Chart entered : 23 February 1991
Chart peak : 13
Number of hits : 12
Before we go on to talk about Massive Attack, I should mention that this came into the chart a week after Queen's Innuendo entered the album charts. The significance of that is that we have now overtaken Then Play Long, chronologically speaking.
Massive Attack emerged from a soundsystem collective operating from Bristol from 1983 onwards known as The Wild Bunch. Their signature sound was slowing down the rhythm tracks and bringing in samples from a very eclectic range of genres to create a moodier vibe. This was soon associated with having a spliff and eventually gave rise to the term "trip hop".
In 1987 three members decided to peel off and start recording as Massive Attack. Robert "3D " Del Naja was a white rapper and grafitti artist ( now the prime suspect for the real identity of "Banksy" ). Grantly "Daddy G" Marshall and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles were black DJs, the former pushing 30, hence the nickname.
They put out their first single "Any Love " a 12 inch on their own label in 1988 . It was produced by fellow Bristolians Smith & Mighty and featured singer Carlton McCarthy on a tale of a guy on the pull. It's got a mid-tempo hip hop beat with dated scratching sounds and a reggae feel and it's OK.
The band got a fillip at the end of the year when their friend Neneh Cherry broke big with Buffalo Stance. Robert co-wrote her follow-up hit Manchild and her husband Cameron McVey helped them get a record deal with Circa in 1990 and became their first manager. They released their next single "Daydreaming" that October. The track is a quiet statement of intent with all three members plus friend Tricky rapping at low volume punctuated by a soulful refrain from Londoner Shara Nelson who'd gravitated to the Wild Bunch after a string of flop singles in the eighties. The record samples jazz-funker Wally Badarou's 1984 track Mambo.
"Unfinished Sympathy" was their next release. The song originated with Nelson when it was titled "Kiss and Tell" and the group encouraged her to develop it with the aid producer Johnny Dollar , who helmed Cherry's Raw Like Sushi . It was then topped with a string arrangement ( which the group had to sell their car to afford ) by veteran Will Malone and re-titled "Unfinished Sympathy" as a pun on Shubert's Unfinished Sumphony although I think it might also have been influenced by the recent success of the similarly chorus-free Unchained Melody which had been a huge hit again in 1990. It also incorporates samples from J J Johnson and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
The song itself, with Nelson's opaque lyrics about an uneasy relationship expertly sung. only occupies half the track before she drops out and lets the string arrangement carry the mood.
There's echoes of the Pet Shop Boys ' West End Girls in the stately melancholic chords, carrying the same suggestion of urban unease.There's some discreet scratching but no rapping on the track . It's frequently cited as one of the greatest singles of the nineties and while I wouldn't go that far it certainly deserves its recognition as a pioneering work of art kickstarting a whole new musical genre.
The "Attack" was temporarily dropped from their name at the suggestion of McVey who feared the single wouldn't get any airplay while the Gulf War was ongoing although who exactly would find time to get upset about the name of a then-unknown pop group from the UK is not very clear.
Trip-Hop certainly isn't a genre I've much interest in, though I can always enjoy this in large part to Nelson's vocal, a throwback of sorts to Aretha Franklin.
ReplyDelete