Performer Notes

Massive Attack: Mushroom, 3-D, Daddy G.
Additional personnel includes: Tricky, Horace Andy, Shara Nelson (vocals); Paul Johnson (bass).
Personnel: Massive Attack (vocals); Grantley Marshall, Tony Bryan, Horace Andy, Robert del Naja, Shara Nelson, Tricky (vocals); Johnny Dollar , Andrew Vowles (keyboards); Paul Johnson (bass guitar); Mikey General (background vocals).
Recording information: Cherry Bear Studios; Coach House And Cherry Bear Studios, Bristol, England; Eastcote And Abbey Road Studios, London, England; EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England; Hot Nights, London, England.
Arranger: Neneh Cherry.
One of the 90s' early classics and a landmark album in dance music, Bristol's Massive Attack invented the 'trip-hop' genre, an ambient form of hip-hop. Born from the ashes of pioneering sound system unit the Wild Bunch, the core trio of Daddy-G, Mushroom and 3-D were joined on Blue Lines by soul diva Shara Nelson, reggae singer Horace Andy and a young Tricky. Together they fashioned a strikingly modern urban soundtrack that added an emotional intensity to the sparseness and studied cool of hip-hop, with Nelson's impassioned vocals on 'Unfinished Sympathy' helping to create one of the songs that defined the 90s.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]rip-hop began here, on an album where the producers, even more than stellar guest vocalists like Shara Nelson and Horace Andy, were the stars."

Spin (9/99, p.131) - Ranked #24 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."

Spin (8/91) - Highly Recommended - "...simply beautiful...assaults the ear and the ass, lulling and grooving..."

Q (12/99, p.70) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."

Q (10/01, p.99) - Ranked #8 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"

Q (6/00, p.85) - Ranked #9 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...It unwittingly gave birth to a new slow-burning, heavily atmospheric strain of dance music that...would very swiftly be termed trip hop....music designed for the head first and the feet second."

Vibe (12/99, p.157) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century

Melody Maker (12/91) - Ranked #23 in Melody Maker's list of the top 30 albums of 1991 - "..."Blue Lines" was the album Soul II Soul never managed: a loose cross between ambient House, old Studio One-time reggae, swingbeat and the post-M.A.R.S. hippychick groove. Truly gorgeous..."

New York Times (Publisher) (10/30/91) - "...mixes rap, funk, and soul into something nicely relaxed and fluid."

NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #97 in NME's list of the "Greatest Albums Of All Time."

Album: Blue Lines
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Safe from Harm
2)	One Love
3)	Blue Lines
4)	Be Thankful for What You've Got
5)	Five Man Army
6)	Unfinished Sympathy
7)	Daydreaming
8)	Lately
9)	Hymn of the Big Wheel

Album: Blue Lines
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Safe from Harm
2)	One Love
3)	Blue Lines
4)	Be Thankful for What You've Got
5)	Five Man Army
6)	Unfinished Sympathy
7)	Daydreaming
8)	Lately
9)	Hymn of the Big Wheel