Protection

We've been away for a couple of days this week, a trip to North Yorkshire to Harrogate and York. One of the in- car entertainment CDs I took was Massive Attack's second album, Protection. Released in September 1994, three years after Blue Lines re- wrote the book for British reggae/ soul/ rap, in many ways Protection is the equal of that debut- Tricky had gone (except for an appearance on Karmacoma) but 3D, Mushroom and Daddy G were still writing great music that skipped across boundaries and invented a new one, something defiantly their own. An entire genre, trip hop, grew up in their wake. Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt appear on two songs including the magisterial title track, Horace Andy contributes vocals (again), Nellee Hooper's production is first rate (again), and songs like Karmacoma, Eurochild and Spying Glass are as good as any on Blue Lines. On Sunday driving up the A1 the pair with vocals from Nicolette sounded superb...

Three

Three is the third track (obvs), opens ominously (also obvs) with a sampled voice shouting 'Three three three' and then Nicolette's voice glides in, 'three, my lucky number/ and fortune comes in threes'. Three is the sound of a band in total control- synths, rattling drums and tension and Nicolette's distinctive vocal.

She sings on Sly too, the first single from the album, tucked away on side two of Protection.

Sly

More drama- strings and percussion, slo mo drums, a song that takes shape slowly, with a South Asian feel, an Indian string quartet, South pacific melodies, Nicolette singing about time travel motion and wandering. Dream music. 

None of which helps to explain why they chose to finish such a great album with their cover of Light My Fire, a song that sounded odd at the time and no less so now. Blue Lines concluded with Hymn Of The Big Wheel, one of the best songs they made, one of the best songs of the 90s. Protection ends with Light My Fire, seemingly a deliberate attempt to undercut everything with a sly smile and a wink.