3.0 good

timbo8 | July 13th 08

When I first heard this a few weeks ago, I was expecting this to be alot better than it turned out to be. While I respect it for its importance in founding trip-hop, numerous songs themselves leave much to be desired. While the generally soothing groove and instrumentation are good, the singing, despite often being upbeat, is what really brought the rating down for me. Many of the songs, namely "Safe From Harm" (the female's voice), "One Love," "Lately," and "Hymn of the Big Wheel" (which is by far the worst song here), are hurt by overdone vocals that sound very corny and dated. In contrast, "Blue Lines" is far and away the best song here, radiating pure cool with almost whispered rhymes for an incredible ambiance. Other than these songs, the trip-hop grooves are good, but not very memorable to me. Overall, this album has much less musical focus than their other major album Mezzanine, although I find that to be overrated as well. Bump

3.0 good

Thomas Bambaataa Ghidrah Towers | February 23rd 08

I was probably expecting too much from this album. Unfinished Sympathy is one of the greatest songs of all time, and the rest of the album doesn't even touch it. While Unfinished Sympathy is an epic, rushing melancholic song, pairing an addictive rhythm with surging string arrangements, the rest of the album keeps a low-key, yet danceable feel. But the group's mix at the time of dub and hip hop just doesn't stand up to their later development of truly hypnotic, arcane music. Maybe I'm just comparing it too much to its lead single, and Massive Attack's later work, but the loose, hazy jams of Blue Lines get monotonous quickly. Bump

4.0 excellent

Nick Butler STAFF | November 14th 07

Even if there is one genuine duffer here ("Hymn of the Big Wheel"), most of this album is not only hugely important to the development of British hip-hop and dance in general, it's also hugely great. Two moments in particular remain near-unsurpassed - "Safe From Harm" is awesome, and "Unfinished Sympathy" is simply one of the 10, maybe 5, best songs of the 1990s. The rest is dubby, narcotic, laid-back, and hugely enjoyable. It's not the best Massive album, as some might have you believe, but it's indispensable to fans of the genre or the band. Bump