Upon it's release,
Protection solidified Massive Attack's position and status as an innovator in the music scene. Different from most electronic music of their time, Massive Attack managed to be intelligent while being warm and understanding, connecting with their audience on a personal level as well as an intellectual one.
Album Credits
Horace Andy - Vocals
Craig Armstrong - Keyboard/Piano
Grant "Daddy G" Marshall - Vocals
Chester Kamen - Guitar
Nicolette - Vocals
Tracy Thorn - Vocals
Rob Merrill - Drums
Building upon the success of
Blue Lines, Massive Attack went into the studio for
Protection. By bringing new musical ideas to the table, as well as using the achievements of their previous album,
Protection was a step up from
Blue Lines in terms of focus and direction. While not as diverse as
Blue Lines,
Protection fits together far better and has, like every Massive Attack album to date, it's own unique sound which hasn't been duplicated on another album. At the time, most of the electronic music that was popular disconnected it's audience emotionally because it was so agressive. A problem with experimental music is that it often forgets that people are actually going to listen to it. Fortunatly, this was (and is) not the case with Massive Attack. On
Blue Lines, they were able to have personal lyrics, especially in songs such as "One Love" "Be Thankful For What You've Got". These lyrics were something that everyone could relate to and gave much listener respect to Massive Attack. With the beautiful female vocals, the cool male vocals, the pumping bass lines and the groovable drumming, Massive Attack were winners from the start.
With
Protection, Massive Attack moved away slightly from the soul and hip-hop influences that defined their debut. By no means did they remove them, but
Protection has them seen much more as influences than something that is actually heard in their music.
Protection also includes something new, that wasn't seen on
Blue Lines: instrumentals. Excellent instrumentals they are too, not simply filling up space (as a lot of instrumentals do) but making a valuable contribution to the album, as well as competing towards being some of the album's best tracks.
Protection opens with it's title track. Being one of the best tracks on the album, this also hints at the direction that the rest of the album took, as well as the way they built upon the sound of
Blue Lines. Each song on
Protection is memorable as it's own song, no song sounds like another. It is a shame then, that Massive Attack felt the need to fill up space by including an abysmal live cover of the classic Doors track, "Light My Fire". It's puzzling why they did this. Had it not been included, the album would have been closed by the mindblowing "Heat Miser". Had it not been included, the album would still be well over 45 minutes long, a respectable length. Yet it is there and cannot be ignored. "Light My Fire" sticks out like a sore thumb as the only bad track on an otherwise perfect album. Upon it's arrival,
Protection solidified Massive Attack's status as a force to be reckoned with in the electronic music scene. And while it does not get much credit these days, being chronologically placed in between two near perfect albums (
Blue Lines and
Mezzanine), it's importance cannot be underestimated. Even 10 years later, many popular artists (The Streets and Moby being good examples) have stood up and taken notice of
Protection.
Pros
Instrumentals
The vocals on the whole album
Quality songwriting
Cons
"Light My Fire"
Not as diverse as
Blue Lines
Production could be slightly better
Reccomended Tracks
Protection
Three
Heat Miser
FINAL RATING: 4/5
