Massive Attack - Blue Lines

Virgin Records

On this day in 1991 Massive Attack released their debut album 'Blue Lines'. It would birth a short movement of what we have come to know as 'Trip-Hop' and the 'Bristol Sound'.

The inception of the Bristol sound. The coming together of sound system culture, of which members of Massive attack took part in as 'The Wild Bunch', American hip-hop, dub, reggae and soul. The array of influences make trip-hop a difficult thing to get 'right'. It's also what makes it as unique and of its own. Only a handful of artists have managed to combine the above influences to make noteworthy material. It's like a fine balance of chemical alchemy. A tiny bit too much of one addition and it ruins the whole pot. Thus is the difficult nature of trip-hop. Massive Attack can be seen as more smooth groove oriented compared to their Bristol compadres, Portishead, who most definitely adopted a more beat-heavy/drum-heavy approach.

Tricky Kid, later known as Tricky, appears on the album as chief rap instigator. His suvern English accent fits like a glove over title track 'Blue Lines' and 'Daydreaming'. The seductive nature of his words and ways adds an almost erotic manner to the material. I guess you could say Blue Lines as fairly sexy music to begin with.

Daddy G is stated as saying "what we were trying to do was create dance music for the head, rather than the feet". The above statement from Daddy G captures my feelings on the type of electronic music I tend to gravitate towards. I think quite a lot of dance fans could benefit from it also. Not everything has to have a dancability factor to be good. Many an argument has been had with the 'how am I supposed to dance to this' type. Relax, take it easy. You can move to it you just have to meet it halfway.

'Unfinished Sympathy' may just be the quintessential trip-hop track. It encapsulates everything that Trip-Hop at its finest has to offer. Blue Lines is the perfect soundtrack for a laid-back Sunday morning in my estimations. In a similar way to Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica', which also turns 30 later this year, British music can be looked upon as before and after Blue Lines. It's influence is unfathomable.

April 8th, 1991.