Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Vocals – Horace Andy, Elizabeth Frazer, Sara Jay, Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall
Guitars – Angelo Bruschini
Bass Guitars – John Harris, Bob Locke, Winston Blissett
Drums – Andy Gangadeen
Track Listing
1. Angel
2. Risingson
3. Teardrop
4. Inertia Creeps
5. Exchange
6. Dissolved Girl
7. Man Next Door
8. Black Milk
9. Mezzanine
10. Group Four
11. (Exchange)
Being a rock fan I never quite saw myself going into a record shop and buying a record from a group who practically invented trip-hop, but on the basis of hearing the beautiful voice of Elizabeth Fraser (formerly of the Cocteau Twins) on the outstanding song, Teardrop (which for those of you in the know has been used in an edited version as the theme song of FOX's television series, House), that’s exactly what I did.
The Bristol-based trip-hop group hit the music scene with their first album Blue Lines in 1991, followed up by what seemed a disappointing follow up, Protection. However their third release, Mezzanine, brought their ambitions to a conclusion with a harder and more confrontational sound. Another notable feature about this album is that it was provided on the group’s website for legal download many months before it was released on CD in 1998.
Mezzanine was hailed by many critics as a huge success, with it’s dark oppressive overtones; only given a respite by "Teardrop" and the chilled-out instrumental "Exchange". Being a guitarist I was extremely happy to hear the sound of rock guitars featuring on some of the tracks, which according to a number of sources, was allegedly against the wishes of founding member Andrew Vowles (aka Mushroom).
So what’s the album like? Awesome! The first track on the album is “Risingson” (and no that isn’t a spelling mistake), which was released in 1997 as a taster of what was to come, and is often viewed as being a little psychedelic, but with a commanding bass line and rap signatures fused and overlayed.
Teardrop…it’s phenomenal. For those of you who haven’t heard of Massive Attack, it’s more then likely that you’ll be aware of this huge hit. It’s a simple song, but really does have a huge impact, and is a masterpiece of songwriting. A heartbeat of a rhythm, soothing vocals, and a sombre piano part, all lend themselves to an instantly memorable song that I’d be willing to bet that you’ve heard before and always wondered who it was by.
After being serenaded by a piano in Teardrop, we are offered a distinctly Eastern sounding rap propelled along by electric guitars. The fourth track, “Exchange”, is almost universally seen as being one of the albums weakest tracks and is often criticised for being too retro, and the same problems are aimed at the track “Man Next Door”.
“Dissolved Girl” should be very familiar to fans of the film “The Matrix”, with it’s thundering guitar lines (and to quote Spinal Tap), guitar amps probably turned right up to 11. It’s sound fits right in alongside Rage Against The Machine and Marilyn Manson which goes to show just how driven the track is.
The tracks mentioned above should give you a flavour of just how good an album this is, and I won’t go through each track as there are only so many ways to say “This is brilliant”!
