Reviews (page 11 of 13)
kinda dated but decent!
not too bad. i've never heard the full album before but I am pretty sure I've come across a couple of songs here and there. MA was a big late-night rage favourite in the 90s. It's kinda catchy but just not my thing, no staying power. like a slightly more interesting, less annoying version of what moby was doing a few years later. 3/5.
#5. It’s fine as background music, but would not listen to it again. It’s just boring for me.
Mid
Achei bem sem sal e ruinzinho
Blue lines, Be thankful for what you've got were my type
Good beats but not for me
outside of 1 or 2 tracks this just kinda flew in and flew out it's fine
Ei ihan oma kuppi teetä. Töiden taustamusana meni, mutta rehellisesti sanottuna en kyllä edes huomannut milloin levy loppui ja alkometri alkoi soittamaan jotain muuta. Ei nyt ärsyttänytkään kuitenkaan, niin mennään kakkosella.
I wanna like this so bad, it's very cool. But it's too much a "vibe" and I find it boring
Music was great but the vocals were kind of cheesy throughout.
Pretty corny tbh.
Es como un R&B, blues y rap. Está bueno la verdad.
Not bad, not great, easy 2.5
an interesting introduction to trip-hop, but not something i would ever replay.
i thought i would like it when i first saw what it was about unfortunately i didn't
This is the background music in a pricey bar I want to leave. Is there a pub or beer garden nearby?
Aside from a couple of classics, this sounds painfully dated now. Fair to include it in the book for its place in the development of a rich genre, but I won't be putting it on again soon.
Bouncy bass line. Why is this called “electronic”. More like top worst 1001 albums oat lol. I like in one love when it turns Chinese. Just like how weed affects people differently turning some relaxed and open-minded and free and happy it turns other people anxious with their heart racing and fearful. What’s gonna happen next. This album I’m sure affected a lot of people in the first way however for me it just wasn’t complicated enough. This album is for slow brain people.
The Shara Nelson songs are okay but the rest didn't interest me at all. 2 stars or D.
1991. Generally considered the first trip hop album.
ehh, not for me
At times good, at times not. The lead vocals on "One Love" are AWFUL.
i was so excited to like this but it ended up not really landing :-/ i want to explain it as i really like the bones of this album, but the finished songs left me a bit disappointed. my least favourite parts were usually the vocals. "blue lines" is an exception, great song.
Meh
Feel like this would be playing in a pretentious lounge in Seattle
There's nothing truly bad about this, but nothing I personally enjoy either.
It's sexier than I thought. As far as electronica goes I guess it's good? The longer it went on the more bored I was with it.
Helt ok triphop. Duse rytmer, men i grunn veldig kjedelig.
I am liking this genre better as I listen to more of it.
I didn't have a proper listen to this album, so I ll revisit it later.
I’ve heard a lot of recommendations for this band so I had high hopes. The album improved as it went on but man this was disappointing.
It was alright. Honestly rather repetitive and not as musically interesting as I prefer so not something I have much interest in revisiting, but I haven’t ever been a Massive Attack fan.
Didn't really care for it.
I bet this album went really hard if you were hitting on women at a night club in 1992
I'm not sure what genre this is but I don't like it
внезапно для само себя вообще не понравилось
Friday, 5 June, 2026 They select two massive attack albums, and neither one is Mezzanine? This album is at best a 2/5.
I was already familiar with this album, and my impression largely remains the same in that I am lukewarm about it. I hope we get "Mezzanine," later on, because I recall it being much better than this album, even not including "Teardrop," which is probably the best song they have recorded. This album grooved decently, but still sounds pretty adapted overall
some nice drums. I like the dub influences some of the lyrics are so corny. I do not dig the corniness of the 90s overall the arrangements are not that good. like a lot of early Electronica, this leans heavily on the technology and lacks music theory
Not really for me
Nothing wrong with this, just not my cup of tea.
es tipo un bizarrap JAJAJAJA telones igual
Can't be bothered
First time listening to a trip-hop album. Not something I'd listen to normally. Songs to get high to.
I really liked tracks 1, 2 & 6. The rest were pretty much what I expected.
It grew on me the more I listened but the bar started extremely low. I can appreciate the artistry but it wasn't for me. Favorite track was Blue Lines because it reminds me of the pretentious music that would always be playing in record stores when I was still buying vinyl.
maybe requires a second listen as its my paernts fave album but...
Сара 2,5 Марко 2,5
I understand a lot of people really like this band. Huh.
The last track was ok. Couldn’t stand the rest.
First song was good. Rest of this album has been pretty mid. Not my style/type. Five man army is good but British people rapping is always a lil weird lol. Throughout the whole album I was just waiting for it to end.
Njaa. Når väl inte riktigt upp till en trea, men nästan.
Toleransen för den här skiten är ju inte hög efter senaste plattan precis. Vet inte varför jag blir så provocerad av det här. Men den här är ju faktiskt mycket bättre än Protection, här finns ju faktiskt lite, lite energi.
This quickly turned into some weird background noise, because I do just not vibe with this music. And then we got to the last song "Hymn of the Big Wheel" which I did actually quite enjoy. Not enough to really change my opinion of the whole album though
Me aburrió
meeehh
The beats were mediocre enough, but the vocals on each track just dragged this down further.
Veldig langsomt. Veldig repetitivt.
That hazy, aimless ambient stuff was not easy to listen to. Unfinished sympathies was pretty good. Daydreaming re indes me of the background music of a b movie that takes place in a Club before the slasher arrives. For a band called massive attack, it’s pretty tame.
Not much to get excited about on this album.
I returned to the previous massive attack album we've been assigned and totally underrated it. But this one really was sort of boring
One great song.
Some tracks are good (Unfinished sympathy, Five man army) but others just gives me a meh feeling. Be thankful for what you've got is annoyingly anonymous . Sounds like some generic funk soul elevator muzak;(
Flight of the concords and Indy coffee shops in 2010
I'd only listened to Mezzanine before. I like the music but don't really like the singer(s). Obviously important as the "first trip hop album" but thank god for Portishead.
unquestionably changed it all but still sounds too much like the primordial soup it emerged from
Boring ass music. Altough I did like Be Thankful For What You've Got, because of Tony Bryans voice.
Chill, but kind of not great electronic chill. I'm kinda surprised it's not better.
Like rain falling on the already heavy blanket of narcolepsy, this album seemed to conspire with my narcolepsy to make it harder for me to stay awake as I read.
me aburrio un toque, pero estuvo bien para el contexto en el que lo escuche (oficina un miercoles a las 9:30am). meh :/
I've never listened to Massive Attack before this. To my uninformed ear, I think this must have been incredibly ahead of its time in 1991, but sounds pretty dated to me in 2026. I think the vocals/lyrics in particular don't help - every time Tricky was rapping it made me think of Flight of the Conchords.
This is probably a collection of the worst style of singers I have ever heard. What the fuck is going on with the music generator. One Love….terrible Like it makes Corey Feldman sound like Sinatra I’d like to point out that I complained about the collection of singers on this album to find out that I was only 2 songs in. That’s how bad this album started. I think I’m just going to bitch about the vocals throughout this whole album. Blue Lines is decent but it has that clearly British spoken word singing. A good singer hides their accent. Ya I said it. Then the song with the best vocals yet is a skippable song. This album could only really be weighed based on the music, the singing has sunken this ship.
i expected to like this. boy was i wrong.
Meh! I enjoyed it just fine, but not my fave.
Just not a huge fan of trip hop. If I was stoned out of my mind at like 2am this would have for sure sent me into a comatose-like trance state
I've listened to and enjoyed Massive Attack before, but this was not the same style of music that I'm used to hearing from them.
Boring
Cool name tbf
album #18 Do I like this album? No. Do I think it should be on the list? Yes. Blue lines paved the way for a lot of trip-hop, especially in the uk lol; i massively (;D) respect what they did with this album and what it meant for the uk music scene as a whole. But i just don't like it. it's a taste thing - i like some of massive attack's stuff, just not this album. c'est la vie! ꩜ average track rating: 1.9/5 ꩜ favourite track(s): blue lines ꩜ least favourite track(s): one love, safe from harm ꩜ album rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ꩜ number of albums left to review: 1,071 ꩜ number of albums from the list that i agree with being on the list: 9 (+1 Blue Lines) ꩜ albums from the list that I would consider on my list: 3 ꩜ albums from the list I won't include on my list: 14
Good for background music but really not my whole thing. Safe from harm was good, but the rest was mostly these trip hop covers which were just meh to me.
162/1001 First listen. I’ve always heard great things about Massive attack but this didn’t do much for me. The vocals I find, detract from this and date it as well. But that’s just one listen. 4/10
not for me.
I missed this the first time round apart from the singles and reading the reviews I was looking forward to it. First play I would have given it a 3 but on second listen I just didn’t get it so it’s a ……
Putting me to sleep on this three hour drive. Proto stoner rock mixed with boring electronic music. Can definitely see the vision and how this undoubtably influenced a lot of good music but that does not make this good!
Somewhat disappointed here. With the huge track that is "Unfinished Sympathy" I expected more from the other tracks on the album, buuuuut I was wrong to have such high expectations. Dull and lifeless IMO. 2, sorry.
Very uneven. I don’t know what to make of Massive Attack. Some of their songs like “Safe From Harm” and “Unfinished Sympathy” are beauties, and others - “Five Man Army”, “Lately” and especially the dreadful “One Love” - are just dregs. More blah than blast in the balance, I’d say. Bring on the Teardrop(s).
Liked a few songs didn’t care for most of them. Overall I thought it was OK. One I could see myself giving another shot though!
I know this is a revolutionary album(by an artist with a name that doesn't correlate to their genre), but the lyrics here are talentless garbage, and the music gets old after the third track. For the third consecutive day, I'm giving an album a "2" star rating. Favorite Track: "Blue Lines".
it was okay i was a little bored
I usually like massive attack but the features on this album were waaaack. Extremely and fully repetitive
Good jams, just not my thing.
shark-core
Definitely does not hit like Mezzanine... Found it a chore to listen through
Maybe I can appreciate some of the ambiences, but this album was devoid of any energy or passion. The music is incredibly repetitive and stale, with equally as stale vocals... and that's for every single song. It makes me want to listen to literally any other album that doesn't turn my mind into a vegetative state.
In the trip hop genre or electronica this may have been a hit in 91 but give me Portisheads dummy any day
Fun record! I enjoyed the diversity and various features.
I was so sure I had never heard a Massive Attack song but it turns out I was wrong. Overall it's alright but not something I would seek out. Unless I needed a nap because all it does is make me sleepy. Favorite: Safe From Home (the one I've heard before) Would I listen to it again: No
Be thankful for what you got is probably the best song on the album and then the hymn of the big wheel is a close second but other than that, nothing much is left on this album but since I was able to find 2 or three songs, can’t give it to one, but definitely has earned a two out of five
This one started out promising and faded fast. Best track was Safe From Harm.
I don't really like massive attack. There was a dub song that was decent, but not really anything else my style in this project. All of it was just fine.
Be Thankful For What You've Got saved this from being a 1
Not as good as their other album imo. 5/10
This is mostly a miss for me. Kind of tedious. Boring at times. I wouldn't rush back to this album any time soon. Sorry.
The album cover looks VEEERY familiar but still the music was not..? I found the music generally quite boring and zoned out of it quite a bit. Not my favourite.
I was excited for this album. My dad was big into massive attack and I associated my current taste to being begrudgingly interested by their music. This album however was a snoozefest with mostly boring rhythms and melodies and on the rare times they were interesting they wouldn't change for the entire 5 minute runtime. Disappointing 2
Not bad, but not my type at all… like, maybe I liked the first one, but other songs didn’t got my attention by any interesting details. A little bit too monotonous for me… there is nothing I can catch 💔
No
Really slow paced trip hop that all just starts to sound the same after a while, everything blends together into one long electronic/hiphop medley that I don’t particularly care for
2.5 not my fav massive attack album
i didn’t realize massive attack started out so reggae-coded. also, the electronic songs remind me a lot of moby. i love mezzanine, but this hardly compares
Mehhh, it was okay, but I didn't love it! I liked maybe a song or two, but again, not an album I think I would ever choose to put on just to listen to. These were also really long songs, which has kinda been a theme for a couple of the albums I've gotten so far. Are shorter songs a new trend? Anyways, solid 2 star. I'm reserving one star songs for something that I literally would turn off, which I'm not sure if I'll even come across because I enjoy, or at least tolerate, such a wide variety of music.
I’m sure it changed lives at the time
Jesus this has dated. Must listen? No. There’s better. examples of the sound of 1991.
hot garbage
Tricky carries this album. Trip Hop is a weird genre that I don't think I like. Nothing bad here, just nothing that I love.
The beginnings of a great band are here, but as it is I find it very terrible to listen to. The beats are alright, if lacking in variation. The vocals though, for the most part, are truly miserable. Long, droning, far too repetitive. Most songs amounting to five minutes of male sex moans with a backdrop of a very basic and unchanging beat. Which I personally can do without.
the best parts of the album were the parts borrowed from elsewhere, like the cover of be thankful for what you got. i got bored.
i was rooting for you and then it all started to sound the same and i was over it LMAO
Good early 90s vibe
Al principio me ha sonado bastante guay pero tenia las expectativas muy altas y cuanto mas avanzaba el disco mas parecia una noche en la que no paras de despertarte y soñar lo mismo cada vez que te vuelves a dormir (me ha pasado hoy, me iba de viaje a Paris y Romero se escapaba e iba en el autobus connmigo y luego andabamos por Talavera y el iba sentadito en mi hombro)
A genre I haven't really listened to much. Ok-ish. 2/5
There were some okay songs, but most of it was a style I wasn’t crazy about.
I was ready to give this album 3-stars, but after listening to it again in full, it doesn't hold up as well as I thought, and most of the tracks miss the mark for me. "Mezzanine" is leaps & bounds better, and the fact that album of theirs ISN'T EVEN ON THE LIST is insane. Thankfully Mezzanine is at least a user-submitted album, since the authors couldn't get it right.
Mellow album, it almost just turned into background music?
too out there for me (esp the second song)
A couple of cool tracks but most have very cheesy vocals.
I haven't listened to enough trip-hop to have a definitive opinion on it, but what I've heard generally hasn't been my thing. This is supposedly the first album and one of it's exemplars, but it doesn't move the needle for me. The beats are of the chill variety. There is no boom bap here, your speakers will not get rattled so much as gently massaged, and the BPMs stay at a respectable level. Since the rap can't overwhelm said beats, the energy is drained out and they're half-whispered like the rappers are trying not to wake a baby. Singer Shara Nelson sounds nice, but she's only on four of the nine tracks. Favorite songs from here are "Safe From Harm" (although it cries for some real drums and like every other song on here, I can do without the rapping) and "Unfinished Symphony", where Nelson's vocal contributions are strongest. Both songs create a sonic environment that's worth exploring. I can't say the same for the rest of the album.
Wasn't but, just not really my thing.
blue lines la mejor canción
Not for me.
They just sample good songs. Not impressed
Seemingly overrated and not my favorite form of trip hop. I found the vocals irritating but the instrumentals were nice and the bass was exactly as it should be. Maybe it's because this was the first of a new genre and later trip hop bands were able to develop on the foundation created by this album, but I seem to like other trip hop more.
meh
The main theme was repetition, always building on the same melody, switching the lyrics. Favourite track: Lately
Not super into this one. I liked the music/beats a lot better than the vocals.
Not really a fan of the genre, so this didn't do much for me.
I mildly got into Massive Attack earlier this year after a client recommended them to me, so I was pretty stoked to have an excuse to finally check out their debut album! Blue Lines certainly wasn’t terrible and I appreciate that it’s here for its influence on trip hop (a genre I do tend to enjoy), but it honestly doesn’t hold up. Some of the vocal performances are genuinely awful and I spent most of my listen wishing I was listening to Mezzanine instead. I can’t help but wonder what these editors were thinking with some of these picks. Again, I do get the logic in including an album that serves as a genre’s genesis, but why bother doing that when the same artist’s best-selling (and basically faultless) LP is omitted? Highlights: Blue Lines, Five Man Army, Unfinished Sympathy, Lately
Wel oké, heb niet veel met hiphop
It was average sounding the entire way through nothing crazy. 2
Not offensive, but not for me. 2 Stars.
The most overrated album since Houmous & Vhutneys purposefully overrated album ‘Don’t Underestimate My Overration’ - it was a come back from Len Houmous following a spat with his 18th wife. Imagine being skilled enough to create an album solely to be considered overrated on purpose! Unbelievable! 1.9 9/10 Hymn of the Big Wheel
Seemingly overrated and not my favorite form of trip hop. I found the vocals irritating but the instrumentals were nice and the bass was exactly as it should be. Maybe it's because this was the first of a new genre and later trip hop bands were able to develop on the foundation created by this album, but I seem to like other trip hop more.
Another record on this list that I'm sure was groundbreaking in its time, but now, at first listen, is lost in the sea of the genre it created. This is for sure a decent listen, even though I don't naturally gravitate to this type of music. This record for sure shaped movie soundtracks of the 90's and early 2000's. Perfect background music for a day in the office.
Not my thing. Too Bri’ish innit.
I am not the target audience here...
Not really my jam, I can hear how influential it is and I like the cover of "Be Thankful for What You've Got"
C'était original mais pas au top top top
Not my vibe at all. It's not terrible but not my cup of tea. It's isn't horrible to listen to but I personally just wouldn't listen to it.
"Safe From Harm" is pretty haunting. Strange album! Interesting, but strange.
After giving a seemingly appealing album a poor rating yesterday after listening to it, I was in a bad mood when I read the Wikipedia article on Massive Attack and “Blue Lines” (I was on the train and didn't have my headphones with me). Fortunately, the opening track on this album, “Safe From Harm,” surprised me in a positive way. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else worth listening to after that, except for a few nice basslines here and there—but of course, those are always much cooler when they're played by a good, real musician and varied accordingly—and then three more songs with Shara Nelson's voice further back in the album. Of course, guests on an album are there for the highlights, and the host artists naturally try to offer the best tracks for collaborations, but in this case, there are four songs that are quite nice and easy listening (with Shara Nelson), while all the others fall short. Is that necessary?
not a fan per se
Hard to get into. Feels like incomplete production
2 stars I know it isn’t necessarily bad music, but I couldn’t grasp onto any of it. It was background music in the foreground. The loops and breathless flow failed to hook me and I found myself wondering why I’ve heard so much good stuff about Massive Attack. I don’t see myself ever returning to this.
Fine I guess, just rather boring and samey for most of the tracks
Mostly unmemorable and definitely not my genre, though the female singer has a great voice.
not bad
Not as good as I was hoping. I have some Massive Attack tracks in rotation but most these didn't hit.
Starts off alright but becomes too repetitive, pretty dreary too.
Not terrible
At first I was like we have st.peppers lonely hearts club band at home but a few stand outs were ballon burning and o suppose death off the title alone but it wasn’t at ghoulish as you would believe but overall it wasn’t like bad…like a 7.5
no ts not tuff
Really good beats for 1991. The rap wasn’t so great but was really impressed with the background music. Glad I got to get exposed to this British rap
Chilled, trippy.
Very 1991. I appreciate what it did musically, but I'm not going to be returning to this any time soon.
very unremarkable
On paper, you would think I would love Massive Attack. But I haven't ever been able to get into either of their two big albums. Maybe it's a lack of consistent vocals? No, not really. Gorillaz did this and I got into them. What is it, then? I'm not sure but it just doesn't stick. A shame.
It's unlistenable.
mid
feels loik oi ‘ave it, bout to get in barney wif mi bruvs in a pub then fack off in the lorry innit true (derogatory). British fucking electronic music, miss my ass. Where's Moby when you need his ass?
Much too British for me
Litt slitsomt. Orket ikke høre hele.
have gone downhill over time
I like the non remixes better
Didn't rustle my jimmies enough. Kinda wish this was sneaker pimps if we're gonna rep triphop
Did there need to be two Massive Attack albums on this list?
Unfortunately I think I may just not like trip-hop, though that doesn’t hide the unique style of the band here. “Unfinished Sympathy” is absolutely great, and there’s some cool vibes, but overall it’s just a bit mushy and meh for me. Maybe one day I’ll find a trip-hop band I enjoy.
Ok
Better than expected
I can see the significance of this being potentially the first "trip hop" album, it must have had a huge impact on the first groups of people discovering it. Personally I don't like this album as much as Massive Attack's "Mezzenine" which came several years later, or even the Tricky album Mazinquaye both of which sounded more more mature and much more soluble in their use of new and modern effects for that era (loops samples and drum machines.) Listening to Blue Lines now you can really hear the age of the album, it sounds like it was trying very hard to be cutting edge and new, almost like it was trying to prove some relevance during that era but I feel like it didn't age particularly well.
Fine beats, bad lyrics. 2.5
A bit boring
I wish I had more to say. It's fine, but it's not as good as Mezzanine, and even Mezzanine is like... okay. I think I just have to recognize that this isn't my genre.
Trip-hop has all the elements I should like but I can never get all the way into it. Portishead is cool, but this sounds like the music playing in every bad club scene ever from any movie in the mid 90s featuring a club scene. Hell, I’m pretty sure there’s a scene in Batman Forever where Massive Attack is playing… while they’re in a club.
There’s some good moments but this suffers from the early electronic repetitiveness. I think a better example from this year would be Dreamland from Black Box
Other than having a few good beats, this album does nothing for me. There are maybe 2-3 songs with vocals I could stomach & the rest irritated me to no end. Trip hop just doesn't really do it for me I suppose because this album was hard for me to get through.
This is album that really showed something new come the 1990s. Especially since right after 1990, things really came to change and this was no different to music. It is a new sound, however, it is just incredibly bland and dull. It also feels really long and dragged out. Electronic music to me is not the best music out there and again while an album like this was probably revolutionary in the early 90s especially coming out of the 80s, in 2025, I think it doesn't really break any barriers. I do like the album cover though, I think it's iconic. Favorite Tracks: Safe From Harm, Unfinished Sympathy Rating: 2.5/5
Massive attack of diarrhea more like
Qualité trop inégale
All the elements are there but not quite formed into a cohesive consistent whole. A good start but not near as great as Mezzanine.
I liked it, but not my favorite.
A little too sexy for my tastes
I understand this to be seminal and really liked parts of it, but being the progenitor of reggaeton doesn’t endear it to me at all and it wore out for me early on.
Blue Lines is often hailed as a pioneering trip-hop record, but this debut can feel uneven. While tracks like “Unfinished Sympathy” showcase real innovation and atmosphere, much of the album drifts without the same impact, leaving stretches that feel dated rather than timeless. Ambitious but inconsistent, it doesn’t fully live up to its reputation.
Perhaps it was just the big lunch my fat ass ate, but this made me very, very, sleepy. 2.5⭐️
nope 2/5
I did not enjoy. Was expecting something better due to their song teardrops. Very uninspiring
Me lo acordaba mejor. Big wheel temazo igual
Didn't really do anything for me
Kinda feel bad for giving it a 2. It was a good chill, background music kinda album. It just wasn't my cup of tea.
Tem uma música legal, mas achei bem chatinho no geral.
The voices startle me when listening to this with headphones. Sounds like a sleep paralysis demon whispering in your ear
Eh
A couple of tracks had my head bobbing. But this felt old and unnecessary.
I had no idea what genre this band was in until we got Protection a couple of weeks ago. I didn't like it at all. This one is only marginally better. But, as I do with bands I'm not familiar with or are questioning why they're here, I did some research on them and found that I do like some of their later stuff...the collabs with Sinead, Liz Fraser, Damon Albarn, etc. Hopefully we'll get to those albums because they're miles better.
hadn't really heard of these guys, cool stuff
I can't put my finger on what exactly it it is, but I hate this album. There is a specific pretentious cool I remember from the 90s and this just feels like the anthem for it.
Not for me. I’d heard of the song Unfinished Sympathy before, but I didn’t like it. It’s just not my genre of music.
It's fine. Trip-hop beats and soul singin
Honestly, the album was quite dull and lifeless.
Not really my thing here wirh this one
really not for me. a lot of the beats felt stale and disjointed to me. the songs were fine at best. just really not my thing.
It was fine. Very 90s.
Not my style, was decent in the background but nothing sticks out
Pretty mediocre album for me, not my type of music again.
Brad, just because you played this CD when you hooked up with Stacy in your mom’s Astro Van doesn't mean it’s the best album of all time. It’s not even that good. You’re just being nostalgic.
It do be kinda shit tho ngl ngl.
Not a big fan. Big 90s feel and feels very dated. None really stood out.
2.0
Okay
I have a few tracks from Massive Attack off most of their albums. This one only had one I regularly keep on rotation (Safe From Harm). The rest are pretty good, though I still do hold to my opinion that collectively Massive Attack's music would be better overall as instrumentals. Their singing/rapping/spoken word isn't bad, but I don't think I've heard a track by them that made me think "Ooo this singing really elevated this song". It's usually that the song is good in *spite* of the singing
Is trip hop the adult contemporary wing of electronica? I like it in theory, or in small doses, but every time I try to listen to a full Massive Attack album I get bored. Overall I think I prefer Portishead, but they can be very gloomy. There are trip hop songs I really like. Teardrop is a classic, and there are great tracks on Portishead’s Dummy and Third. One of Radiohead’s great b-sides, Talk Show Host, is very trip hop flavoured. Ultimately I think I prefer this sound as a seasoning rather than a main dish. I know this album basically created this sub-genre so this must have been exciting to listen to in 1991. The instrumentation, sampling, and genre blending sound ahead of its time, but the vocals are a bit cheesy. I think the cheese factor is also coming from the fact that this sound quickly became cliche for music played at pretentious lounge bars with staff that take themselves too seriously. I don’t know if I’ve even been to a place like that, it’s just something that got filtered into TV and movies. Unfinished Sympathy is the most famous and best song on the album.
This album sucks. And now I'm starting to think trip hop is just not for me. I don't like portishead. And now i don't like massive attack. And those are 2 of the 4 seminal trip hop artists according to Wikipedia. At least Portishead is putting effort into their music... this album felt pretty dull, soulless, lazy even. The quality of the track is entirely dependent on the quality of the vocalist. The instrumentals are just vibey nothingness. Repetative beats that don't really go anywhere. Give me 10 minutes and a midi keyboard and i could make a "trip hop" beat as good as something on this album. With such boring instrumentals, it's entirely left up to the vocalist to make something out of nothing. And there are 3 categories of vocalists on this album: 1) boring rap with zero personality (bad UK rap) (the daydreaming song with the interpolations of other famous better songs, boooo this track) 2) Cheesy singers who bring a cringey vibe to the tracks that make the songs feel dated or 3) Great soul/funk singers who turn these mid instrumentals into truly great songs. Now you might be wondering, how many tracks fit into each bucket. Well there are only 2 tracks in bucket number 3 (Be Thankful For What You've Got AND Unfinished Sympathy), the rest split pretty evenly between cheesy and boring. It's not a good album. Be thankful is super cool though. Feels like a 90s, hip hop Marvin Gaye song, which is a great combination of things. The vocal performance on Unfinished Sympathy is beautiful, just a great soul performance. And the instrumental does add some nice melodic elements that complement her. Again this nice mashup of 60s/70s soul and 90s beats works well. Without these 2 tracks, i would have given this album a 1. But these 2 songs carry the album and make it a 2. The rest either put me to sleep or made my skin crawl (and not in a good way).
1. Unfinished Sympathy 2. Safe From Harm 3. Lately
This album pioneered the genre of trip-hop! I don't like trip-hop.
It just barely misses the mark. It is almost good but it isn't Best Song: Five Man Army Rating: 4.5/10 Stars: 2/5
Not really my thing.
Damn close to a 1. I couldn’t really get through, skimmed the second half, and I think that should be a consideration. If I can’t listen to it then how could it be worse? I liked the vocals on “Lately”.
I listened to three songs. I just don’t understand the appeal of subdued rap.
Not horrible, but definitely needs context for its significance. I didnt know that massive attack essentially branched hip hop into soul/funk genres. Its super clear after seeing the release date (91’) that this was very ahead of its time. I find trip hop mixes everywhere on youtube that resemble this without as much character (especially vocally) Unfinished Sympathy and Lately were my favorites tracks. Somewhere around the 2.5 stars mark
I'll give it points for uniqueness, but I just didn't really vibe with most of it. I really enjoyed Unfinished Sympathy.
I was open to this record, but I really struggled to get into it. Other than unfinished sympathy everything seemed a bit meh.
Wish it was Mezzanine
I liked the beats and the instrumentation, but the soft jazz sounding vocals (it was a popular sound at the time) took me out.
I simply do not like this music.
Outstanding production, mediocre vocals.
generally I did not enjoy listening to this album. I enjoyed the songs with shara nelson more than the other guys, and i liked unfinished sympathy and hymn of the big wheel better than the other songs. i haven’t listened to a ton of slower hip hop, so maybe i’m just not used to the conventions of this sort of music. horace andy’s voice worked well in the last song, but i found it didn’t mesh with the instrumentation in one love.
This was better than my last few albums , but that is a low, low bar. I am not a fan of this music although reading the description I would have thought I’d like it better. I wouldn’t ever go back to it but given how low it can go I’ll give it a 2.
2 out of 5. Trip hop isn't my thing but the last song was my favorite from this album.
It is obviously brilliant and was groundbreaking but it never has done much for me. I always had several other albums in the same vibe that i preferred. Would much rather listen to Sneaker Pimps and Morcheeba than Massive attack.
Bland. The middle of the middle of the road. 2/5
I'm sure there are people that love this album but I am not of them. Not a record I could get into. I did try though
Not bad
Sounds rather dated, and a lot of the vocal performances aren't really to my taste. But a few interesting ideas here that paved the way for their later work.
Sounds really dated and largely uninteresting to me.
träge und hat mir nicht wirklich gefallen. Ein Album was nen Flow hat wie Melasse, seeeeeeeeehr slow
Harsh on the ear
It was OK. I think trip hop was pretty groundbreaking when this came out, but I found it a little boring nowadays. I didn’t know tricky was in massive attack of learning that was cool.
The structure is interesting. 9 songs, but all 5 minutes or so. This isn't my genre but I get why people like it. The be thankful for what you got cover is very fun though maybe says something that it's my fave so far with a guest singer and covering a different genre. It's hypnotic, genre defining, but not my thing.
I mean, Unfinished Symmpathy is an absolute banger, the rest are pretty mediocre.
Uninteresting. (admittedly, I listened to this while operating a paper shredder.)
I'm struggling to listen until the end, Trip hop has never been my shit
Interesting but not a lot of crescendo moments, maybe not the point of the album or genre but still. Looking for some jolts of interest
Man, really boring
Les voix sont chiantes et redondantes, l'instru ne sauve pas les morceaux pour moi
Not for me.
I closed this review without saving or rating and I can't get through this album again. Suffice it to say, it was not the worst album I have ever heard and that's about the highest praise I can give it. I have yet to hear a British rapper that made me think that artform should have ever crossed the Atlantic.
Meh
Lot of duds some good. Gorilla vibes a lot. Was hoping to like this way more than I did 2
Can appreciate why others might like it, and I recognise the influence it’s had on music that’s come since, but it wasn’t a particularly enjoyable listen as an album and had me wanting to skip tracks a few times.
The Good: It’s not a small thing… The Bad: That it’s attacking us… The Ugly: Where the blue lines are taking us! Trip-Hop… so it seems… I used to call this ambient, or lounge. Guess we can call it whatever we want! 1 MASSIVE hit, the rest just trip-hop, I guess… I could listen to the massive hit multiple times, but I couldn’t be bothered with the rest. 2* because of the Unfinished Symphony… maybe 3* if they would’ve finished it?
ned so gfühl. has au ned cheggt was das album wot sie. sochli hiphopig zum teil? denn eis lied eif es cover gsi. im bisschen confusion
2.5
Listened to it, and felt that the electronic trip-hop album sounded just a bit murky. It wasn't pronounced, and it felt like it went everywhere, not my jam.
Listening to this album, it’s more obvious why the genre was called “trip hop” than when listening to later entries that are a bit more downtempo, more atmospheric, moodier. By comparison this is very jaunty, makes extensive use of sampling, and has much more rap/hip hop vocal stylings. But I just… don’t like it as much. Their slight reworking of “Be Thankful for What You Got” was enjoyable, but didn’t feel like enough of a departure from the original to really make sense on this album to me. “Unfinished Symphony” was probably my favorite track overall. I appreciate that this was a very influential early trip-hop album, but I really prefer the stuff that came later. I will not listen to this again.
I think this is generally alright. I'm not huge on it but I think this coming out in 1991 was pretty revolutionary and inspired a lot of future work for this kind of hip/hop pop type album.
Nie siadło mi. Nuda po chuju
It was ok
Not a fan of trip-hop. Very of its era, and now sounds really dated to me. One Love had interesting Chinese (?) zither on it, and an exciting synth-tuba in the background, but it wasn't developed at all, it's a great sound and it's like they didn't have any idea what to do with it. It sounds like Anna Meredith heard that and then built the whole of Nautilus on top of it. After those few interesting moments, it's straight back to boring percussion loops with synth jazz keyboards and hushed-voice tapping. Five Man Army has a cool, insistent, steady rap from the first rapper, then Tricky comes in, sounding like an American doing an impression of a Cockney rapping, somehow his voice sounds like he's doing a fake accent. Another track with an interesting sound which never makes it out of the background, a sonorous, reverberating twang which realises it's not welcome on this toneless album and quickly excuses itself.
Best song: Safe From Harm Worst Song: Blue Lines
Tedious
Massive Attack is great, but this album just isn't.
2/5
It's okay, only. Great beats and good lyrics but nothing stood out as a hit.
Could be worse. About as good as the House theme just really not my cup of tea
*shrug*
It was okay. There were some good moments, but it didn’t really capture me. 2.5/5 Might listen again
nahhhh
2 sterren, niet mijn ding
Didn't understand this one. By far the strangest album in terms of cohesion. Wiki states a music critic stating this album was the start of a more mediational calm sound in the electronic genre, and that may have been profound at the time, but having not lived during that or felt a direct impact to my music listening life, I can't seem to be appreciative of it.
Really cool music, but I just can't with the high school level lyrics.
Dit was m niet
Love massive attack but not this album.
i like triphop and electronica but they can do much better than that, see mezzanine, sorry x
Not impressed and dont think I'd go and listen to any of this album again
This album seems like a parody. I don’t know if that’s because other songs I’ve heard before have parodied it or something but it’s very strange. I think it might be because a lot of the lyrics are really cheesy. I didn’t hate it but there was stuff that made me laugh. And I don’t think that’s the point. I did like the last song quite a bit though.
As an album it feels pretty repetitive and monochromatic. Individual songs and parts are cool but idk if yall know this band also did the theme song for House. So as an album, meh. As a collection of songs to show that you’ve got theme song material and you should be in the running for a show that has yet to be written, but will be dramatic and thought provoking, it’s pretty solid.
2 stars. I thought most of it was pretty unpleasant. The rap wasn’t good and the singing was fine. The reason it’s not 1 star is because there were brief moments when it was just the orchestra and I thought it sounded great. The album as a whole kinda has mall ninja vibes. This is like Walmart brand Linkin Park.
Ehh... it was whatever. "Daydreaming" has some of those most English phrases I've heard in awhile. Other that that, it was pretty forgettable.
de ersti track hani cool gfunde one love findi etz recht monoton und chli nervig. blue lines het micj etz au nöd bewegt, be thankful for what you've got etz au nöd. bass isch no cool i guess. aber meh. sehr soul mässig, aber naja. ich fangs langsam ah checke glaub. es ischmer chli sehr reggae zum teil. gad etz five man army. aaah unfinished sympathy kenni de isch recht cool vorallem d perkussion. und d heheeeys. uuuh da isch es mahavishnu orchestra sample?? hard. ok de groove isch cool aber wennis nöd wür kenne fändis etz nöd viel spezieller als die andere songs. chum voll nöd dri i das album. lately hani etz au recht en pain gfunde zum lose. he bi recht am struggle zum nöd es 1 geh. find s cover super und mengmol de bass und glaub sochli die meditativ art vode songs checki no? aber sust ischs dünn würkli.
Sure!
Not a big fan of Massive Attack
It is a different experience looking back on history vs. living it.
Funky and part of me liked it but it just wasn’t resonating with me. Could be my mood.
On ronfle.
Estou diante de um álbum que vejo grande potencial dentro de um gênero e, segundo minhas pesquisas, um marco na música eletrônica. Ser incluído na lista dos 1001 tem algum motivo, porém não foi comigo que “o santo bateu”. Neste review vou me limitar em falar das poucas coisas que gostei e das que não gostei, até porque muitas das minhas notas durante a audição foram bem repetitivas, e alguns detalhes particulares de músicas. Sobre o que gostei: · Cada música é uma pessoa diferente que canta e isso traz uma dinâmica bem curiosa. Shara Nelson foi a que mais me chamou atenção. · Cada música lida com um gênero musical secundário diferente, como reggae, pop, e alguns outros. · O uso do som de Rhodes em várias músicas trouxe um charme único e groovado. · Há vários momentos que um arranjo de cordas aparece e traz um charme bem específico, principalmente na música “Unfinished Sympathy”. · As várias referências sobre outras músicas em “Daydreaming”. · Letras, em sua maioria, com um tom bem positivo sobre a vida. Sobre o que não gostei: · Todas as músicas possuem um drum loop com pouca ou nenhuma alteração. · Pouca variação de acordes. Geralmente havia um sintetizador que segurava uma nota e ela ia até o final da música. · A forma quase hipnótica e monótona de se cantar em várias das músicas, salvo os rap que, em vários momentos, também me pareceu monótono e sem muitas variações. · Músicas que geram tensão pela nota contínua, me fazendo querer respirar quando, por uma pequena fração de tempo, sumiam. · Finais prolongados que poderiam ter acabado alguns segundos mais cedo. Entendo que aparentemente trouxe mais pontos positivos do que negativos, mas eles foram tão persistentes em todas as músicas que até parei de anotar e só fui na esperança do disco terminar logo. Eu só não dou uma nota 1 porque houveram duas músicas que realmente me chamaram atenção, que foi “Unfinished Sympathy” (embora ela poderia ter terminado mais cedo) e “Hymn of the Big Wheel”.
2 stars. Some really good ideas, some good flows and some great vocal performances, but nothing really landed for me. In this case, I think it's just a matter of me being unfamiliar with the genre and the overall language. Maybe I should revisit this album sometime in the future. Safe From Harm - I like the bassline and the disc scratches. The singer's voice is also really cool. The structure is cool, albeit a tad too repetitive for my taste. One Love - I can only imagine this playing during the closing time of the saddest fucking club somewhere in rural England. Blue Lines - It started really good, but the vocals threw me out of it a little bit. The song (as it seems like most of these are) are very repetitive. Be Thankful For What You've Got - The Lyrics are quite shallow which makes the song draaaag Five Man Army - Pretty good flow! First song I genuinely enjoyed in the album. The Outro could be significantly shorter though. Unfinished Sympathy - Trip Hop really isn't for me. The vocals are sending me towards a dancing vibe and the harmony is super ambient. It just makes me confused. Daydreaming - Good case where the vocal contents and the beat are on par (until Shara, which has a great voice BTW) comes on. Quite honestly, at this point I start thinking I'm the problem. The Beatles reference was dope. Lately - Same issue as with the previous tracks. I'm not particularly fond of this track's bass. Hymn Of The Big Wheel - Intro's Drum machine is really good. Really enjoyed the strings as well, but the vocals are nothing particularly interesting.
Oh yay. More British electronica. Better yet...trip-hop. Those are words I've come to detest while listening to this list. This is the beginning of trip-hop and so far it isn't a dull as most of that genre. Still dull. I believe this was big in the clubs. WHAT DRUGS WERE THEY ON? Surely you only dance to this after 25 pints of lager. Yes, I understand you are comatose after 25 pints... that's the point.
Boring and not great in terms of singing talent and lyrics
You know when you watch a sketch on SNL or in an American comedy when they do a British accent and it's awful? Usually someone like Jimmy Fallon is doing it. Obviously I always thought it was miles off but there are a couple of guys on this album rapping in that exact voice. It's like nails on a chalkboard. The album is basically made up of songs that either have that great female vocalist (everyone should recognise Unfinished Sympathy, it's a classic) or are ruined by the MCs. Some of the songs sound like Deftones, which I'm really into, but then MC Dick Van Dyke pops up...