‘Blue Lines’ by Massive Attack

Like lots of people, I like to think that my music collection is pretty eclectic. Like most people who think this, it’s not really. There’s a reasonable variety, which is more-or-less inevitable when you acquire music in large amounts, but the vast majority of it is made by white men with guitars, and there’s no real getting around that fact. Nestled somewhere in the middle of the shelves is my selection of Massive Attack albums, a token gesture towards the world of rap. It’s an easy way in, of course – trip-hop, the genre pretty much defined by Massive Attack, is music for people who are hip-hop-phobic. There are still real instruments being played, there are still melodies mixed in along the rapping, and some of the songs can even be hummed afterwards.

‘Blue Lines’ was the first Massive Attack album, and it remains, in many ways, their best. The essence of the album is captured perfectly by ‘Safe From Harm’, the opening track – a slow drum beat, a driving bassline, an atmospheric vocal melody, with some brooding rap parts underneath. It skirts along the edge of menacing to just the right degree, as does much of what follows.

My favourite moment of the album is the point at which ‘Blue Lines’ runs into ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’ – the first is a rather dense and heavy part of the album, the second is one of the most upbeat and positive parts, and the move from one into the other is timed perfectly. Soon after, of course, comes ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, the track that will always be identified, more than any other, with the band, despite being fairly a-typical of their work. It’s topped all sorts of critical lists since its release, and rightly so – it still comes across as perfectly formed, even now, the centrepiece of a wonderful album.