Actually, forget that, it's Dissolved Girl that was the rote and generic one, not Black Milk.
― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:29 (fourteen years ago) link
worth hearing the original(?) Man Next Door by Dennis Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q87PHE7wYU
what MA do with it is markedly excellent tho
― mdskltr (blueski), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:29 (fourteen years ago) link
no way, "Dissolved Girl" is a swirly stomping trance monster
― Michael Steele, the first black Superman (HI DERE), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:29 (fourteen years ago) link
i never liked Dissolved Girl much. Black Milk is majestic.
― mdskltr (blueski), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:30 (fourteen years ago) link
me personally i stopped paying as much attention to MA after the second album/the mad professor remix. they started sounding a lot more cold. though ive recently gone back to those later albums and found theres quite a bit to like, but it did seem they started to try and excise their soul/hip-hop/reggae influences as they went on. so interested to hear the new one if it returns to some of their early influences.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:32 (fourteen years ago) link
though i find myself fwding through the raps on the first album.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:33 (fourteen years ago) link
It doesn't return to any of their early influences.
― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Three great things about Man Next Door
1. In the original, the singer is a reasonable man getting aggravated by his neighbours. In the Massive version, he's frothing with paranoia - there might not even be a man next door for all we know.2. The thematic link with the Cure's 10:15 Saturday Night - that's some clever sampling3. It was accidentally blasted out of a PA at a Tory conference one year, leading to confused news reports that the Tories wanted to use it as their election theme. That would have been a bold fucking choice.
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:37 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG I JUST REMEMBERED HELICOPTER GIRL lol
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:38 (fourteen years ago) link
they started sounding a lot more cold
this is why mezzanine is so great
1. Didn't the Slits version go halfway towards that?2. And that lead to Razorlight?3. um...
― Mark G, Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:39 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost - so the guardian review is a load of old shit then? still gonna check it out. though i hated that first lead leak.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:40 (fourteen years ago) link
i haven't read the guardian review yet. on one listen i thought heligoland was really boring and kinda pointless at this stage, no track leapt out and even the gui boratto remix of the single doesn't improve matters.
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Razorlight?
Not heard the Slits cover - that may well be the source of MA's version
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:44 (fourteen years ago) link
All the new one goes back to is having some recognisable tunes.
― No, YOU'RE a disgusting savage (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Could do with some more, though. Shara Nelson, Tracey Thorn and Nicolette all wrote fantastic, striking melodies whereas here Guy Garvey, Tunde etc tone down their melodic instincts to suit the minor-key gloom.
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:58 (fourteen years ago) link
i dont know why they dont go back to sourcing unheard voices rather than their celeb mates.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:59 (fourteen years ago) link
True true.
― No, YOU'RE a disgusting savage (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 16:00 (fourteen years ago) link
true indeed and such a tired roster of celebs.
unrelated but side 2 of Mezzanine is pretty much the essence of that album (a bit like for Disintegration)
― saaberonixx (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 16:56 (fourteen years ago) link
OK, so I went back to Mezzanine side 2 and I'm still not convinced. Dissolved Girl is dreadful - overblown guitars, bland vocals - a glimpse of the dud Mezzanine might have been had the overdone the gothic rock moves. Black Milk is the closest they ever came to generic sluggish trip hop. The title track suffers badly by comparison with Risingson. Man Next Door is colossal, and Group Four is far more dramatic than I remembered, but I still think it's too frontloaded to be a masterpiece.
Risingson reminded me that 3D and Daddy G (and sometimes Tricky) trading rhymes used to be one of my favourite sounds in pop. The fact that Splitting the Atom squanders that chemistry on such a lifeless beat is a crying shame. It's interesting that Massive, Tricky and Portishead all fell out of love with hip hop as they got older - in the first two cases it was to their detriment.
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:08 (fourteen years ago) link
i hate their rapping but where they took hip hop in their productions was always more interesting to me. though not when theyre doing more straight up hip hop, i dont think i even liked their collabos with black thought and mos def all that much. i didnt really think of it as them falling out of love with hip hop as they got older - though yes, that makes total sense, and mirrors most people who loved hip hop of their age - i just assumed it was them catering a bit more to their more mainstream base.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Black Milk is the closest they ever came to generic sluggish trip hop.
i don't see how it can be sluggish other than anything at that tempo being sluggish. it's DEFT.
i love Mezzanine the track too, more than Risingson. Group 4 is obviously stunning but one i tended to skip as i was rarely in the mood for it's darkness.
― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:24 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't think they're interested in catering tbh. Whatever direction they go in, I think it's entirely sincere. 100th Window was nobody's idea of a crowdpleaser.
I loved their rapping so much - along with Tricky they invented a uniquely British style of MCing that nobody else pursued after them. I say this as someone who generally hates the sound of Brits rapping.
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:25 (fourteen years ago) link
idk mane they basically invented it, so i think they have a right to make trip hop! that track is so 1998 it hurts, but i like it. lol "but".
― V-E-R-Y (history mayne), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:28 (fourteen years ago) link
though it doesn't need to be 6:22 long, jeez
― V-E-R-Y (history mayne), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:30 (fourteen years ago) link
too short
― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:31 (fourteen years ago) link
he spells it with a $ iirc
― V-E-R-Y (history mayne), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
98 was a bit late in the day to be making something so straight down the line though - ethereal vocal + hip hop beat/scratching + gothic ambience. Even fucking Crustation were doing it by that point.
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
all Massive Attack albums are 2 years late
― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:36 (fourteen years ago) link
"I loved their rapping so much - along with Tricky they invented a uniquely British style of MCing that nobody else pursued after them. I say this as someone who generally hates the sound of Brits rapping."
i always thought their rapping was a bit more in line with non hip-hop rapping, from people that were obv steeped in hip hop but werent trying to be mcs, like the streets, or - lol- fun loving criminals (i know the vibe is totally diff) etc.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:50 (fourteen years ago) link
so it has kinda continued, even if its stuff like that guy who did that stars in their eyes song last year.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:51 (fourteen years ago) link
but MAs flow is basically an old one, just made less forceful (cos that would prob sound silly in their mouths), and more stonerish/quiet (cos that would be scary otherwise). sort of like freedom williams-gone-trip hop.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:56 (fourteen years ago) link
It's the tone more than the flow - so effortless and, for want of a better word, cool. The way they interacted on Five Man Army, they just sounded like the coolest band on Earth.
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, 11 February 2010 14:59 (fourteen years ago) link
youre right. it is 'cool', hence why i thought of huey from the FLC (though i dont really think he was cool). i think they have something in common with the likes of us3 and people like that generally, non hip-hop rap (and for people that might find normal hip hop too hard). i just dont tend to like that 'cool' vibe.
funnily enough, i always thought spaceape would be a great fit for massive attack. i wonder if they ever approached each ogther. wasnt kode 9 originally working with daddy g?
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 11 February 2010 15:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Haha is that the 1st mention of Crustation upthread? I remember buying this album. lol late 90s
― saaberonixx (baaderonixx), Thursday, 11 February 2010 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
I spent most of this weekend listening to this album. I have no idea what the people who dislike this are hearing because, to my ears, it is competing with Owen P's Heartland for best album of 2010 so far.
― I'm the Manatee, Bitch! (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 February 2010 16:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Ordered this from Amazon. For some reason it will be arriving today, not last Tuesday -- maybe they had the release date somehow mixed up. Was it pushed forward? In any case... expectations not too high for this, but hoping to find a few great tracks among the rest. I was blown away by their live show in 2006 (I think), but I'm prepared for a mediocre album.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, 16 February 2010 16:21 (fourteen years ago) link
this is the original of man next door aka I've Got To Get Away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRDILYQqUkM
although my favourite is Dave Barker's version which also predates the Dennis Brown one (can't find this on youtube) and may actually be superior even to the massive attack take.
― jed_, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 16:53 (fourteen years ago) link
I also love this tune, which I think it's loosely based on. Definitely lyrical similarities. Coincidentally, Johnny Dollar was the alias of one of the guys who worked with Massive Attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rEU5v_LGE
― gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 16 February 2010 16:56 (fourteen years ago) link
oh that's nice. curiouser and curiouser. here's the Dave Barker Version: "i just can't stand it!/ i just can't stand it!"
http://www.sendspace.com/file/v9azep
― jed_, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 17:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I have no idea what the people who dislike this are hearingi hear a record which seems to be made by a robot or something. unimaginative, lifeless, boring, repetitive tracks which go nowhere. except the two songs i mentioned before. what do i miss? does the album get better by each listen? btw the cover art is abominable too.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 17:05 (fourteen years ago) link
^ they should ban it from the underground
― you live in a space battle homo cave (sic), Wednesday, 17 February 2010 00:18 (fourteen years ago) link
The cover art is unforgivable, yeah.
I think the songs are very tightly wound. I love the singing pretty much across the board, particularly "Girl I Love You", "Pray For Rain" and "Saturday Come Slow" (the parallels between that and "This Is A Low" are what draw me to it) and I like how they've rediscovered how to build a song out of a monochromatic sound palette without being entirely static; I was also a fan of the glacial reserve exhibited by 100th Window but was kind of concerned that "Splitting The Atom" was a sign that they were going to stay in that vein with the sound density removed. Instead, they slimmed down the sound in spots to reintroduce sense of nimbleness that they haven't really used since Blue Lines.
― sheryl crow but with a very long butt (HI DERE), Wednesday, 17 February 2010 14:51 (fourteen years ago) link
btw "Paradise Circus" and "Rush Minute" have now joined the ranks of the first 3 songs I listed in terms of tracks this album has me obsessed with
― slapped by a bear (HI DERE), Friday, 19 February 2010 22:12 (fourteen years ago) link
I like the cover art! It reminds me for some reason of the Stephen Gammell artwork for the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t159/JCDentonDX/Blog/scary1pic01.jpg
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 19 February 2010 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
rush minute is my fave by far now
― saaberonixx (baaderonixx), Friday, 19 February 2010 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link
"rush minute" is quite nice, you are right. not a lot happening and a bit repetitive but it has something about it.
― alex in mainhattan, Saturday, 20 February 2010 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
too many vocalists. i mean i don't even dislike elbow but guy garvey's vocal is so fucking dreary and depressing (without even being, like, seductively or groovily melancholy like MA used to do). i have to say that the horns on that track are gorgeous though.
― jed_, Saturday, 20 February 2010 21:19 (fourteen years ago) link
rush hour has something... but then again it also had 3D's self parodic vocal and those guitars, which are horrible. worse, it also induces the lyric "all is clear/ in a glass of beer".
― jed_, Saturday, 20 February 2010 21:23 (fourteen years ago) link
by horrible guitars i mean the ones at around the three minute mark. the ones are the end are pretty good sounding.
― jed_, Saturday, 20 February 2010 21:24 (fourteen years ago) link