Massive Attack – Blue Lines

Once upon a time, Blue Lines was praised for launching the " trip-hop " style. I think it's more meaningful to think of it as a slightly modernized soul album. It has one straightforward, faithful cover of a soul classic ("Be Thankful For What You've Got"). Other songs incorporate hip-hop and electronica, but retain the same basic tone: romantic, sensual, overtly emotional. Only "Five Man Army" exhibits the slow, dank clatter of "trip-hop" (see also "Inertia Creeps" on Mezzanine ), but it's really yet another classicist song, drawing heavily from dub reggae. If you're looking for startling, original musical ideas, they are not here -- you might try Tricky's Maxinquaye instead.

Perhaps the one innovation that should be credited to this album is the concept of a band as a rotating, anonymized collective. That's much more common these days, thanks to Gorillaz , which is why Heligoland made less of a splash than I think it should have. But the first side of Blue Lines still seems diverse and creative, with a new lead vocalist on each of the first five songs. "Safe From Harm" gains such epochal, menacing drive from its monstrous bassline (probably the best in all of electronica, and imitated for years afterward by such artists as Primal Scream and Bjork ), and the histrionic dramatism of Shara Nelson's vocal, that it's somehow possible to ignore the very awkward lyrics ("you can free the world, you can free my mind" does not connote peril).

But then, Blue Lines has to be more than the sum of its parts, since none of the individual parts explains what makes the album special. The music sounds simple -- a few synth-chords here, an echo there, or a piano loop thrown in. The second side repeats the blueprint of the first, almost sounding like take two of the same thing, "Unfinished Sympathy" as a reprise/counterpart to "Safe From Harm," "Daydreaming" repeating the rap dialogue of "Blue Lines." This became a standard technique for Massive Attack: both Protection and Mezzanine have the same structure, with all the surprise and stylistic novelty presented immediately in the first few songs. Lastly, among the vocalists, Robert Del Naja is a noticeably better rapper than the other two guys. Tricky's heavily accented delivery is a little sluggish, Del Naja runs circles around him. In Tricky's defense, though, his moody self-absorption is effective here as a dark contrast to the other vocalists.

The secret ingredient is the ethereal, gentle production: the soft synth background in "Safe From Harm" (a powerful contrast to the bassline) and the title track, the slight tonal shift around 1:45 of "Blue Lines," right on Del Naja's cute "on my toes / comatose" rhyme, subtly lifting the song from the murk. The title track is a real gem, even more than "Safe From Harm." The fast rap cadences and the gravelly voices of Tricky and Del Naja suggest some lingering darkness, but their voices are hushed low in the mix, and don't break the fragile mood set by the synths. It's the dreamiest rap song ever written. Elsewhere, Jamaican crooner Horace Andy gets a late-career revival by dres old standards ("One Love" and the quotes from his old songs on "Five Man Army") with newer, darker production. On "One Love," he miraculously rescues another clunky lyric by delivering it with as much straightforward, unironic conviction as possible, so that it sounds like a proud declaration of principle.

All the success of Blue Lines comes from its direct emotional appeal combined with its humble tone. The title track would never have worked as a blustering rap battle with boasting and threats. "Safe From Harm" threatens retaliation, but in context, that sounds more like a desperate bluff. Del Naja asserts his street smarts, but that just involves being "on my toes" rather than expressing aggression. The characters depicted in the songs are very ordinary. This somehow makes all the sentimental, heart-on-sleeve appeals to love and devotion sound stronger. This is a very uplifting album. Without patronizing the listener, it makes being a good person seem desirable and natural.

From a musical standpoint, I prefer Protection, which takes the same basic ideas (multiple contrasting vocalists, romantic atmosphere) and develops them with much better and more modern production. Parts of Blue Lines do sound dated (or maybe they were just never that great to begin with), mostly in the second half. But the first half, up to at least "Five Man Army," remains moving and engaging, like all the best soul albums.