Blue Lines Totally Explained

Everything about Blue Lines totally explained

Blue Lines is the debut album by British electronica group Massive Attack, released on April 9, 1991 (see 1991 in music) by Virgin Records. Generally considered the first trip hop album, though the term wasn't coined until several years later, Blue Lines was a massive success in the United Kingdom, though sales were limited elsewhere. A fusion of electronic music, hip hop and dub music, the album established Massive Attack as one of the innovative British bands of the 1990s and the founder of trip hop's Bristol Sound. The city of Bristol, consisting of a large working class, became the epicenter of the trip hop movement. The album incorporated sounds of hip-hop, 70s soul music and reggae. Simon Reynolds writes that the album also marked a change in electronic/dance music, "a shift toward a more interior, meditational sound. The songs on Blue Lines run at "spliff" tempos - from a mellow, moonwalking 90 beats per minute ...down to a positively torpid 67 bpm." The group drew inspiration from concept-albums in various genres by artists such as Pink Floyd, Public Image Ltd., Herbie Hancock and Isaac Hayes. Blue Lines featured breakbeats, sampling, and rapping on a number of tracks, but the design of the album differed from traditional hip hop. Massive Attack approached the American-born hip hop movement from an underground British perspective. It was customary to have a two turntables and a microphone, but this album incorporated live instruments and vocals over haunting melodies. It featured the captivating vocals of Shara Nelson along with the hypnotic rapping of Tricky Kid, but failed to top the chart in the United States. However, it proved to be extremely popular in the club scene, as well as on college radios, which established that hip hop could inspire an entirely new crowd and sound. The music, aside from the obvious hip-hop foundation, was innovative and creative and wholly new. Massive Attack not only birthed trip-hop…they defined the entire subgenre of music. Few acts that have followed have been able to even come close to matching the perfection of Blue Lines. The one thing that separates this album from many followers is that it’s distinctively urban and hip-hop.
Daddy G says about the making of the album: "We were lazy Bristol twats. It was Neneh Cherry who kicked our arses and got us in the studio. We recorded a lot at her house, in her baby's room. It stank for months and eventually we found a dirty nappy behind a radiator. I was still DJing, but what we were trying to do was create dance music for the head, rather than the feet. I think it's our freshest album, we were at our strongest then."

Critical acclaim

In 1997 Blue Lines was named the 21st greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q Magazine readers placed it at number 58, and in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 9 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
Stuart Bailie of BBC Northern Ireland stated that (External Link

) "It was soul music. But it had bold, symphonic arrangements. It featured samples of the Mahavishnu Orchestra going "hey, hey hey, hey". It had funky breaks and an emotional power that was hard to figure. It sounded anxious and lost. But there was a grandeur in the music also. People who came across the record became obsessed, spinning it endlessly."
The track "Unfinished Sympathy" has frequently been described as one of the best songs of all time, according to polls produced by MTV2, NME, and various other magazines and reviewers. It was nominated for a Brit award as best single in 1991. It also appeared on the soundtrack for the Sharon Stone film, Sliver. A BBC writer stated that: "More than a decade after its release it remains one of the most moving pieces of dance music ever, able to soften hearts and excite minds just as keenly as a ballad by Bacharach or a melody by McCartney." (External Link

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Track listing

"Safe from Harm" (featuring Shara Nelson) (McLaughlin/Cobham/Del Naja/Marshall/Nelson/Vowles) – 5:16

"One Love" (featuring Horace Andy) (Del Naja/Marshall/Vowles/Wolinski) – 4:48

"Blue Lines" (Bennett/Carlton/Del Naja/Geurin/Marshall/Sample/Scott/Thaws/Vowles) – 4:21

"Be Thankful for What You Got" (featuring Tony Bryan) (DeVaughn) – 4:09

"Five Man Army" (featuring Horace Andy) (Del Naja/Marshall/Thaws/Vowles/Williams) – 6:04

"Unfinished Sympathy" (featuring Shara Nelson) (Del Naja/Marshall/Nelson/Sharp/Vowles) – 5:08

"Daydreaming" (featuring Shara Nelson) (Badarou/Del Naja/Marshall/Thaws/Vowles) – 4:14

"Lately" (featuring Shara Nelson) (Brownlee/Del Naja/Marshall/Nelson/Redmond/Simon/Simon/Vowles) – 4:26

"Hymn of the Big Wheel" (featuring Horace Andy) (Cherry/Del Naja/Hinds/Marshall/Vowles) – 6:36

"Any Love" (UK Bonus Track) 4:20

Samples

Personnel

Massive Attack - Vocals, producer

Horace Andy - Vocals

Jeremy Allom - Mixing engineer

Tony Bryan - Vocals

Neneh Cherry - Arranger

Paul Johnson - Bass guitar

Shara Nelson - Vocals

Kevin Petrie - Engineer

Tricky - Vocals

Gavyn Wright - Leader

Robert Del Naja aka "3D" - Vocals

Grant Marshall aka "Daddy G" - Vocals

Andrew Vowles aka "Mushroom" - Keyboards

Mikey General - Vocals (background)

Will Malone - Conductor

Jonny Dollar - Keyboards, producer

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - singles

1991 Safe From Harm Modern Rock Tracks No. 28

1991 Safe From Harm Hot Dance Music/Club Play No. 35

1991 Safe From Harm Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales No. 32Further Information

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