Killīs 50 greatest albums ever - #50 (with NEW hook-up!)

[Kill]

M a s s i v e        A t t a c k

MEZZANINE
(1998)

"The coolest song Iīve ever heard", was a Rolling Stones journalistīs initial reaction to the albumīs stand-out cut "Teardrop". "A taste of the future of pop music" is the description youīll find on amazon.com, and among trip-hop fans, the album is worshipped as part of the "holy trinity" of the genre. It is safe to say that "Mezzanine" is both a critically acclaimed and widely popular album.

In 1991, before bands like Portishead or Morcheeba even existed, Massive Attack, formed by members of the Wild Bunch Sound System, a crew of MCīs and DJīs organizing parties in their home town Bristol, popped up in the music scene with an album called "Blue Lines". The CD compiling their innovative blend of jazz, funk, soul and dub samples was labelled a masterpiece instantly - the band, at that time, was completly unknown to the vast majority of the British music scene. So was their sound. Yet it didnīt take the music industry long to coin a new term for the music, referring both to its atmospheric and slightly psychedelic sonic landscapes and the roots and technique of its sampling: trip-hop.

While other artists like Portishead or Tricky followed the bandīs footsteps during the next few years, turning trip-hop into a more and more desillusionized and depressive sound, Massive Attack were having a hard time trying to live up to their debutīs success. It was in 1998, the music style already being on the brink of becoming worn out, that they came back with their most gloomy and most hardly acessible record. "Mezzanine" is no more just a potpourri of well-known to exotic samples, but a dark trip through the sonic landscape of Bristol, on which melancholy is the happiest feeling youīll be confronted with.

From the subliminally menacing start of the opener "Angel" to the distorted guitars and the seemingly nervous rapping on "Risingson" to the threatening voice on "Inertia Creeps" and beyond, "Mezzanine" is chock full of moments and strangely evocative sonic details that might give you the chills. Itīs hard to forget the nightmarishly sung "dream on" on "Risingson" or not let the dismal atmosphere on at least half of the album get to you. The title track and the long "Group Four" might be the most impressive examples of why this album might indeed have contributed considerably to providing the foundations for a lot of what was - and still is - to come in electronic pop music; the eight-minute epic coming in right before the close-out is a brillantly weird, psychedelically dark piece of progressive rock bordering techno, but never deteriorating into anything that might become redundant after a few listens - actually, a whole lot of listening is needed to get a good view of the picture drawn by the three-man group and their guest appearances and to feel the albums moody, latently depressive atmosphere.

While the album as a whole may come in as almost violently dark, some tracks come closer to creating the feeling of a melancholic rainy day than of an absolutely hopeless situation. "Black Milk" wonīt get your funky party started, but it is, in comparison, not as viciously insane and loopy as many other tracks on the album. "Teardrop" is the song that remains many peopleīs favorite and one of the most skillful compositions in trip-hop up to this day. It is, in a way, quite simple, but the way Cocteau Twins guest star Elizabeth Fraser lays down her high, yet soothing vocals over the trackīs slowly developping melodic background, intertwining with its lazy drum pattern and occasional low-pitch samples, will impress anybody who would ever listen to trip-hop. The coolest song ever? Maybe. However, this is one of the coolest albums ever made.

[Suffice]

i fuckin LOVE this album. There should'nt be any more Massive Attack though on the list, cuz this is their best album

[Kill]

nice to see somebody knows it

hook-up might follow btw, iīm waiting for an answer to my pm

*hopes for some more reactions*

[Twentytwofifty]

Even if you hook-up one of the best songs as a sample that would be cool.

[big mat]

never heard of that shit, i know this group but never heard their music, what kind of rock music is it??, and u should hook it up

[Don Breezio]

okay i give you props for wanting to do 50 cds and whatever....BUT STOP WITH THE GODDAMN LISTS! EVERYBODY!

[Kill]

Knuckles: Artists sampled are (from what the booklet says): The Cure, Velvet Underground, Isaac Hayes and John Holt. As soon as I can hook up, I will hook up...I just need a program and then youīll get the whole album....(EDIT: sorry, I read the sample shit wrong, however, like I said, youīll get everything when Iīm capable of hooking up)

Yung Locc: ^^ (as for hook-ups). The style is basically referred to as "trip-hop" or sometimes "Bristol sound" (cause it was invented in the english city of Bristol). Thereīs a strong electronic influence, but it has rock and hiphop elements in it. You canīt really imagine how it sounds unless you heard itI guess

lol Luke: I was the second one who wanted to do a list, I suggested it a while ago, before any list except Knucklesī existed. It ainīt my fault that we got a bunch of other ones now, but personally I like them

[ToOoOoN!!!]

classic 

[Don Breezio]

lol Luke: I was the second one who wanted to do a list, I suggested it a while ago, before any list except Knucklesī existed. It ainīt my fault that we got a bunch of other ones now, but personally I like them

nah i know im not blaming you but when you scroll through the new posts and shit like 60% of them are all these damn lists....the shits annoying

[W-Side]

props. Didn't know this lol, I will definatly check it out though

[The Watcher]

okay i give you props for wanting to do 50 cds and whatever....BUT STOP WITH THE GODDAMN LISTS! EVERYBODY!

[Don Jacob]

50 greatest albums of allllllllll time? as in out of every genre?

this shouldn't even crack the top 300 bro

[Ðøšïå]

50 greatest albums of allllllllll time? as in out of every genre?

this shouldn't even crack the top 300 bro

in your opinion

[Don Jacob]

you god damn right

you mean to tell me that this album is better than

1. purple rain- prince
2. the white album -the beatles
3. black sabbath-black sabbath
4. Led Zeppelin -IV
5. St. peppers loney hearts club band-the beatles
6. the wall-pink floyd
7. appetite for destruction- guns n roses
8. thriller-michael jackson
9. Superfly soundtrack-curtis mayfield
10. back in black-ac dcd
11. dark side of the moon- pink floyd
12. ok computer- radio head
13. are you experienced-jimi hendrix
14. nevermind the bullocks- the sex pistols
15. revolver-the beatles
16. exile on main street- the rollingstones
17. some girls- the rollingstones
18. rubber soul- the beatles
19. the joshua tree- u2
20. master of puppets- metallica
21. layla and other love songs-derek and the dominos
22. van halen-van halen
23. led zeppelin 2- led zeppelin
24. paranoid- black sabbath
25. pronounced leh nerd skin nerd- lynyrd skynyrd
26. highway to hell- ac dc
27. who's next- the who
28. electric lady land- jimi hendrix
29. machine head- deep purple
30. wheels of fire-cream
31. murmur- rem
32. the velvet under ground and nico-the velvet underground
33. stevie ray vaughn- texas flood
34. abraxis-santana
35. modern sounds in country and western- ray charles
36. sign o the times-prince
37. led zeppelin III- led zeppelin
38. imagine- john lenon
39. abbey road- the beatles
40. pet sounds- the beach boys
41. london calling- the clash
42. highway 61 revisited-bob dylan
43. whats going on- marvin gaye
44. blonde on blonde-bob dylan
45. born to run- bruce springsteen
46. innervisions- stevie wonder
47. rumours- fleetwood mac
48. let it bleed- the rollingstones
49. the rise and fall of ziggy stardust...- david bowie
50. hotel california- the eagles
51. the doors- the doors
52. bridge over troubled waters-simon and garfunkle
53. songs in the key of life-stevie wonder
54. beggars banquet- the rollingstones
55. led zeppelin-led zeppelin
56. goodbye yellow brick road- elton john
57. bitches brew- miles davis
58. tommy- the who
59. theres a riot going on- sly and the family stone
60. wish you were here-pink floyd
61. dock of the bay- otis redding
62. 1999-prince
63. fresh-sly and the family stone
64. the downward spiral- NIN
65. nevermind- nirvana
66. ramones- ramones
67. ten- pearl jam
68. off the wall-michael jackson
69. dirty mind- prince
70. tattoo you-the rollingstones
71. let it be- the beatles
72. a night at the opera- queen
73. mothership connection- parlaiment
74. master of reality- black sabbath
75. slow hand- eric clapton

?

[UAK]

Enya better have atleast one album on your list