Customer Reviews

Collected/Rarities/Eleven Promos (2 CDs/1 DVD)

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So, has anyone who has actually heard of electronica and/or Massive Attack prepared to review this collection on its actual merits rather than its novelty factor?

I own all the albums the Massive has released, but I didn't get this one because I assumed it was simply a "best of" collection. Is there enough new material on it to warrant my spending the extra dough? If it's mostly remixes/alternate versions, great, but I won't bother if only a couple have been thrown on as an afterthought.

Huh? I'm the first reviewer? I thought this stuff was overwhelmingly popular and that everybody spent half their lives listening to it! Like, this 'consort' has been making hits since the 1980s. You can tell I'm outside my own box here, can't you? The total body of British pop music, including even the Beatles and the Stones, in my CD collection could be engraved on George W's pin head. Honestly, I never heard of "Massive Attack" until Gerard Lesne told me he thought they were worth hearing. Gerard Lesne is one of the world's finest countertenors, specializing in Baroque operas and oratorios with his ensemble Il Seminario Musicale. If Gerard Lesne thinks something has musical value, I want to hear it.

Lesne has made at least two recordings of non-classical music of his own composition. Listening to these CDS of Massive Attack, I can hear that he has been influenced by them. My iPod informs me that this genre of music is called "electronica." That's news to me. The whole shebang seems like a composite of '70s disco with Detroit blues with Goa techno-thump and a refined sort of rap/hip-hop thrown in. Coming at it from my usual listening angle, it sounds a lot like John Adams in his "Hoodoo Zephyr" period, or Philip Glass without mysticism. In short, it's rudimentary minimalism with literary interjections. But Lesne is correct; it has musical values. It's worth hearing.

For one thing, it covers a lot of ground, a lot of different sounds. Some of it is probably long-term risky for your inner ears, but other cuts are remarkably wistful and gentle ... unless you are good at picking out words in a heavy Brit accent. The several women singers who contribute most of the obvious melodic content are very skilled; I can imagine Gerard Lesne admiring their fluid vocalization. The words and melodies are almost always embedded in percussion and electronically generated tones, and if you stop to appreciate their variety, you'll find they are roughly similar to the later works of Gyorgy Ligeti.

Along with two CDs this "Holiday Pack" includes a DVD of video promotionals of the group's biggest hits. Bizarre images, jagged emotions, a certain affiliation to grunge. Definitely not boring, though I'd be hard pressed to sit through them one after another.

Where are we now? I'm not prepared to urge this collection on people who only listen to Josquin, Monteverdi, Mozart, and/or Wagner. On the other hand, if you do listen to "popular" music, you probably think I'm nuts to be quizzical about such major artists. So all I can say is, buy this Holiday Gift Pack and listen! If you don't like it, you can wrap it and put it in your troubled teenager's Christmas stocking.