Customer Reviews

Live With Me

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

 

 

Massive Attack has created yet another unforgettable song,"Live With Me", this time with the truly great Terry Callier. The last survivors of this ulta cool triphop/dark soul outfit have forged yet another incredible collaboration with this gorgeous track. I simply can't get it out of my head! It's reminiscent of "Unfinished Sympathy" with its beautiful swelling strings, but the heart-breaking vocals by Callier evoke such powerful and mature emotions that it sets a new standard of excellence for an already brilliant musical catalogue. The videos for the song are also quite good, especially the one directed by Jonathan Glazer with the drinkingist girl ever. I cannot wait for the new album they are currently working on, I hear Mike Patton will be doing some vocals on the next release!! Clearly these children are continuing to evolve as artists, and I for one am very glad of it.

That is my recommendation if you don't like this track the first time that you hear it. Once I did that I absolutely fell in love with it, and I can say that it's now included amongst my favourite MA songs. I love the way they combine the violins with Terry Collier's gruff but hauntingly sweet vocals. This song is another A+ collaboration from one of the best bands around, hands down.

One reviewer compared "Live With Me" to "Unfinished Sympathy", apparently basing this on the fact that both have strings; this is like saying that anything with strings - every piece of Las Vegas hokum - is as good as "Unfinished Sympathy." Well, not quite. This is a lovely song, and a relief after the unbearable drone of "100th Window", but it's not the best of MA by far. Juxtaposing two cellos with up-tempo funky beats was brilliantly inventive, throwing what sounds like a whole string section into an R&B ballad is about as standard as it gets. Nor is Callier super-expressive, although he is very good, and the lyrics are the pretty basic "can't live without you" type - a far cry from the truly smart and often poetic lyrics on those legenadry first two albums. In short, I'll be listening to this an awful lot on melancholy evenings, and I certainly hope the forthcoming album is this good in its entirety, but I no longer expect albums like Protection from MA, which set all new criteria in music. By the way, what's with the dude who's selling the single for a hundred bucks here on Amazon? Is that a typo? Unless you live in some terribly isolated hole, the single can be had for about eight; or you can download (legitimately) the title track alone for a buck.

Honestly, it was with a great deal of hesitation that I bought this single. Three years ago I rushed out to buy MA's last album - 100th Window - gave it a single listen, and got rid of it immediately. It was a huge huge disappointment, especially coming from a band whose prior works (Blue Lines/Protection/Mezzanine) were so inventive, so superlative, and so groundbreaking.

Nevertheless, when I heard about the new single I figured I'd take a risk and buy it. Honestly, I'm glad I did. This material is great on all counts. The lyrics are as deep and meaningful as they ever were. Live With Me is a ballad made all the more haunting by Terry Callier's vocals, and in False Flags, 3D points out how today's wars and protests are so much like those of the not-so-distant past. Musically, it's a return to the lush strings and languid beats that characterized their earlier, better work. This material is a step in a better direction. Hopefully the tracks on the next album will be as good as this single.

If you have all their albums, skip Collected and just get this single. The additional material on Collected: Special Edition is good (- very good, even), but most of it is outtakes from previous albums, or available elsewhere (soundtracks, etc.), so I can't really think of it as an essential purchase.

As much as I love MA, this was not energetic track I was hoping for, "False Flags " is even worse! The video track is Very good though!