Massive Attack E.P.

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Signed Sealed Delivered (2), Singles 90/98

10th February 1992

04:08

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Written by Owen Hand

Produced by Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles and Caroline Lavelle

Cello by Caroline Lavelle

Engineered by Geoff Hunt

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Caroline Lavelle

Home Of The Whale was the product of Massive Attack wanting to do something radically different soon after the release of Blue Lines. The natural response to this thinking was the unortodox move of covering an old Irish folk song. They hooked-up with the soon to be singer of the song, Caroline Lavelle, singer and cellist whom they met in London, UK. It was Caroline Lavelle's idea that they cover this particular song as she had first heard it being sung by Mary Black, an Irish folk artist, when she was working with her during the eighties in Ireland, and had loved it ever since.

Caroline Lavelle, some years later would redo Home Of The Whale with Marius De Vries, a former Massive Attack collaborator himself.

Just to clear the issue up, Caroline Lavelle is of no relation to James Lavelle of U.N.K.L.E, another frequent Massive Attack collaborator.

Home Of The Whale has never once been played live.

Daddy G on Home Of The Whale - "As soon as you think you've got Massive Attack sussed they do something like this - an Irish folk song!" [Melody Maker Magazine – Febuary 1992]

3D on how Home Of the Whale was such a big departure from Massive Attack's sound at the time - "You can get too eccentric for you own good. Personally, I think 'Home Of The Whale' is predictable because it's unpredictable, because it's us going off at a tangent again, you know what I mean? I think you've got to be careful. Find some way of doing your own thing and evolving. It's not that easy for us because we bring so many ideas to every track. Each track is a complete work in itself for us" [Melody Maker Magazine – Febuary 1992]

Caroline on the original version of Home Of The Whale - "I heard it years ago in Ireland and loved it immediately. I could fill a whole album with versions I've made of it. I think when there is a really special song you can frame it in so many different ways" [www.musicaldiscoveries.com - September 2001]

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2. Collaborators
3. Protection

Tags: irish folk • marius de vries • caroline lavelle • massive attack ep • owen hand

'Dance International Video Magazine' VHS

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The precise date of release of the Dance International VHS is unknown. The best approximation is that it was sometime in the second half of 1991.

No definite duration time exists, for Just A Matter Of Time as the only occurence of it on a record, is a VHS. Also it is probable to assume the length of the song was adjusted to fit the length of the video and not the other way around. Besides this, from timing the video, it can be estimated that Just A Matter Of Time's length at least on the video is roughly 06:40.

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There was no definite credit information ever released for Just A Matter Of Time. A good speculative list of credits for this song would read as:

Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Shara Nelson

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonny Dollar

A possibility exists that there are sample (s) used in Just A Matter Of Time as there were with Massive Attack of this time. No one has been able to identify any specfic samples in this song however.

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Shara Nelson

The promo video for this unreleased song Just A Matter Of Time was filmed in and around various locations in Massive Attack's hometown of Bristol, UK. This makes it the only promo video of Massive Attack to actually be filmed in Bristol. Some of the various places which are shown in the video include - Daddy G's house, a barber's and Bristol City's football pitch. The story of the video is a day in the life, so to speak of the members of Massive Attack trying to track down their erstwhile companion Tricky, who does not appear in the video until the very end. The song itself was an output of the Blue Lines recording sessions that ultimately did'nt make the cut in the end and was only included on this Dance International compilation VHS, which is unfortunately laced throughout with all the various sound effects and dialogue contained in the storytelling narrative of the video, which overshadows some of the music at times.

Massive Attack sought to include Just A Matter Of Time on the Special Edition of Collected but encountered problems with procuring the original master tape of the recording which maybe has become lost at this late stage and also with getting the legal rights to include the song either on Collected.

Some of the lyrics in the song spoken by 3D, would end up being re-used once again in a few years time on Eurochild. Examples of these lyrics include "Glow from the tv set was blue, just like neon activated the remote, and then I put the BBC on".

Just A Matter Of Time has never once been played live.

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1. Lately
2. Unfinished Sympathy
3. Daydreaming

Tags: promo video • Dance International Video Magazine • jonny dollar • bristol city • shara nelson

Blue Lines

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Massive Attack E.P. (Paul Oakenfold Mix), Singles 90/98The Fan - OST, Aural Opiates, Ultra Chilled

1st June 1991

06:36

Nellee Hooper Mix - Following on from remixs for the Unfinished Sympathy and Safe From Harm singles, Nellee Hooper would complete his final remix for Massive Attack with this mix, even though he would later go on to be the co-producer of Protection. Included on all singles releases of the Massive Attack E.P.

Nellee Hooper Mix (7" Edit) - An edited version of the Nellee Hooper mix. As the name of the mix implies it is only available on the 7" single release of the Massive Attack E.P.

Hot Knives Mix - This is a extremely rare remix (with a pretty inexplicable name) of Hymn Of The Big Wheel which was remixed by Massive Attack themselves. It appears only during the end credits of the 1996 film "The Fan", and even then it is only played for roughly 1 and 1/2 minutes. The regular album version of Hymn Of The Big Wheel also appears on the soundtrack album for "The Fan" but sadly not the Hot Knives mix.

Edit - This is a truncated version of the regular album version. Included only on a rare CD promo sampler released only in the USA.

Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Neneh Cherry and Horace Andy

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Additonal Arrangement by Neneh Cherry

Recorded at Coach House Studios, Bristol and Hot Nights Studios, London

Mixed at Matrix Studios, London

Mix engineered by Jeremy Allom

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

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Horace Andy

Backing Vocals: Mikey General and Neneh Cherry

Because of the strong ties between Massive Attack and Neneh Cherry what with her husband, Cameron McVey being the executive producer of Blue Lines and 3D and Mushroom already having some experience with working with her on her own songs, it was a natural enough occurence that she should would get involved in some capacity with production of the album (with roughly half of Blue Lines being produced in her own London home). Thusly Hymn Of The Big Wheel came about mostly from a writing partnership setup between herself and 3D. 3D had already helped write a song of her's called Manchild that had appeared on her last album.

The fact that Neneh Cherry also provides backing vocals on Hymn Of The Big Wheel apart from just helping to write it, is a not very publized fact.

Since this song, every Horace Andy song has been a cover version of one kind or another. This fact was finally broken with the release of Everywhen and Name Taken on 100th Window.

Hymn Of The Big Wheel has been played almost perpetually on every tour since 1995 up until the 2008 tour, were it was dropped to make way for the various new songs that would enter the setlist that year. Besides this exception, only on the 2006 for a small handful of dates in Europe did Hymn Of The Big Wheel fail to appear because Horace Andy was unable to make those dates due to an injury just before them. When Hymn Of The Big Wheel is played, it usually occurs roughly halfway through each setlist and of course has Horace Andy doing the vocals as he does not the album. He is joined on stage by Deborah Miller who supplies backup vocals , fulfilling the role Neneh Cherry did on the album version, with the only exception being on the 2004 tour were Deborah Miller was temporarily replaced on that tour by singer Hazel Fernandez. All the live versions omit the final minute or so on the album version tending to end right after the last chorus.

3D on his feelings regarding Hymn Of The Big Wheel and use of the didgeridoo - "The sentiments and the idea of the track are about life in general. I mean a didgeridoo is one of the oldest sounds you could possibly imagine" [Sounds Magazine - April 1991]

3D on the anti-pollution message in Hymn Of The Big Wheel - "Hymn Of The Big Wheel does build a bigger picture than the rest of the tracks on Blue Lines, because the rest are kind of unfocused - they just drift around and round in their own way, which is what we're into, rather than paint an obvious picture or leave a message. We're as worried about things like pollution as everyone else, it's just we don't want to write about it so obviously. We ain't got no solutions to the problems, we're just the same as everyone else living it. We're just pointing things out to ourselves, rather than to everyone else. It's just a story about a man talking to his son, talkking about the future or what's gonna happen, what's it all about? Just questions, y'know. We don't offer alternatives like solar power or anything like that." [NME Magazine - June 1991]

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Tags: neneh cherry • horace andy • blue lines • cameron mcvey • hot knives mix

Blue Lines

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1st June 1991

04:26

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Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Jonathan Sharp, Shara Nelson, G. Redmond, L. Brownlee, J. Simon, F.E. Simon

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Recorded and mixed at Coach House Studios, Bristol

Mix engineered by Bryan Chuck New

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Lately uses a sample from the song Mellow Mellow Right On by Lowrell. It appears primarily on their 1979 single release of the same song Mellow Mellow Right On. It is credited officially by Massive Attack. The majority of Lately is based on this sample.

Apart from this aforementioned sample, Lately also uses a sample from the song Joy by Isaac Hayes. It appears primarily on his 1973 release of the same name, Joy. Massive Attack had already sampled Isaac Hayes before on Blue Lines on the song One Love. They would years later, go on to sampled him again on Exchange.

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Shara Nelson

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Lately was one of the the first four songs produced for Blue Lines, with the other three songs being Be Thankful For What You've Got, Any Love (2) and Safe From Harm. Of these four songs, 3D at the time felt that the best of the material produced to be Safe From Harm, finding that that the other three songs, including Lately were a bit too retro and soft.

Lately has never once been played live, at least not since the 1994 soundsystem tour, but because details of this tour are quite vague and sketchey, it is unknown rather Blue Lines was played or not. Even if Lately had been played during this year, it would have been without Shara Nelson, as she had left Massive Attack in the hiatus between Blue Lines and Protection.

Shara Nelson on the ad-hoc nature at which Lately (and the rest of Blue Lines) was created - "It's all sort of pulled together into a ball when we work together. Tracks like Daydreaming and Lately best exemplifies that approach we take" [Rage Magazine - May 1991]

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Tags: isaac hayes • coach house studio • shara nelson • blue lines • mellow mellow right on

Unfinished Sympathy (Single Release)

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Blue Lines, Singles 90/98, Collected, Daddy G - DJ Kicks (Paul Oakenfold Mix), The Best Dance Album In The World... Ever! Part 4, The Best Of Mastercuts (Paul Oakenfold Mix), Sliver - OST, Music Of The Millennium, The Perfecto Album (Paul Oakenfold Mix), Dance Max 5

11th February 1991

05:13

Paul Oakenfold Mix - Paul Oakenfold, who would later become of the premier trance DJ's in the world gives the remix treatment to Unfinished Sympathy. He would later go to state that Unfinished Sympathy was his favourite song of all time. He would also remix for Massive Attack the upcoming single Safe From Harm and Be Thankful For What You've Got for the Massive Attack E.P. Included on all single releases.

Paul Oakenfold Instrumental Mix - The instrumental version of the Paul Oakenfold Mix is exactly that, an instrumental without any vocals but otherwise the same. Included only on the 12" single release.

Nellee Hooper 12" Mix - Former Wild Bunch member and soon to be co-producer of Protection, Nellee Hooper offers Massive Attack his first dance floor friendly remix. He would later on also remix Safe From Harm and Hymn Of The Big Wheel. Included only on the 12" vinyl single release, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD for the first time.

Nellee Hooper Instrumental Mix - The instrumental version of the Nellee Hooper Mix is exactly that, an instrumental without any vocals but otherwise the same. Included only on the 12" promo vinyl, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD for the first time.

Nellee Hooper 7" Mix - This is a truncated version of the 12" mix. Included only on the 7" vinyl single release.

Instrumental - The instrumental version of the regular version of Unfinished Sympathy is exactly that, an instrumental without any vocals but otherwise the same, except that the last minute of the song is cut off unexpectedly. Included on all single releases.

Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Jonathan Sharp and Shara Nelson

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Recorded at Coach House Studios, Bristol and Abbey Road Studios, London

Mixed at Matrix Studios, London

Mix engineered by Jeremy Allom

String Arranged and Conducted by Will Malone

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

For the Collected version of the song, additional credits are:

Remastered by Mike Marsh at the Exchange and Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering.

Unfinished Sympathy uses a sample from the song "Flowers Of The Sea by Era". It appears primarily on their 1988 release Infinity. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

Apart from this aforementioned sample, Unfinished Sympathy also uses a sample from the song "Planetary Citizen" by Mahavishnu Orchestra. It appears primarily on their 1975 release Inner Worlds. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack. This last fact actually led Massive Attack into trouble with John McLaughlin, the main man behind Mahavishnu Orchestra whose vocals were sampled directly (the "Heh, Heh, Heh" vocal sample heard throughout Unfinished Sympathy)" without his permission. In the end though he dropped the allegation without too much fuss, unlike what would happen with Massive Attack later on in their careers when they would again face legal proceedings again, regarding uncleared sample usage in Black Milk.

Soul diva Tina Turner covered Unfinished Sympathy for inclusion on her album Wildest Dreams which came out in 1996.

Shara Nelson

Unfinished Sympathy began as a fugitive melody floating around in Shara Nelson's sub-conscious during the sessions for Blue Lines. When co-producer Jonny Dollar (Sharp) accidently heard her humming the melody to herself, he urged her to sing it to him and loving the melody so much he hastily arranged a late-night jam in the studio - just a keyboard and drum machine with singer Shara Nelson extemporising her melody she had come up with on the day to music. Other Massive Attack members then began adding their own contributions to the song, with Mushroom's DJ skills perhaps most notably adding that extra something to the song with his scratching and sampling qualties. The billowly string arrangement, which was the final part of the puzzle was the brainchild of Jonny Dollar, who first laid down synthesized strings, then brouht in a 40-piece string section to dupe the part, conducted by string arranger Will Malone in none other than the famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

This is the only Massive Attack single (or any release for that matter, besides a few rare copies of Blue Lines) to actually not bear the name Massive Attack but instead went under the name "Massive". The "Attack" was forcefully dropped by Massive Attack at the beginning of 1991 due to pressure from their record company, who were fearful that they would not get any radio airplay as the term "massive attack" was sensitive at the time due to the Gulf War. This name change lasted for a period of 6 months but after which the Unfinished Sympathy single was never re-pressed meaning that only the Massive is on all copies of it.

The faint voice that is heard near end of the song saying the line "I Dunno Where This One Came From", is likely either spoken by Mushroom or by the executive producer of Blue Lines Cameron McVey.

Massive Attack would not record any more music in Abbey Road Studios in London until almost 15 years later where the strings for Live With Me were recorded.

Unfinished Sympathy has always been a signature tune for Massive Attack, so not hearing it at their live shows would be quite sacrareligious. It is played on nearly every show from every tour like clockwork and is always at the end of each setlist - typically the penultimate song played. Because Shara Nelson has never toured with Massive Attack, Deborah Miller is the stand-in vocalist for all of the Shara Nelson album tracks, including not only Unfinished Sympathy, but Safe From Harm and Daydreaming. The exception to this however was on the 2004 and 2008 tours, when Deborah Miller was unavailable for the entire tour and was replaced by singers Hazel Fernandez and Yolanda Quarty for each respective tour.

The strings heard on the song, for live performances are normally synthesized electronically. Only on the 2003 and 2008 tours, when Massive Attack had a dedicated violinist(s), on all their shows was this not the case. Craig Armstrong would also on a few select dates in 1996, provide a string orchestra conducted by himself to further add to the live performance of the song.

Shara Nelson recounts how she came up with basic melody for Unfinished Sympathy - "We were working on a track called It Will Rain, and bits of this other melody came into my mind. I could'nt shake it, so I took a break from recording, had a cup of tea, and stood in the corner and started singing it to myself to see if I could piece it together" [Spin Magazine - June 1996]

3D on how the strings arrangements for Unfinished Sympathy were written - "It was a exercise in deconstruction, as opposed to an experience in building this beautiful song. It was a song that came with verse-bridge-chorus, these three classic song-writing structures and we ended up taking half that out, leaving the chorus out and leaving a big space behind, and getting Will Malone to score the strings and buildng this giant swell of music, because it suddenly had space to build a string arrangement where you would'nt have that in a song normally. This is what gave the song it's expanse" [Collected EPK - March 2006]

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Tags: shara nelson • jonathan sharp • abbey road studios • blue lines • will malone

Blue Lines

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Collected, Plastik Kolexion Vol. 1

1st June 1991

06:04

N/A

Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Adrian Thaws and Claude Williams

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Recording Engineered by Kevin Petri

Recorded at Eastcote Studios, London

Mixed at Matrix Studios, London

Mix engineered by Jeremy Allom

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Daydreaming uses a sample from the song "I'm Glad You're Mine" by noted American soul and gospel performer Al Green. It appears primarily on his 1972 release I'm Still In Love With You. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

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Adrian Thaws, Claude Williams, Horace Andy, Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall

Five Man Army more than any other Massive Attack recalls the heydays of The Wild Bunch with lyrics referenceing The Wild Bunch's live stint in Japan, turntable's and mixer boards, house parties, not to metion Willy Wee who had been at Daddy G's side throughout much of The Wild Bunch's lifetime. Five Man Army, itself was based around a similar song also called Five Man Army by Dillinger and Trinity, even though this song was not sampled, merely the bassline copied entirely. This was Daddy G's doing most likely as this song, with it's deep dub basslines is mostly indebted to his particular love of dub and reggae.

The vocalist of the first verse of Five Man Army is very commonly confused as being Daddy G. In fact, it is fellow Wild Bunch hanger-on Willy Wee, who has a very comparable deep voice like Daddy G.

The majority of Horace Andy's lyrics which appear towards the end of Five Man Army were lifted from his own back catalogue of reggae anthems, namely "Cuss, Cuss" and "Money Money".

On Collected, the song's duration is only 05:21. This is because at the 03:58 time duration mark into the song, there is a seamless edit which cuts out roughly the next 40 seconds of the song.

Five Man Army was played extensively throughout the 1994 soundsystem tour. On this tour, with Tricky and Willy Wee being available on most dates, they were able to provide their vocals as they are on the album version. For the 1995 tour, with Tricky falling out with Massive Attack, it was Daddy G who had had to provide the vocals for both of Massive Attack's lost touring party member on Five Man Army alongside 3D, Horace Andy and Willy Wee. The song itself was arranged and played in a similar fashion to way it appeared on Blue Lines. Since the 1995 tour however, Five Man Army has failed to make any of the live setlists, probably owing to the fact of Willy Wee's removal from the touring setup at this time.

3D on whay he mentions his Sony Walkman Budokan in the lyrics for Five Man Army - "Every rap track has a reference to Sony, yeah! It's not a plug for them though, it's just that Sony and their Walkman's are such a massive influence and the Sony Budokan is the ultimate portable sound experience, extra bass and a really huge sound. They even give you a cushion to sit on while you listen to it. It's a totally obsessive object and if you have something that you're really into, you constantly think about it, so when I think about words and music I constantly think of my Budokan, it's that simple. I also think about Subbuteo..." [Jocks Magazine - February 1991]

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Tags: blue lines • wild bunch • horace andy • tricky • willy wee

Blue Lines

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Dancin In The Clubs Vol. 1, Zona De Baile Vol. 2

1st June 1991

04:08

Paul Oakenfold Mix - A remix undertaken by the famous house DJ Oakenfold who would also remix all the other Blue Lines singles except Daydreaming. This would be his final remix for Massive Attack.

Funky Mix - This rare remix was commisoned by Virgin Records America to promote Be Thankful For What You've Got to American radio stations for a possible single release (which ultimately never happened). The remix in question was done by a duo called Chris Stokes and Zyrus Melchor. Included only on a very rare CD promo of Be Thankful For What You've Got.

Instrumental Funky Mix - Exactly like the original Funky Mix sans vocals from Tony Bryan. Included only on a very rare CD promo of Be Thankful For What You've Got.

Extended Funky Mix - This extended version of the Funky mix adds just over a minute to the original's running time. Included only on a very rare CD promo of Be Thankful For What You've Got.

7" No-Rap Version - Another remix produced for American radio promotion by Chris Stokes and Zyrus Melchor. Included only on a very rare cassette promo of Be Thankful For What You've Got.

Written by William DeVaughn

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Recorded at Cherry Bear Studios, London

Mixed at Matrix Studios, London

Mix engineered by Jeremy Allom

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

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Several cover versions of Be Thankful For What You've Got exist but all are based on the original William DeVaughn song and not the Massive Attack recording even though the Massive Attack cover is probably the most well known of them.

Tony Bryan

Be Thankful For What You've Got was Daddy G's idea to cover one an old R&B' tune. In fact, most of the covers on Massive Attack's albums are a direct result of Daddy G's involvement. What he decided on was William DeVaughn's Be Thankful For What You've Got, which had been a one hit wonder for DeVaughn back in the seventies. Tony Bryan who had just recently sung on Any Love (2) who be again drafted to fulfill the same role here.

Be Thankful For What You've Got was one of the the first four songs produced for Blue Lines. While not being a major criticism, 3D has expressed that he felt Be Thankful For What You've Got was a bit to soft and retro for his tastes.

This would be the second and last time Tony Bryan would sing on a Massive Attack song. He would later go on to work with Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Be Thankful For What You've Got has never once been played live, at least not since the 1994 soundsystem tour, but because details of this tour are quite vague and sketchey, it is unknown rather Be Thankful For What You've Got was played or not.

3D on how Massive Attack's cover of Be Thankful For What You've Got relates to the period it was made - "It's a sentiment for the Nineties. What's the point in killing people for their Nikes? We're living in a time where nobody can be satisfied with what they've got because of the media. You're bombarded with stuff to desire all the time" [Melody Maker - Febuary 1992]

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Tags: cover song • strip club • blue lines • william devaughn • tony bryan

Blue Lines

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1st June 1991

04:21

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Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Adrian Thaws

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Recording Engineered by Kevin Petri

Recorded at Eastcote Studios, London

Mix engineered by Jeremy Allom

Bass Guitar by Paul Johnson

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

Blue Lines uses a sample from James Brown’s song "Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose" which is taken from his 1986 album In The Jungle Groove. It is not credited officially be Massive Attack. Massive Attack would later on sample James Brown again on the song Protection.

Blue Lines also uses a sample from The Blackbryd's song "Rock Creek Park", which appears primarily on their 1978 double a-side 12" vinyl release Walking In Rhythm / Rock Creek Park. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

Finally, Blue Lines also uses a sample from jazz fuionist Tom Scott's song "Sneakin' In The Back", which appears primarily on his 1973 release Tom Scott & the L.A. Express . It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

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Adrian Thaws, Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall

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The song Blue Lines, started the tradition of naming a Massive Attack album from the name of one of the album's songs. This naming practice would continue up until the release of 100th Window, which had no corresponding song named after it.

The track 'Blue Lines' opens with a spliff being heavily drawn on, persumably by Daddy G.

Blue Lines has never once been played live, at least not since the 1994 soundsystem tour, but because details of this tour are quite vague and sketchey, it is unknown rather Blue Lines was played or not.

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Related Posts

1. Blue Lines
2. Lately
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Tags: blue lines • tricky • james brown • smoking spliff • the blackbryd's

Blue Lines

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

King Size Dub Chapter 5

1st June 1991

04:48

N/A

Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Horace Andy and C.J. Williams

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Recorded at Coach House Studios, Bristol

Mixed at Konk Studios, London

Mix engineered by Bryan Chuck New

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

One Love uses a sample from the song "Catch The Beat" by T-Ski Valley. It appears primarily on his 1980 double A-side 12" vinyl release Catch The Beat / Girls Of The World. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

One Love also uses a sample from the song "You Know, You Know" by Mahavishnu Orchestra. It appears primarily on their 1971 seminal recording The Inner Mounting Flame. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack. This would also be the second time Mahavishnu Orchestra was sampled on Blue Lines, with the first time being on Unfinished Sympathy.

Apart from the two aforementioned samples, One Love also uses a sample from the song "Ike's Mood" by Isaac Hayes. It appears primarily on their 1970 release To Be Continued. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack. This sample is of the twinkling piano that accompany's the ending of the song. Later on, this same piano sample from Ike's Mood was also used coincendentally, or not in the Suck Me Up Dub of Heat Miser which was done by the Mad Professor.

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Horace Andy

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One Love was the first song which Massive Attack would collaborate with Horace Andy with for Blue Lines. Horace Andy would then of course, go on to be an integral part of the band in the following years.

One Love was played on all live shows between the 1995 -1999 touring period. It's live arrangement and performance was similar to it's recording on Blue Lines, with Horace Andy providing vocals and Mushroom on the decks. Since the 1999 tour, however it has failed to make the live setlist, making it's last ever live appearance at the Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland on the 28th November 1999.

3D on continually working with Horace Andy since One Love - ""We've got a lot of admiration for him so we just wanted to work with him consistently, so we asked him back" [Dance Music Authority Magazine - September 1998]

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Tags: isaac hayes • blue lines • london mix • jonathan sharp • horace andy

Safe From Harm (Single Release)

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Blue Lines, Singles 90/98, Collected, House Party, The Best...Album In The World...Ever!, The Insider - OST (Perfecto Mix),

28th May 1991

05:18

Perfecto Mix - Following on from remixing Unfinished Sympathy the soon to be world famous DJ, Paul Oakenfold would offer another remix for Massive Attack under the Perfecto nametag. On this particular remix he would also be assisted in remixing by Steve Osbourne. Included on all single releases.

12" Version - Former Wild Bunch member and soon to be co-producer of Protection, Nellee Hooper drops his second Massive Attack remix following on from remixing Unfinished Sympathy. Included only on the 12" vinyl single and promo releases, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD for the first time.

7" Version - This is a truncated version of the 12" Version. Included on all single releases.

7" Instrumental - This remix removes Shara Nelson's vocals from the mix. Included only on the 7" vinyl single release, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD for the first time.

Just A Dub - This is another remix done by Nellee Hooper which was based off his previous 12" mix. Included only on the 12" vinyl single and promo releases, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD for the first time.

Just A Groove Dub - This is a very similar sounding mix to the the Just A Dub and was again remixed by Nellee Hooper. Included only on the 12" vinyl single and promo releases, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD for the first time.

Written by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja, Billy Cobham and Shara Nelson

Produced by Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles, Robert Del Naja and Jonathan Sharp

Mixed at Matrix Studios, London

Mix engineered by Jeremy Allom

See Blue Lines info section for further credit details by clicking here.

For the Collected version of the song, additional credits are:

Remastered by Mike Marsh at the Exchange and Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering.

Safe From Harm uses a sample from the song Gold Ole Music by the famous funk band Funkadelic. It appears primarily on their 1970 self-titled release Funkadelic. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

Safe From Harm also uses a sample from the song Chameleon by the the jazz fusion artist Herbie Hancock. It appears primarily on his 1973 release Head Hunters. It is not credited officially by Massive Attack.

Apart from the last two aforementioned samples, Safe From Harm uses a sample from the song Stratus by Billy Cobham. It appears primarily on his 1973 release Spectrum. This is one of the most well-known samples in a Massive Attack song. The beat and bassline from Stratus was used to construct the majority of Safe From Harm around it.

British soul meets pop group "Mo Solid Gold" proceeded to cover Safe From Harm for inclusion on their 2001 album Brand New Testament and also was the main A-side for a single from the same band that year. This is one of the only occurence of a cover version of a Massive Attack song that also recieved a single release.

Shara Nelson and Robert Del Naja

This song, maybe more so than any other Massive Attack owes a big debt to the sample it was primilarily based on, which was Billy Cobham's Stratus, whose idea to sample from, was from Mushroom. Safe From Harm was also the first Massive Attack song to be produced with Shara Nelson followed shortly afterwards by Lately.

Safe From Harm was one of the the first four songs produced for Blue Lines, with the other three songs being Be Thankful For What You've Got, Any Love (2) and Lately. Of these four songs, 3D at the time felt that the best of the material produced to be Safe From Harm, finding that that the other three songs were a bit too retro and soft.

Safe From Harm was released just four days before the release of Blue Lines in the UK. This was obviously an effort to help promote the album.

Safe From Harm has become as much apart of the live setlist as other crowd favourites such as Unfinished Sympathy and Teardrop. Since first appearing on the 1995 tour it has gone through a few different varations to the way it has been arranged and played live however. On the 1995/1996 tour, Safe From Harm was the first song played on the setlist following on from a short instrumental prelude of Protection that would fade into the opening of Safe From Harm. On the 1998/1999, the first half minute or so of the song was atmospheric scratching noises conducted by Mushroom on the decks before Safe From Harm would start properly. Also on this particular rendition, the live guitarist Angelo Bruschini, added on an entirely new element to the end of Safe From Harm, which was an extended rocking guitar riff and solo, adding around three minutes onto the original song length. By the time of the 2003 and 2004 tours, the scratch intro had been dropped but they still retained Angelo's contribution at the songs's end. Then on the 2006 tour, this extended outro by Angelo changed again, bringing a lot more guitar feedback and noise into the mix.

Because Shara Nelson has never toured with Massive Attack, Deborah Miller is the stand-in vocalist for all of the Shara Nelson album tracks, including not only Safe From Harm, but Unfinished Sympathy and Daydreaming. The only exception to this however was in 2004 and 2008, when Deborah Miller was unavailable for the entire tour and was replaced by singers Hazel Fernandez and Yolanda Quarty for each of those respective tour. And as always, 3D was there, on every tour to fulfil his vocals as they are on record.

3D on the sample use of Billy Cobham's Stratus and also on the use of sampling in Massive Attack's music in general - "Working with a sample like that you can't go wrong. Even as a loop with no vocals in it, as soon as you loop that up and listen to it your going 'yeah'. It just has a total groove. That also encapsulates what it was about in those days of just grabbing four bars from someone else, stealing it, looping it, that whole anarchic way of just building a song on some sort of extended beat or something, and that's what it was about. That track [Safe From Harm] in particular really does capture that spirit, I think" [Collected EPK - March 2006]

Related Posts

1. Lately
2. Unfinished Sympathy
3. Daydreaming

Tags: nellee hooper • paul oakenfold • safe from harm • shara nelson • blue lines