Album of the Month: Blue Lines by Massive Attack
As a genre, despite its name, trip-hop rarely falls very heavily on the "hop" side. Portishead, Bowery Electric, Ulver’s Perdition City, and even later Massive Attack releases fall closer to the atmospheric electronic and nocturnal alternative-rock elements present in the genre. But right at the genre's inception, with this very album, Massive Attack, and at-the-time member Tricky had a vision for an exceptionally calm sect of hip hop defined by reggae and soul and built from the bones of industrial and electronic music.
Blue Lines has an almost unrelenting groove, bass-heavy with rampant syncopation. Its production leads the album to feel as though it were live-recorded, almost intimate in feel. While rap and electronic music typically flaunt how chopped and screwed their samples are, Massive Attack chose instead to hide it. The drums run through complete patterns before repeating, only mild electronic effects are used to modify the soundscape. Basic reverb and fades keep the record grounded, human, and warm. And no real "sequence break" samples are used; sampling mixes seamlessly with live instruments and vocals.
Opener "Safe From Harm" makes this quality immediately evident with a churning bass line and matching drum part laying down the groove for Shara Nelson's soft, soulful vocals. And along with the unapologetic reggae/dub "One Love", the beginning of the album sets itself firmly in this warm dusk-like atmosphere. This production combined with the strong collaborative vibe, and warm, intimate tone led the album to feel like something you're experiencing as a fly-on-the-wall.
One major break from the overall tone of the album is "Unfinished Sympathy", with its much more expansive sound and overt electronic feel. The song stands out immediately from it's dance-y drum part before the strings kick in, loud and swelling. And combined with Nelson's powerful, explosive-yet-restrained vocals the song is the clear stand-out from the record. The other nocturnal feeling songs from the record star verses from Tricky with his dark, liquid flow and soft tone, as seen on "Blue Lines", "Five Man Army", and best of all "Daydreaming".
The album closes out on "Lately's" swaggering, confident bassline and biting vocals, and "Hymn of the Big Wheel". The latter may be the strangest song on the record, with lyrics like a Dr. Seuss book, synth-heavy instrumentation, and a drum part with a massive kick sound and fast, tight hi-hats.
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