Massive Attack - 1998 - Mezzanine [TQMP]

____________________________________________________________________________ | | | Massive Attack - 1998 - Mezzanine |:: | |:: | Ripped w/EAC v1.0b2 (Secure) :: Encoded w/FLAC v1.2.1 -V -8 |:: |____________________________________________________________________________|:: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: +--------------+ +------+ Pack / Files +--------------------------------------------------------+ | +--------------+ | | No. of Files / Size _____ 23 files / 360.63MB (378,150,751 bytes) | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------+ +------+ Audio Source +--------------------------------------------------------+ | +--------------+ | | Type / Quantity _________ CD (Compact Disc) (* 1) | | Date Released ___________ 27th of April, 1998 | | User Rating _____________ 4.3/5 (940 user ratings) | | Genre(s) ________________ Trip-Hop | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------+ +------+ Review +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | +--------+ | | Many of us go through certain musical phases. A couple years ago, while | | electronica was still in my roots, nu metal was my world. At that point | | I, and so many others, felt that an album like Slipknot or L.D.50 were | | the greatest album of all time. It sounds ridiculous, but it's strange | | to think that I was so sure of it back then. It therefore makes it | | difficult for me to decide whether or not my high opinion of Mezzanine | | is the same as my old love for Follow The Leader and such albums. I | | honestly believe that I will regard Mezzanine as one the greatest albums | | of all time for the rest of my life, without a doubt. The rest of my | | life seems like a far cry from the seemingly short five years that I've | | been listening to Mezzanine, so there's really no way of knowing if it | | will retain its staying power. | | | | I cannot fully explain the phenomenon that is Mezzanine, nor its nearly | | unequaled critical acclaim. What I can explore is how much of an advance | | for Massive Attack is was, and how it affects me. | | | | After a brief hiatus, Massive Attack re-emerged in 1998 minus one | | member. Tricky had left for a solo career, unsurprisingly making music | | similar to early Massive Attack. How much of an impact his departure had | | on the band I'm not sure, but some factors must have caused them to | | change so dramatically. Massive Attack rose above their contemporaries | | such as Portishead, with a new style. They had almost said goodbye to | | the indie, soul, and hip-hop influences that drove their previous | | albums. While Protection showed a little electronic flair, Mezzanine was | | when instumentals fully surfaced as a key element of the band. From | | dark, brooding keyboards in the club-scene commentary Risingson, to | | smooth, lush instrumentals in the 50's slow-jam Exchange, Massive Attack | | helped reinvent an entire genre, although an obscure one. | | | | What is also superior to the previous albums is the vocals. There is a | | smaller input from from the rather annoying reggae singer Horance Andy, | | whose vibrato style almost ruined Blue Lines' One Love. He does appear | | on the opener, Angel, but he sings in a more soft, subtle way. The other | | song of his, Man Next Door, happens to be the only song on Mezzanine I | | find mediocre. It only seems mediocre compared to the greats like | | Teardrop and Group Four. | | | | This brings me to absolute best thing about Mezzanine: Elizabeth Fraser. | | While Shari Nelson and Tracy Thorn are both perfectly decent singers | | (understatement of the year), they always seemed to draw attention away | | from the music for me, except in the case of the 1991 classic Unfinished | | Sympathy. On the other hand, Elizabeth Fraser's voice is just plain | | perfect. It's more than perfect; it's divine. If I believed in God, I | | would imagine it to have a voice like hers. Her singing brings emotion | | to Massive Attack's songs that may have seemed inconceivable before. | | Fraser's ending to Teardrop makes it one of the most moving moments of | | the album. She just adds to much beauty to Mezzanine, and I do not think | | it would it would have made it so far without her. | | | | Now, Robert Del Naja (also known as 3D) can't exactly shatter glass with | | his voice, but he makes an outstanding contribution as a vocalist | | nonetheless. With the newly-introduced dark atmospheres behind him, his | | amelodic murmurs are often chilling. On the title track, Del Naja | | creates an unnerving depth with the repeated lyrics "All these have | | flaws." On the earlier albums, his talk-rapping was as annoying as | | Andy's singing, but with the right background he makes quite a presence, | | especially on Massive's most recent release 100th Window. | | | | With the addition of instumentals and more refined vocals, Mezzanine | | manages to create a broad spectrum of emotions. I equate the contrast of | | tones to the contrast between the two main singers. Fraser is meant to | | represent the gentle, motherly yin, whereas Del Naja plays the male role | | of the strong, unyielding yang. After an album of ups and downs, the two | | sides to the dichotomy meet face to face in the final act, Group Four. | | It begins with a creepy, crawling sound, and then an ever-so-dark | | bassline kicks off the song. The use of instrumentals is excellent here, | | casting a sad yet hopeful tone. Del Naja and Fraser take turns singing | | to each other, in some kind of dance of death. Del Naja's lyrics | | represent introversion and isolation, "A flask I drink of sober tea, | | while relay cameras monitor me, and the buzz surrounds it does, buzz | | surrounds." The buzz of the cameras represents a stark artificiality, | | while Fraser expresses the complete opposite. Her lyrics, "Daydreaming, | | admiring, being, quietly, open the world I hear the time of the starry | | sky turning over at midnight," obviously suggest a more warm, open | | embracing of nature and beauty. After five minutes of competition, Del | | Naja says "Flickering I roam," creating the illusion that the song is | | drawing to a close. The very quiet music is pushed forward by a | | crescendoing drum beat, joined soon after by a guitar. As it continually | | strums, you just know that something wonderful is about to happen, until | | everything finally comes to light with Fraser leading the majestic final | | movement. The music keeps speeding up gradually, until you feel like you | | can't take it anymore. It then reaches its inevitable decline into one | | of the most fulfilling releases I've ever heard. It leaves me with an | | impression that the two sides have found some kind of solace, maybe even | | in death. | | | | Not quite to spoil everything, but to certainly put a damper to an | | otherwise perfect ending, the very last track is an alternative version | | of Exchange, with Horace Andy singing along. I recommend that you leave | | this song off, because Group Four is the true ending to the album. As I | | said, Mezzanine presents a broad range of emotions, most of which were | | brought about by Massive Attack's developments in production. Mezzanine | | is both a classic and a 5/5 album; a classic because of its redefinition | | of trip hop, and a 5/5 for being an almost perfect album in my eyes. | | Mezzanine is hardly perfect, but I would never say that there is even | | one bad song. I refuse to even consider the possibility that Mezzanine | | is a "phase album," like some of my old nu-metal flames. I've never been | | surer about an album that I'll listen to it and love it for the rest of | | my life. It sounds naive, but I guess I just have that much faith in | | Mezzanine. [ocelot-05, sputnikmusic] | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+ +------+ Track List +----------------------------------------------------------+ | +------------+ | | No. | Title | Duration | | ----+--------------------------------------------------------+---------- | | 001 | Angel ................................................ | 00h06m21s | | 002 | Risingson ............................................ | 00h04m59s | | 003 | Teardrop ............................................. | 00h05m31s | | 004 | Inertia Creeps ....................................... | 00h05m57s | | 005 | Exchange ............................................. | 00h04m11s | | 006 | Dissolved Girl ....................................... | 00h06m07s | | 007 | Man Next Door ........................................ | 00h05m56s | | 008 | Black Milk ........................................... | 00h06m22s | | 009 | Mezzanine ............................................ | 00h05m57s | | 010 | Group Four ........................................... | 00h08m12s | | 011 | (Exchange) ........................................... | 00h04m10s | | ----+--------------------------------------------------------+---------- | | | | Total Length ____________ 01h03m43s | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------+ +------+ Audio Rip +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | +-----------+ | | Ripped with _____________ EAC v1.0b2 [http://www.exactaudiocopy.de] | | Encoded with ____________ FLAC v1.2.1 [http://flac.sourceforge.net] | | Encoding Stats __________ 1411kbps / 44.1kHz / CBR / 16-bit / Stereo | | Tag(s) __________________ Vorbis | | Includes Artwork? _______ Yes | | Includes Rip .LOG? ______ Yes | | Includes Rip .CUE? ______ Yes | | Includes Playlist? ______ Yes | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ rainfo v0.2 [2011/06/22 @ 18:29:18]

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tom_appleford (2011-08-27)

massive up!