Mezzanie, ok, pero está a años luz de esa obra maestra.

Really good album, but sandwiched in between Blue Lines and Mezzanine (which should be on this list instead) it's very obvious that in comparison this has far weaker songs and often drags on a bit.

This was fine. I think I liked it more than Blue Lines but I think just because my expectations were ratcheted down this time. They're probably pretty even if I went back and listened to blue lines. Did we really need TWO non Mezzanine Massive Attack albums on this list??

Ok album, nije dosadno, ima zanimljivih instumentalnih elemenata i originalnih vokala. 7/10 Najbolja pisma: Karmacoma

I love Massive Attack. I somehow always forget about them until they are playing again and then I am vibingggg.

Absolute classic of the mid 90’s

This is what electronica would sound like if Annie Lennox had to do the vocals for all of it. An eight minute song to start things off is a real drag. This album is made for people cooler than I am. British rap is ridiculous. This album feels very long. I'm counting down until this over. This is one of the most boring albums I've had so far. This album is terrible and the breathing sounds on Heat Miser are the worst part of the whole thing. This album is the perfect example of why you cannot trust music critics. No one could possibly like the breathing noises, it's one of the most annoying sounds in real life, but somehow it doesn't impact how this album is viewed. And the piano part is too reminiscent of Tubular Bells. A terrible live cut of a cover of the Doors Light My Fire closes out what is an awful listen.

FUCKING AMAZING ALBUM i love massive attack, cant tell u how many times ivelisgsned to this masterpiece

Fantastic. The title track is just superb and erotic. The rest is great too. I still think Mezzanine deserves a spot in the book but I'm fine with this one making the list.

Having two other Massive Attack albums on this list but not Mezzanine is crazy. Anyway, as someone who isn’t a huge fan of trip-hop or electronica, to me most of this does what it does well, but a lot of that is best suited as background music. There are only a couple songs I’d want to listen to again.

i love trip-hop and i love Massive Attack. Despite that, this it's not something as complete and realized like Mezzanine. Has some good songs, but feels more diverse and varied. Good in general but not as mindblowing

This is a good album but it should've been "Mezzanine" instead of this. Favorite track: Protection 3.5/5

Tracey Thorn & Nicolette, magician electrician. Mezzanine or 100th Window not on this list?

***A good, easy listening album

Slum plate, fungerer fint som bakgrunnsmusikk.

This ended up being a mixed bag, unexpectedly. I wanted more of the sultry trip hop and less of the weirdly Rastafarian sounding music with half spoken, half rapped vocals (like Karmacoma). There's parts of a good album here. The title track is pretty solid and I dug Weather Storm. I was ready to write this off entirely, but the last couple tracks (Sly and Heat Miser) did exactly what I wanted them to. More instrumental focus, chilled out EDM beats. Makes it hard to rate, but as an album, I can't say I want to come back to this anytime soon.

Trip-hop é um gênero musical novo pra mim. Dele, eu só conhecia Portishead. Gostei bastante, mas a música Protection é simplesmente sensacional. Muito bem feita e produzida. Tracey Thorn e os caras estavam muito inspirados nesse dia, absolutamente fora de curva a letra e a sonoridade. "I stand in front of you, take the force of the blow, protectiooon..." Karmacoma também é muuuuito divertida, aff. Que vibe de música. A minha terceira preferida é Better Things, tbm com a Tracey Thorn. A letra é ótima e essa parte foi uma pedrada kkkkk: "You say that the magic's gone, well, I'm not a magician You say the spark's gone, well get an electrician" Adorei, é um disco bem diversificado mesmo.

Pleasant lo fi beats

Lieblingstextzeilen: Soon I'll have the courage To leave my thoughts behind I'll give back all the knowledge And keep the wisdom precious in my mind Und If you believe I'll deceive then common sense says, "Shall you receive." Als Ganzes überraschend aber auch erfreulich disperat. Hätte mehr Ähnlichkeit erwartet. Bin nicht so Freund von den reinen Instrumentals, die sind mir zu skizzenhaft. Aber viele der Songs sehr cool, besonders mit Tricky. Finde das ist als Hintergrund und überraschenderweise auch als Vordergrund geeignet. Texte auch überraschend deep manchmal. Bondlikestreicher top

Mein... viertliebstes Massive Attack Album. Von fünf. Für mich zu viel zu ähnlich, zu viele Filler. Highs sind high, though.

All the moody, seductive atmospheres you want from a Massive Attack album; hardly any of the bittersweet, mysterious melodies or gripping, tense song structures you want from a Massive Attack album. Wait, why aren't we listening to Mezzanine instead?

yok önceki albümleri gibi bunu da beğenmedim mlsf

This was a head turner in 1994. I heard "Karmacoma" in a record store and bought it that day. Impressive listener counts from top to bottom, leading off with the easy to enjoy "Protection", Tracy Thorn sings the shit outta that one. "Weather Storm" is a smooth track, fits in perfectly with the overall vibe. The vocal on "Spying Glass" is awful, that quavering delivery, wow, that's just not good. His "Light My Fire" is hard to enjoy as well. And I do like Horace Andy. Also, not a fan of Nicolette's voice either, a bit high and irritating. This was cool and different in 1994, it is a good window in to what was happening back then, but not a fantastic album or a must hear.

Massive attack- not bad and it was probably pretty hip at the time. But this kind of chilled out electronic music has evolved into contemporary elevator music. Like the kind of stuff you hear at the lobby bar of a boutique hotel in Miami or YouTube work out video.

Maybe this was a vibe at the time but pretty uninteresting and forgettable i thought

I’m not trying to be rude when I say this but I have no idea when this music would be good to listen to

More jazzy but a little less notable than mezzanine or blue lines or heligoland. at least more muzak to me than the monumental trip hop group they would become

Low-slung, dub-tinged grooves built from deep bass pulses, soft breakbeats, airy synth washes, and gently folded-in vocals move this trip-hop album like leaning back into a worn sofa while rain taps the window—cool, unhurried, and so laid-back that its restraint becomes both its charm and its limitation.

Lots of variation; interesting listening

Just one of the best albums of the 90s full stop. And one of the best opening tracks on an album ever.

Genre hopping Vibey Evocative Enjoyable listen that never crossed over into truly memorable for me.

My rating 3.2. Reggae infused ambient electronica. Ok but nothing special. Liked Protection and Karmacoma.

Some good ones here, brings the bass

Vähän oli liian ”lässyä” mun musamakuuni, mutta kyllähän tän kuunteli. Toimi ehkä sunnuntai-aamuina parhaiten.

Fucking Brilliant. Also 3d is not Banksy.

The albums before and after this one, Blue Lines and Mezzanine, seem like more complete visions. I like some individual songs (Karmacoma, Sly) and always love Tracy Thorn's and Nicolette's vocals, but too many tracks seem like rejects from Blue Lines. I think 1001 albums should keep Blue Lines and Mezzanine and let this one go. It's not Massive Attack's best work.

Good somhs

Har nesten ikke hørt på denne plata siden både Mezzanine og Blue Lines eksisterer.

8 / 10

This was a go-to office ambient-esque CD for me back in the day!

Early electronic. Feels repetitive

Good background music to just groove too

Very enjoyable trip hop album although sometimes I thought I was listening to EBTG!

I liked some of the beats, some of the bass riffs, but none of the vocals. Light my Fire was....not great.

Song-by-song Live Commentary: Protection: felt like I was in an elevator Karmacoma: an I listening to the same artist? Feels like someone made this song on a really good quality recording of garage band. Three: might be her lucky number, but this is the number of songs off this album I can stand before going crazy from boredom. Weather Storm: back in the elevator, but now it’s raining. Spying Glass: I totally zoned out and didn’t even realize I missed a song at first. I guess that’s a good summary of all of these songs. Better Things: I like the bass line. Euro Child: euro-killing me with this music. Although the lyrical flow was nice. Sly: Boop. Boop boop. Beep boop. Boop boop. Heat Miser: that piano riff sounds like it belongs to the Halloween soundtrack. I like the build up with that and the drums. But then they took away that piano riff :(( This album is not for me.

Schon sehr gut, dazwischen längen

not their best but still very nice

No good songs on the whole album.

Love!

Ehh. Digital elevator music

Mostly pretty good, but nothing else reaches the heights of the title track.

Not a bad electronic album. Good relaxing almost lo-fi vibes that make for a calming listen. Still a bit too drawn out and generic in parts for my larger liking, but still not bad by any stretch. Top tracks: Weather Storm, Euro Child, Sly

I enjoy this well enough but it doesn't blow my socks off. Mid 3?

Favorite track(s): Protection, Weather Storm, Euro Child

The English are, yet again, allergic to making an interesting electronic album. I'm sure there are critiques out there of how good this album is but this is not for me.

Tracey Thorn is awesome to see on here since this is around the time EBTG were pushing into electronic stuff. what separates Massive Attack from a lot of the dull trip hop i like to rag on is their dedication to dub influences and ability to make a complex and developed groove around it. it reminds me less of muzak and more of the hauntological post-rave Burial would become famous for. deserves to be one of the 1001? it's like the third most significant Massive Attack album. maybe. the real question is why Mezzanine was left off in favor of this. that's a decision that's just confusing. easy fix: swap this for Mezzanine

I can absolutely appreciate this album and massive attack as setting the basework for what the world has in electronic music and how it's developed as a genre. I would probably return to this album but wouldn't be annoyed if it was on in the background

Chill Massive Attack, always a good sound

I can definitely hear it being a game changer just as Aphex Twin. Scene changer, really awesome!

This record is pretty good. I thought that the production was grimy or dirty, and there was a lot of distortion, making this a little overwhelming to listen to. At times, it works to its detriment, like the heavy breathing sound in Heat Miser, which doesn't stress me out, but it's kind of just annoying. Favourite Track(s): Better Things Least Favourite Track(s): Heat Miser

I quite liked listening to this. But I couldn't tell you what I enjoyed... It really could sit in as a background noise. I know that's not true, and there is a relatively cool range of tracks. However, I can't recall them. I got to stop doing these albums during housework... 3 Stars.

This album is like catching public transport into town to go to an acupuncture appointment.

Not my cup of tea

Coole vibes, sommige bangertjes, ma ni heel speciaal

sal, veel bangers

Whatever

What a SNOOZER man. I haven’t had an album in a minute that I was goading on to end (PIL excluded; I didn’t want to be there at all). This has some cool moments, euro child sticks out, but mostly it’s just a drag. Definitely not irredeemable, but portishead does it 100 times better. I’m sure this is someone’s jam and I’m happy for them, but it’s not mine. Still, cool moments.

Last year I went on holidays to Bristol. Home to Banksy and top-tier street art. The birthplace of trip-hop. And of Portishead, IDLES, and Massive Attack. This album reminds me of Bristol. Not just because Massive Attack are from there, but also because there's a grittiness and a sharp edge to everything. It reminds me of the vibes of Turbo Island: broken bottles and smoldering ashes from last night's bonfire lingering, with some dodgy character lurking not too far away. It's hard to define the Massive Attack sound. They drift between electronica, hip-hop, reggae, dub, soul, R&B, and ambient genres throughout this album. But the overall vibe is trip-hop. Downtempo, bass-heavy, slow and moody. Lots of space and heavy atmosphere. I'm a big fan of Massive Attack. But this is far from their best. The opening title track is a classic tune, but there's something about Tracey Thorn's voice that grates against my brain. I always find it hard to listen to just because of her voice. "Karmacoma" is a good song, but feels a bit out of place. The rest of the album has a lot of textured atmosphere, but not a lot of anything overly memorable. It's not a bad record, but it's a victim of comparison. Being sandwiched in between two great albums always highlights what it isn't. It's not Blue Lines and it's certainly not Mezzanine. It feels more like a stepping stone between the two.

“Love, love is a verb.”

This continues to be an album I can listen to over and over.

Can appreciate, but a bit too slow paced for me.

Started off nicely with "Protection," a slow burn of a song that goes on too long. From there, it was fine, although forgettable. Just too many of the same mid-tempo lackadaisical kinds of songs. Ones that stood out were "Spying Glass" and "Heat Miser." But to end with a limp, tepid cover of "Light My Fire?" Why?

Call it electronica, call it trip hop - whatever it is, I'm into it. Incredibly laid back without getting boring, quite the opposite, most of these tracks are just mesmerising. That bass is divine and there's more going on in a lot of these songs than it seems at first. Gotta check out more Massive Attack

Everyone bad mouths light my fire. And they’re right to. It ends the album on a bad note for me. But the rest was great back in 94. And it’s still excellent today. It suffers only by not being mezzanine.

DNF -Y'all just had me listen to this band... kind of pissin me awf. I'm not finishing

Underwhelming. I've heard some other songs by Massive Attack, and I liked them. But the album just doesn't hit with me at all. It doesn't stand out, it doesn't appeal, it just feels like background noise to me. The beats are sometimes pleasant but they don't build to anything. It isn't god awful, but it's going to be forgotten as soon as I move on to another album.

The WORST album to listen to on the stair master, it made 20 mins feel like forever I can’t appreciate the artistry but I just did not enjoy

201/1001 Massive Attack - Protection Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ✅ I think this is my call to do a deeper dive into Massive Attack, as I've really enjoyed Mezzanine and Blue Lines in the past, but not gone deeper. I love the moody feel to this album and the diffent styles adopted into their sound. It teeters on the edge of being threatening.

You can hear that a lot of thought and effort has been put in this. Every lick and note seems to have been carefully calibrated to deliver a perfect Trip Hop album. I find it fucking boring though. It's kind of weird and that it somewhat rewards attentive listening, but the nature of this genre is that it's very much background music. I just forget to really care for it, not my thing I guess.

This was fine.

All over the place musically but not interesting enough for more listening.

i liked most of this. it was like an early 2000s teen or spy movie soundtrack

this is an album for making out, yeah?

Trip hop was never my bag, but this is ok. Always liked Protection.

Mmmmmmm

8/10 18.01.2026

i like it!

Bravo pour leur engagement politique constant.

J'aime beaucoup Massive Attack. Je connais plus l'album d'après avec un genre de test de Rorschach, celle avec Teardrop dessus. Mais les 3 singles sur celui-ci sont aussi incroyables. Il y a un petit côté World qui est bien plaisant sur Karmacomma. On parle ici de la sainte trinité du trip hop quand même.

Excellent trip-hop, que dire!

mellow with significant oopmh

This was quite enjoyable. Really easy listening.

I really thought I would like this one more than I did. There are some Massive Attack tracks that I have really enjoyed, but I did not enjoy this album. 2 stars seems harsh, but I really have no desire to return to this one.

Yeah, not for me. Not bad as background music I guess? But repetitive and feels like hold music at times.

very good album loved the instrumentals and melodies!

I really enjoyed listening to this

I heard this band was a triphop band that blended dub music, electronic and triphop. I immediately thought, “can I just not listen to this album and rate it a 2.” But I listened to it anyways and I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this album. I even let Spotify pick songs from this genre the rest of the day and was exposed to more bands and music… I’m probably not a triphop fan yet but it just shows that you can’t say you hate broccoli without having tasted it yet.

Did nothing for me

Nydelige greier, undervurdert.

Guess I’m just not a massive attack fan

6/10

A not-too-annoying electronic album that I did not connect with personally.

Oh boy. Would've liked to enjoy, but for me is just a hard pass. And what was done to LIGHT MY FIRE should have been declared a sin. I was not aware of use of their music in the TV series Bones, so I've heard at least one track before. Listened before? N Saved tracks? N Favorite track? N/A ⭐⭐ Hatedthat I couldn't like it.

I have a headache today, so I appreciate how chill this is. Any other day, I might not be so into it. I was trying to figure out how I knew of Massive Attack. Their song Teardrop is the theme song from House MD. Misophonia skip on Heat Miser. Can't listen to the breathing.

I really thought I’d like this album more. I had a few songs from this record saved to my liked tracks on Spotify so it looked promising, but ultimately fell short. It felt like the songs went on too long and didn’t really resolve into anything. The repetitiveness of some of the songs prevented me from listening back more than twice. I found it hard to leave on in the background, it was too distracting.

I was not expecting to like this as I don’t love electronic music but this was such a unique blend of different types of music!!

Nice.

This may be drawing some building ire undeservedly, but I'm failing to see what about this was something I had to listen to. It's unphenomenal electronic bleh capped at the end with a bad cover of a great song. It's far from the worst thing I've listened to in this project, but it's not exactly good.

Have always been a big fan of the opening track, “Protection”, a fave trip-hop song with Everything But the Girl’s Tracey Thorn on vocals. The rest of this was pretty good as well.

not my style at all

A couple of stellar tracks on here, but it can't stand up to masterpiece that is Blue Lines and the cover of "Light My Fire" that ends the album just screams "Oh shit! We're 100% out of ideas!"

A few great songs. Protection and better things. Not consistent

Echt heel erg jaren 90 vond ik. Maar best prima wel verder.

Keep the British guy far from the microphone and you’ve got something going. Most of the tracks with female vocals felt like something I’d hear during the opening credit sequence for a Bond film. The DNA of an album I like is here, but the result is too rough.

Try as I might, I am just not much of a brooding Londoner in the middle of the rainy night in 1992

this a point thing 2

This is truly an excellent album, had it since it came out, playing it again and singing along ; Tracy Thorn, Horace Andy, Tricky, this version of “Light my fire” is magical right at the end - beautiful

Szczególnie piosenki z damskim wokalem mają w sobie coś pięknego i efemerycznego. Dziwna muzyka, jakby z innej czasoprzestrzeni. 8/10.

Hadde vært perfekt hvis jeg hadde en dyp sofa og likte te.

lovely

Review - Some decent tracks, can see the progression to their later, better work. This album is very specifically of it's time/place, in a nice, quaint way. Rating - 6.5/10 Need to hear? KINDA

Pretty good

Massive Attack is always kinda meh for me. 2.5/5

I can listen to it while sleeping.

Egentlig ikke min kopp te, men veldig behagelig bakgrunnsmusikk, typ rolig tirsdagskveld på VT.

Hørt på tur med Guri på kirkegården i sinnsykt nordlys. Eventyrlig setting, skulle ønske musikken var littegranne bedre.

Slinky and cinematic, sprawling out like a city at night

Going to give this a 3, but it's really a 2.5. It's a relaxed vibe, but it never really grabbed me.

Cool album, didn't know any of the songs prior

Not my favorite of their albums, but first three song run is pretty flawless.

Mid

Simply wonderful album, earliest trip hop, last track a bit of a duffer.

I really enjoyed this, wasn't mad on track 2 or Light My Fire, but mostly, really loved the vibe, beats and melody. Very cool.

I’m more familiar with Blue Lines, which I’ve listened to quite a lot. Coming to Protection while I was tired, I found it so smooth and subdued that it actually made me a bit sleepy.

The first two tracks are exceptional, but a lot of this album is just ok ambient sounding tracks. I really didn’t enjoy tracks like spying glass and sly

Whilst I like some stuff by Massive Attack, it isn’t found on this album. My aversion to the band Everything But the Girl made me recoil a little at the presence of Tracey Thorn vocal on this, even “Protection”, which is the only song I already knew on this album.

I'd not managed to get to this album, as it was Christmas Eve and I had stuff to do. But then it turned out I had a bout of insomnia and at 1:10am, I realised this might be the perfect thing. It was going well (making me sleepy) until Spying Glass - what a weird vocal! But then I started nodding off again and, when I was clearly so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open, I took off the headphones... Well it turns out, all but the last track of Protection is what I need to fall asleep. So while this may sound like damming with faint praise, very relaxing album: 3/5

I liked the album, but really hated the live cover at the end. It made me cringe. Also, I agree with a lot of people on here that it's weird that Mezzanine didn't make it. For all it's flaws, this list never really struck me as all that hipster. If an album is popular, it's going to be on here, along with probably 2 or 3 more albums from that artist's catalogue. I'm only 100 albums in so far, but this is the first instance I've noticed of them omitting a popular album in favor of a more obscure one. Weird.

i don’t really know what to say it was just okay and that’s all

Sexy, sad, gorgeous. Reminds me of the vibe on Why Can't We Live Together by Timmy Thomas, or Sade's cover of it. Hard to think of higher praise than that.

I’m fairly certain I’ve only heard a few songs here and there from Massive Attack. I feel like I’ve missed out not diving deeper into their work. This album was really good to listen to with bigger speakers. The low end sounds come out really strong. I feel like you’d miss a lot of the sound otherwise.

I thought this was a really cool album. Every song had a totally different feel to it

So I guess this is good trip hop... This music was like the embodiment of the word cool. Subtle yet effective usage of futuristic sounding samples, integrating them into the beat, and sometimes just sprinkling them in here n there. Vocals kept things interesting, while the beat and instrumentation kept steady throughout holding it all down. Each song had its own thing going for it, whether it was the piano, singing, or rapping. A very slow n steady wins the race kind of feeling to it all. So if you're looking for something high energy, find somethin else. If you are looking to melt into a puddle on the couch, this might just be the album to listen to. 9/10

Inspiring sampling work, as expected. I didn't really find much else of this album interesting, however. I can't tell if this was better, worse, or around the same as "Blue Lines" from earlier in this list. Both kind of operate on the same wavelength.

What’s with all these mellow electronica garbage albums. I thought Massive Attack was supposed to be good. This sucked but not as bad as the ones I’ve rated.

Seeing electronic group in the description was off putting.. Its not the kind of music I'm into so I wasn't expecting much from this but I was pleasantly surprised. Very chilled album with a good variety of singers

Good background music but not altogether remarkable or ear catching. Mezzanine is a better album.

Love massive attack, never listened to this album but it was really great. The start of something that went on to be amazing.

A lot of variety. The singer on the first track and a few others reminds me of Natalie Merchant. The artist name Massive Attack made me expect a rock album. I was wrong! Some kind of electronica hybrid.

Decent. But their other album(s) belong on this list and not this one. Additional example of bias from list author(s).

So-so. I really liked the first song with Tracey Thorn, but that was mostly cuz of Tracey Thorn.

I think if all the British hip hop, electronic, and punk music I didn’t know that this project introduced me to, Massive Attack is cream of the crop.

Pretty good. Came out the same year as Portisheads' Dummy, apparently, and it did remind me of it at points.

Chill background with nice Beats

To my suprise I actually enjoyed this album. Idk why I find it surprising but anyway. Some of the songs I found quite slow but they were relaxing and would be good studdy music. My favourite tracks were sly, euro child and heat miser. I loved the electronic sound and I think reggae beat, over all it was a solid album.

Highlights: Protection, Weather Storm. In a nutshell: smooth fusion. A bit of downtempo and dub, a lot of trip hop. It's smooth. It's not their best album but it's certainly not their worst. Unfortunately, Mezzanine isn't in the book. But it's on the user list, so hang in there if you want to add your review! Overall: 5/10

Smooth vibes. Not what I would put on usually. Deserves more of a 3.5/5.

Smooth songs with some catchy grooves

Hated it in the 90s, hate it today.

Hmm. The best I can give it is “pretty alright.” Like many triphop albums on the list, I’d say I generally liked it, but not much more than that. There were some good songs here, many that were mediocre, and at least one that was straight-up bad (the cover of Light My Fire at the end. Why?!). Favorites: Karmacoma, Three 3.5

Blue Lines is known because it was groundbreaking. Mezzanine is known for being Massive Attack's masterpiece. Those were the only two Massive Attack albums I had heard. I just never paid attention to the other Massive Attack records because I'd rather just listen to Mezzanine. It's hard to force myself to go back to what I understood to be a step on the road to perfection. After listening several times, I can easily say that Protection is not as good as Mezzanine. But man, it's still really good, and in some ways fills a gap between the easy coffee shop vibes of Blue Lines and the dark, challenging sound of Mezzanine. Several of the tracks on Mezzanine, like Angel, have become classic hi-fi tuning tracks because the deep bass has to be tuned properly or the rest of the mix becomes obviously muddy. My system is tuned to handle the deep bass on Mezzanine, but I suspect that Protection would be much clearer by default anyway. The low tones are more inviting, but still demand attention. Protection is easier to listen to Mezzanine, but it isn't easily ignored like background music. Any of the tracks with Tracey Thorn are my favorites. Tricky likes to repeat his lyrics on multiple tracks from different albums (both Massive Attack and solo), so it's hard for me to evaluate what I think about this version of Karmacoma. The live cover version of Light my Fire is kind of fun, but ultimately an unnecessary distraction after the album's proper end, especially for those, like me, who aren't familiar enough with the album to end it after Heat Miser. I can see why I overlooked Protection in the past. I simply didn't realize that this step toward genius could be so important itself. Four stars.

As others have said, the Light My Fire cover is absolutely unnecessary in itself and also spoils what would have been a perfectly good ending to a perfectly fine album. Aged a bit better than Blue Lines to my ears, but the question has to be asked... Why more than one Massive Attack album?

Weirdly enough I kind of like trip hop. Massive Attack is always fun to listen to.

I was thinking this wasn’t bad, just boring - and then they did that awful cover of Light My Fire. I am a big Doors fan, but I don’t mind covers of their stuff, in fact I think the Will Young cover of this very song is actually pretty good. This one, though … this is fucking terrible, and drags the album down with it. Shite.

electronica...not my cup of tea

Æ foretrekk selvfølgelig Mezzanine fordi æ har hatt et forhold til det albumet betraktelig lenger enn nokka anna av Massive Attack (æ har nok aldri hørt det her før), men æ tror likevel æ synes det her e kjedeligere? Sjøl om det også e mulig æ ville synes det samme om Mezzanine, for æ kan ikke huske katti æ sist hørte på det.

Really like Protection. The title track is lovely and groovy and cool. Some parts of the album are a bit too tasteful to give 5 stars but I love it's relaxed atmosphere.

Unique but super boring

The first one to come up that I already know well. Love it.

Feels like LoFi before LoFi. A bit weird but was able to vibe to it.

Fun

The main focus is the low end - the construction of spacious dark beats, propulsive but laid back - borrowing styles from dub and house music, the interplay of repetition and iteration, of subtle variation and constant looping, of synchopation and resolution, of reggae basslines's flair and the machinic precision of the drum machine. Then the high end they fill with whatever - house diva vocals, raps, toasting, jazzy piano - and it just works. Impossibly icy and steamy, the sound of a damp warehouse recently packed with bodies - the contemplative calm after the heat of a rave.

Not for me. Kinda boring. Vocals are corny

All sounds the same to me

I didn't mind this playing in the background

It's a relaxing listen.

boring but not bad

Not my bag but I get it.

There were some solid highlights on here, but I felt like it paled in comparison to their bigger albums. A lot of moody backgroundy/ambient sounding songs which just don't hit me as hard as their other work did

Never heard of them and really enjoyed it!! A lot!

I have had some experience with Mezzanine from Massive Attack, and I don't recall liking it much, so I wasn't much looking forward to this today. Fortunately, either it was different or I am. This was quite enjoyable, and I'll be adding this to my personal collection. However, I will be making sure the Light My Fire cover is deleted. That was wildly unnecessary, extraordinarily bad by itself, and threatened to tank this album's rating for me. Fucking terrible, that was ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not anything I was expecting. Chill with reggae influence. Nice to work to.

Ehh it was ok.

7/10

Front loaded album with some really cool songs, especially the title track. Sounds great on headphones. Could have done without the live track at the end. Great album, but not a patch on Mezzanine.

Massive Attack is a good representative of a problem that all electronic music must overcome to be successful. And by successful, I don't mean selling huge numbers, or attaining Critical Acclaim™. I mean it succeeds in moving the listener in some way, emotionally. So this is why it is art and not simply a vehicle for telling stories. It's why I can enjoy African or Indian music and not understand the language. The problem is that electronic music is ultimately a technical genre, bound tightly to physics more so than self-expression. Creating soulfulness in electronic music, is its difficulty and most frequent downfall. This is the main problem for a lot of technically oriented music like EDM, Progressive Rock, and even Jazz to a large degree. Emotional content, the flavor, is underdeveloped at the expense of the difficulty of the technical aspects. So, in the very best music, the artist has the skill to express it all: technical chops and emotional depth. Massive Attack come so close, but don't quite get there. A lot of sameness disqualifies them from achieving some kind of technical mastery. And the forced vocal soul does little to bring feeling to these purposely synthetic grooves. Nice though they are, soothing and mellow, but no urgency or intensity. No emotional depth to speak of. Which would be reasonable (for me) if the music were more interesting technically. Outside of the dub-tinged "Spying Glass" and their fantastic cover of The Doors "Light My Fire," this isn't something I would take all that seriously. Good soundtrack music perhaps.

I enjoyed the first album by Massive Attack from this list. This one seemed to drag more for me. It felt tedious at times and I would recommend their first album more. Not that this was a bad album, but man, it's much slower and sleepier.

not all of the songs avivlable

love love love triphop. weaker than their debut but still very good

Knarkmys, inte deras bästa dock.

Music to relax and chill out to. My favourite tracks were "Spying Glass" and "Heat Miser". I liked it.

This is a very chill album, and makes great background music. That said, there is nothing here to really evoke any emotions. I’ve always liked Massive Attack, but it just doesn’t move me. There is also nothing here that makes me say wow. 3

Vibes: 5/5 Instruments: 4/5 Production: 4/5 Emotional Value: 3/5 Storytelling: 4/5 Album Cover: +0.5 Stand Outs: Protection, Storm Warnings Overall Rating: 4.1

Very smooth album just as all other Massive Attack albums. Nothing crazy, just as all other Massive Attack albums (don't kill me I have to relisten to Mezzanine) Fav song: Sly

Det instrumentella är ändå okej, till och med bra ibland. Gillar inte sången. Men som helhet, inget vidare intryck.

nej nej nej detta är för mycket efterfest och h*schångest för mig

Känner mig massivt attackerad. Piss. Känns som att gå in i på svintrist men på något sätt hypead bar fylld av frireligiösa, välfärdskapitalister och entreprenörer. När du väl kommer fram till baren är mannen i baren kort i tonen och förstår inte vad du säger. "maestro!" När man till sist druckit upp, dragit sin sista suck och lämnar lokalen undrar man vart de där 48 minuterna tog vägen.

"No Protection" just as good. Solid stuff leading up to my favorite, "Mezzanine". 5/5

This was good album in overall. I liked.

Massive Attack has this gift of finding incredible female vocalists. Prime Tracey Thorn really helps this album along. It is a slow burner. Not nearly as magical as their 3rd album, Mezzanine.

Sooooooooooooooo borrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiingggggggggggggg

Are you gonna keep sending me Massive Attack albums? No.

Very solid....no Mezzamine but a great listen regardless. 3.5/5

This is a really solid album, but not as good as Blue Lines or Mezzanine. Some great songs on it though, particularly the Tracy Thorn and Tricky ones. It's baffling that Mezzanine isn't in the book - it's their best by far!

Ok, I guess. Would like to round down to 2.5.

Protection - added - chill vibe kinda long but feels like sweetback Karmacoma - added - feels like montage music Three - not added - kinda trippy but not for me Weather storm - added - iffy but decent vibes feels rainy Spying glass - not added - idk kinda weird Better things - added - like the vocals Euro child - added - good beat drop rapping flows well and nonchalant Sky - not added - not a bad song but it would end up as a skip Heat miser - goes hard with the Michael myers and ventilator Light my fire - yeah idk about this chief

This was good - vibey and pleasant listening. Nothing really grabbed me much though, just washed over me a little.

Excellent album. Downbeat (in the best possible sense) and chilled, this may be my favourite Sunday Morning relaxing CD. Loses a point for the underwhelming Light My Fire cover.

Classy

Repeated listenings with headphones will further enthuse with this album.

With a name like massive attack I was thinking it would be more. This album wants you to get laid but has a weak game. Like they listened to good music then tried to reproduce it and instead made everyone involved sad and in need of a drink.

A lot of Protection sounds like the soundtrack to some future film that will be released in 2040. None of it sounds of its time- this album could be released next Friday and be hailed as the future sound of London. Each track sounds like a little story. Some more interesting than the others but none are forgettable. Ending the album with a cover of The Doors 'Light My Fire' does the album no favors but it's easy to just skip it.

Not quite there.

good

Loved it, super smooth and really enjoyed the variety of vocalists and instrumentals in this. Took me back to being 20 again, and chillin with my mates.

Cool sound, had trouble focusing on the tracks and was more background music as I worked

Not the right massive attack album. But still a good one

Rightly overshadowed by Mezzanine which is incredible (and bizarrely missing from this list). Might be a step down but Protection is a great album in its own right…. Except for the weird live Light My Fire cover at the end which I hated.

X t d4 rd

A pleasure to listen to. My soul thanks you.

How this album is on the list but Mezzanine is not is pretty hard to fathom. I saw Massive Attack live this year and they only played one track from Protection (Karnacoma) which gives an idea of it's relative merit with their back catalogue. That and Protection start the record off well but I did find a few of the tracks in the second half were a bit direction less. I gave Blue Lunes a 4 and this isn't quite on that level so it's a 3.

So chill. So electronic. The contributions from Tracey Thorn and Nicolette make for the best tracks, setting the stage for Elisabeth Fraser on Teardrop. The songs are hypnotic, and the best tracks have those cool entrancing women’s voices pulling you in.

3/5

Not their best. But not bad.

Never been too much for Massive Attack but I could see myself spinning this on a dark Thursday night in December.

Utterly forgettable. It didn’t grab me at all. I realised during track 7 that I hadn’t been listening since track 4. It’s not bad in a musical sense, but it’s pretty dull.

Brilliant album. My parents put me on it when i was a kid so nostalgic

2.5 RYM

The sound is okay. It started strong, but nothing really great on the album.

Ummm…

I hate bland electronica. And that's exactly what this was! Yippee. Lyrics were incoherent at best, songs were slow and plodding, repetitive, they did nothing with this album. The Doors should be offended that one of their most famous songs was butchered so horrifically at the end there. I'm not a big Doors fan but good Lord above that was awful.

nah. album was fine in background (on low volume), but just seemed all over the place with their sound. 2.5 stars

Maybe it’s just that I listened in the afternoon but this one didn’t hit like other Massive Attack albums I’ve heard. It was nice, but it faded into the background far too easily.

Music for bowling. But "Better things" and "Heat Miser" are 5star songs! The rest are 2stars songs

Elsker massive attack. Det her er lidt den perfected version af deres første album.

Favorite Track: Protection

Pretty chill album.

Exactly what I expected, though I did enjoy it more than I thought I would. Not particularly a fan of this Bristol chilled electronic sound but it clicked with me today for some reason. I think massive attack are the best at this genre, it does seem to be put together with care and attention. Sly in particular was great but it was all listenable. It's all a bit samey and I'm never going to be excited about this sort of music but I have to admit I liked it. 3.5.

Not as good as Heligoland. I had a look at Heligoland in preparation - the only song I actively dislike there is Atlas Air. Protection is alright. Love the collaborations with Horace. Quite liked Sly. Nothing further. Could go harder every now and then. 2.5.

I think I preferred this to the last massive attack album we had. Still not really my thing though. It's ok to have on in the background though. The opening 2 tracks are by far the best tracks and the only ones I recognised. 2.5

I like it

Snooze fest