Customer Reviews

Collected (Spec)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although Massive Attack only released four albums in fifteen years, their musical ideas were usually ahead of their time, and set the tone for a lot of electronic music in the nineties. For instance, if you like Gorillaz, this compilation is really the blueprint for their fusion of rock, rap, and techno, as well as their use of different collaborators from album to album. Except Massive Attack were less flashy and more downbeat, and they drew just as heavily from soul and reggae as they did from those styles.

"Safe From Harm" embodies everything that they were trying to do. It has a powerful soul vocal at the centre, and contrasts it with repetitive, gravelly-voiced rapping from one of the band members. In the hands of Massive Attack, rap was very rhythmic and often fast, but never aggressive. They used it as just another way to set a mood. In this case, and in most other cases, the mood was one of impending doom. The ominous rapping suggested that danger was just around the corner, and the main vocal attempted to add a sense of lost innocence in the middle of this danger. Oh, and the song also has an incredible techno bassline, which made it popular in the clubs for a time. This combination of sounds may not sound revolutionary now, but this song alone basically created a style known as "trip-hop." It was also ripped off by just about everyone in the next six years. Even Bjork jumped on the bandwagon in her song "Army Of Me."

Massive Attack had a great talent for reinterpreting the past. Early on, they sent a demo tape to Horace Andy, a reggae singer who had already had a long and illustrious career in his native Jamaica by that point. The man offered to collaborate with them, and went on to do so on every one of the band's albums. Usually, he covered such reggae standards as John Holt's "Man Next Door" and his own "Spying Glass," but Massive Attack gave these songs totally new sounds, emphasizing the unease expressed in the lyrics with their moody production. Unfortunately, neither "Man Next Door" nor my own personal favourite "One Love" is included on this CD, but "Angel" is. This is one of the band's best songs. It starts with a slow, creeping bass line and a dreamy vocal introduction from Andy, but then suddenly breaks out into a crescendo of driving, distorted guitars sounding reminiscent of the Cure or the Sisters of Mercy, only heavier, more rhythmic and more powerful.

The band could make uplifting tracks too, once in a while, like "Unfinished Sympathy" from their first album, or "Teardrop" from their third, but they were more at home with dark, slow rhythms and lonely, romantic atmospheres. Even "Teardrop" sounds lost and vulnerable, due to a superb performance by Elizabeth Fraser, who had by then already received a lot of praise from critics for her singing in the indie band Cocteau Twins. The black flowers on the cover of this album are a good indication of the band's aesthetic. The song "Blue Lines" from their first album, in which the band members took turns rapping, with impeccable rhythm, has precisely that kind of yearning, rainy-day mood. Unfortunately it's not included here. However, "Risingson," a bitter variation on the theme of failed love, is probably the best vocal performance by the band's core members, and it is included.

As time went on, Massive Attack gravitated toward the more dissonant, rock-influenced sound of "Angel." Since the theme and feel of their music was basically the same as before, this wasn't really that big of a change, but it did lead to increasing creative differences within the band. By the time their fourth album came out, three of the four founding members had left. As a result, the album seemed like a bit of a retread, and wasn't very well received by critics. This compilation may be an attempt to repair the band's image and put the spotlight on their best work again. As you may have gathered, a lot of good songs are missing, and even the bonus disc in the limited edition doesn't have all of their B-sides. If it were up to me, I would have added a few more album tracks and left off some of the singles. Actually, when I was starting to write this, I wanted to say something like, "Massive Attack were ultimately a singles band," and as I was writing that I realized that it wasn't really true.

But anyway, the album is still very good, and it ends with a sign that the band may not be finished yet. "Live With Me" is the token new song on the compilation, but it's not only a good song, it's their best song ever. Once again, the band calls in a veteran soul singer, Terry Callier this time, to lament about another failed love against a backdrop of strings and slow beats, but never has this combination sounded as good as it does here. Except now everybody is that much older, so instead of professing undying love, the song implores its subject, "Come live with me."

If you're a fan of Massive Attack chances are that you already have all the songs on the 1st disc ,except the one new song Live With Me,but chances are you don't have anything on the 2nd disc.Filled with all their rarely seen music videos on the dvd side and rare music on the cd side this is a collector's dream come true.Featuring different versions of songs,an even creepier version of Black Milk from Mezzanine and hard to find collaborations like Mos Def and Massive Attack from the Blade 2 soundtrack and even a song with Madonna this 2nd disc is more interesing and satisfying than their 100th window release.A must for all fans.

I knew this group was special ever since I heard UNFINISHED SYMPATHY way back in 1991 and unsurprisingly, they've only gotten better with time. Their hypnotic, dub-by grooves, known in the UK as trip-hop, is often accompanied by sweeping, elaborate string arrangements that lodge a big hole in your collective memory. It's no surprise to hear that Massive Attack sound as claustrophobic and menacing as ever before. This has to be of the most satisfying Greatest Hits packages I have ever bought--all their best singles, remastered to bring even more aural pleasure.

Ltd Ed is a little pricey, but worth the buy for three discs' worth of material. MASSIVE ATTACK IS THE COOLEST BAND IN THE WORLD!

After more than 15 years of existence, Massive Attack recently release their "Best Of"-compilation, even though they're not too fond on the idea. Pushed by the record company, this collection might have taken the risk of being quickly slapped together by the band, just to get rid of it. Thankfully, that's not how Massive Attack work. There went a lot of thought in this, just for the sake of the fans. I'm going to take each of the 3 aspects of this collection apart, to get you an idea of why this is worth its money.

First, we get the actual `best of'-disk which isn't enough if you're already a big fan and have all of their 4 official albums. It is however a very good start for people new to this band or casual fans. Even though a `best of'-tracking list can never make every fan happy, I think it's very well chosen from my side of view: 3 song represent "Blue Lines", easily the best ones were chosen. Famous singles such as Safe From Harm and the timeless Unfinished Sympathy go without saying, but compliments on the band for including Five Man Army, an outstanding early masterpiece of smooth rapping. I personally would have put the title track on it too, but it doesn't fit on a best of, it doesn't have enough character. "Protection" is represented by its 3 singles. Protection and Karmacoma can't be missed, but Sly was a bit of a surprise for me. That's the only real flaw on the disk in my opinion, the omission of Eurochild. That said, Nicolette had to be represented too, so there you have Sly. "Mezzanine" got its 4 singles, its so called 1-2-3-4-punch (though not in the same order as on the album). I personally would have left off Inertia Creeps, and put on Black Milk instead. "100th Window" got the more surprising picks. A different, shorter version of Butterfly Caught (logical), Future Proof (one of the most acclaimed songs on the album), but also What Your Soul Sings instead of Special Cases (100th`s lead single), which came as a big surprise for me. A pleasant one, because WYSS is one of my favorite MA-tunes ever, so I think its place on Collected is well deserved. To round things off we get the new single Live With Me (with Terry Callier), which is extremely good, it has become one of my favorites too, unsurprisingly.

Now we get to the extra disk, the CD-side with the unreleased and rare stuff on it. This is the reason why most fans bought Collected in the first place, and I'd say it's pretty good, but it does have flaws. `False Flags' accompanies Live With Me as its B-side, and it's a pretty good song, with a cool Radiohead-sample at the end of the song (from the song "The Bends"). I don't love it, but most people seem to do, so whatever. Bluesy soft raps of 3D with a piano. `Incantations' is an interesting short version of Everywhen, I quite like it. `Silent Spring' is an unfinished song of the Mezzanine-era, with Elizabeth Fraser on vocals, singing in a made up language. It's good, even though you can hear it's an unfinished track. We've already heard `Bullet Boy' last year, as an internet-only download for the BB Soundtrack, but it's nice to have it on CD, and it's a very good song. `Black Melt' is the live-version of Black Milk, but without the beautiful sample in it. It proves even without the sample that the song remains good, too bad there's a hole in the song (only one second).
Joy Luck Club is the highlight of this disk. A peaceful, floating song with singer Debbi on vocals from the new English band `Oom' (check out the song Poison). It has a bit of a Sigur Ros-feel to it. Amazing track, and makes up for the occasional laws on this disk. `Small Time Shoot `Em Up' is an alternative version of Small Time Shot Away, with a lot more synthesizers in it, and an almost unrecognizable Damon Albarn (2D) to back up 3D's vocals. I prefer the original version. `I Against I' from the Blade II soundtrack is a good inclusion on this disk, I always wanted it on CD without having to buy that soundtrack, great track by the way. Same situation with `I Want You' (with Madonna). It was included on a Madonna-album, and I didn't feel like buying that just for that song. Anyway, I think the song is really good, although it needs some spins to be appreciated. The last track `Danny The Dog' is an unnecessary inclusion, since I already have it on the DTD-soundtrack. But I guess for the many people who didn't think that soundtrack was worth it (it hardly is), it is included here. It's a really good instrumental track, one of my favorites on that soundtrack. [Too bad Wire (full version) and Just A Matter Of Time weren't included, those would be real treats to the fans. Reflection would have been nice too, I'd say.] Now, I'm not going to talk about the video's since that would make my review too long (and it's pretty damn long already), so I'll just say they're worth it.

To make the conclusion, this is one hell of a great best of, easily the best one I own. Oh, and the art-work is amazing too, it looks so damn fine, the whole coverage of the CD, very very nice all. Now all we have to do is wait for the new album next year, but this will definitely keep me sweet until then.

One of the most innovative and energetic bands to emerge from the UK music scene in decades, they have finally gotten their best tracks in one delicious place. This album is sublime trip through many modern and historic musical genres, laced with hip-hop, R+B, trance, soul and urban slants. Massive attack's popular gimmick is to have guest vocalists to add a little extra spice to their skillfully arranged and hypnotically beautiful music. For me this works best in their choices of female vocalists, often elevating these tracks to classic and athemic status. Witness the haunting beauty of "Protection", with the deliciously mellow pitched, Tracey Thorn of "Everything but the Girl". The fragile beauty of "Teardrop" sung by the quirkily ehthereal Elizabeth Fraser of "The Cocteau Twins" and the raw power and earthy energy of "Unfinished Sympathy" as belted out by the amazingly melodic, Shara Nelson. The songs speak of the complexities of modern life and have a modern, poetic energy which manages to have global perspective and yet remain essentially British. Every track has such a refreshingly different quality. This album is most definitely a collection of their superior tracks but you would be hard pressed to find a shoddy track in their archive, they just are not capable of poor quality! Listen to any of their previous albums and you will be hooked from the outset, they are quite simply amazing and a must have for any discerning music collection. Buy and try it, you really will not be dissapointed, it isn't possible!

Great compilation of songs from Massive Attack, all of their singles plus new never release songs. The videos are great and their new single 'live with me' is a great song (very sad video though). Includes new version/remix of 'I want you' with madonna. The combo is great you can own ALL of the videos, is a lot of fun to see the videos from blue lines until 100th window from the 90s all the way to the new single, the changes in the way they used to make music videos. There's even the first video with Tricky).

A must have for any massive attach fan, and if you never heard from this band, you get the best of the best with this cds/dvd. Massive Attack is a band that had influenced a lot of artist from Bjork, Tricky, Madonna, Morcheeba, Portishead, UNKLE, etc.

It just doesn't get any better than this! I've been an off and on again fan of Massive attack and I'm glad i waited for a best of compilation and Thankfully it's complete! The packaging is nice and you get all their best songs with added b-sides on the DVD that also includes their music videos!

You can't go wrong with this one.

It's hard to tell who's in and who's out of the Massive Attack line-up these days (since Mushroom departed under a cloud in 1998 and Daddy G took a backseat on fourth album 100th Window, the name has generally become a dark and Gothic vehicle for sole founding member 3D), yet their legacy is assured thanks to their iconic 1991 debut Blue Lines and its staggering follow-up Protection.
A more compact musical overview than the earlier Singles Box: 1990-1998, Collected features 14 of the Bristol acts most popular moments with new tune Live With Me tagged on the end. Fans of the trio's early singles such as Daydreaming and Hymn Of The Big Wheel may be disappointed by their absence on Collected, but later masterworks such as Angel and Future Proof are given the space to breathe on this disc of ominous rhythms.
While 3D's sombre vocals are present on many of the key tracks, it is the appearances of guests that ensured Massive Attack truly soared. Tricky's early success Karmacoma, Liz Fraser's pristine additions to Teardrop and Shara Nelson's powerful rendition on Safe From Harm open Collected in fine form, with Tracey Thorn, Horace Andy and Sinead O'Connor among the additional guests that follow. Although there's a clash of styles as the paranoid vibe of Inertia Creeps bleeds into the mellow and sublime Protection, generally Collected acts as a fine introduction to the influential band that outgrew their berated trip hop label.
Collected is a sound investment by any greatest hits standard, but Massive Attack's back catalogue deserves to be investigated at a deeper level once this record has been devoured and deconstructed.

Unlike the single 'Collected' CD, this item gets you THREE discs (well, the main CD + a DualDisc with a second CD on one side and a DVD on the other side), so I would consider it a good value.

The main CD is a very good mix of their best songs, the second CD has 10 B-sides/new tracks (while not their best, if you are a fan, its great to hear some new work!), and the DVD has 16 music videos.

While this would not be a bad place for a new listener to start, the B-sides might not strike a cord unless you are already a fan and are into their sound - this is a must-have for any fan.

This is the best entrance into Massive Attack's music for the unfamiliar. All of my favorites are here: Angel, Protection, Unfinished Symphony, I Against I... This is the best collected ambient trip hop from the last few years... Perfect background for working, driving... this Thievery Corporation and Mosquito Bar collection are constantly playing for me.