@parksungjoon

Thanks so much! I'm obviously not familiar with musical discussion lingo/Sputnikmusic lingo (idk if t/t is used elsewhere, prob is). That being said thanks so much for explaining what it is without being condescending. In retrospect that is a pretty obvious abbreviation for title track 😁

To contribute some form of discussion. Imo protection is criminally underrated. Gonna buck the trend and say I tie this with blue lines. Could be I listened to blue lines too much. Both are fantastic.

Tangentially related but Hymn of the Big Wheel is such a beautiful song, makes me wanna cry. If I was the child wanting type I'd probably bawl my eyes out listening to it.

To clarify, something about that song makes me think of a father encouraging his kid in a shitty world, Horace does say "my son" and maybe I take that too literally

Album Rating: 4.0

no worries mate



yeah mezzanine does get the lions share of the attention



im a big fan of the dub/reggae influence on blue lines though, so this one is still my least fav of the three. doesnt mean its not awesome though

I can see why, I love the occasional dub/reggae songs on albums less devoted to it. For example I think Man Next Door, mezzanine version fucking rocks. Can't believe someone made such a good song about an asshole neighbor. Horace Andy is incredible.

Idk if this is underrated, all three of MA’s first three albums are generally regarded as trip hop classics, the rest is a matter of preference

Album Rating: 4.0

reasonable

Album Rating: 4.5

Might be true yes. And agreed, I love Blue's dubby influences so much. My fave Massive and will forever be.



Also agreed Hank, both are indeed fantastic. Also also welcome to this gorgeous weirdo of a site 💚

Thanks for the welcome!

And I just mean within MA fans, certainly outside of them it gets that exposure but I commonly read fans consider this one of the weaker albums

Album Rating: 4.5

There are a few songs here that I could do without, Weather Storm, Spying Glass, Heat Miser. And that live track but is that a bonus track? That makes this into an uneven album for me, with some great tunes, some of their best ever tunes, and some tunes I always skip. I guess you're right, more people feel this way.

“but I commonly read fans consider this one of the weaker albums”

??


At worst I’ve seen it considered middling by default of preferential treatment to Blue Lines or Mezz (And even still I’d say it’s a stretch to call it a general consensus). Heligoland and 100th Window are pretty much the only MA albums that come up in discussions for “worst MA”, like, ever.

Protection is looked upon just as positively by MA fans as ~general audiences~ (I don’t know who would be listening to Protection these days without being a MA fan to begin with anyways)

Average rating for protection on rym is only .1 lower than blue lines

Also it charted much higher than blue lines in many countries, including uk itself. In two categories

Album Rating: 3.0

This is how it happened.



Blue Lines - Absolutely Revolutionary as a result of Unfinished Sympathy a song which on release was an instant classic. People stood up and took notice



Protection - Released at a time when ‘trip-hop’ was establishing itself and Portishead had the more prominent impact which diluted this album a tad. The t/t was incredible and it had its moments. People enjoyed it. The video for Karmacoma garnered more interest than the album itself.



Mezzanine - Rising Son was released it was great, the album came out to a fair bit of excitement. It offered up something different as a result of it being very menacing. Teardrop came out and it had the ‘Unfinished Sympathy Effect’ people loved it.



Times worn on and the albums still hold up but this is still the weakest of the 3.

Oh come on You were drunk the whole time you don’t even remember

Album Rating: 3.0

It was that ‘impactive’ I remember it all mate

Yeah well anyways this is better then blue lines

Album Rating: 4.0

Blue Lines is blazehaze nostalgia but this is the record ultimately keeping your fridge cool agreed

Album Rating: 4.0

what does that even mean lol

Did he stutter???

Album Rating: 4.0

((((he did not))))

Album Rating: 4.0

idk what a blazehaze is but its def not nostalgia making me prefer blue lines

“Hymn of the big wheel” is the “wheels on the bus” of trip hop