massive attack - 100th window

A friend and I were contemplating how this album would sound before we'd heard any material from it and definitely came up short. The last released Massive Attack material was the soundtrack collaboration with Mos Def (I Against I), which we thought sounded a lot like some of Andrea Parker's material. Another possible parallel was Leftfield's last album, since we thought there were some sonic similarities. All of this based on that collaboration, mind you.

I still have mixed feelings on 100th Window. There's a lot of ammunition here for the accusation that MA is joyless. I'm hard pressed to find a vocal moment I can really say I enjoy. O'Connor's voice works pretty well, but it never seemed work work lyrically. Horace Andy is given these really average "Horace Andy-sounding" tracks. Del Naja does a raspy singing thing that's different from his raspy rapping, but I don't think it works as well.

I think what made other Massive Attack efforts work as albums was the alternating of solo vocalist songs balanced by the pieces where the members of group would trade lines. I think this was known, to an extent, because there's no songs with 3d rapping solo.

Several years on, I'm going to have to say that "Future Proof" and "Small Time Shot Away" are probably my two favorites, but even they are really tied to the album as a whole and sound empty outside of that context.

As a side note, the released version of the album cut off the first few beeps at the beginning of the first song, but they later reappeared on a Smirnoff vodka advertisement!

This makes absolutely no sense.

Dug this out today. Love how it sounds but there's hardly anything memorable about it.

extended intro on first track was longer on the promo I think

The only two tunes I really ever go back to are Everywhen and Small Time Shot Away.

Hmmm, I might do a poll for all of MA's post-Mezzanine songs.

yeah this thing sounds so damn lush and steely but with little in way of hooks, it just amounts to very expensive-sounding sonic wallpaper.

it just amounts to very expensive-sounding sonic wallpaper.

This kind of thing is fine if you're in the mood.

I think this album is massively underrated

oh you

this album is massively underrated

oh you

Brad is correct.

the kind of album where the hidden track is so good it makes you less mad at the idea of hidden tracks

Their first four albums are discrete marvels.

Yeah this is a very good album in retrospect. The highs of Heligoland are perhaps higher, but 100th is more consistent and forges its own style more.