Protection

01/24/1995 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Amy Linden

When Massive Attack unleashed Blue Lines three years ago, they did more than make a very cool record--they helped elevate club music to art. The three-man Bristol crew reworked ephemeral, transient soundtracks for the nightlife culture that fetishizes trendiness, and created sensuous and sturdy soundscapes. Blue Lines' genius was that it managed to be both of the moment and timeless. By taking a new look at reggae, funk, pop and soul, Massive Attack embraced genres by turning them on their collective ear, making a record that stands out as one of the finest albums of the `90s.

If Blue Lines was edgy and red-hot, the 1995 model is edgy and icy-blue, churning up a prickly, guarded breed of soul. On Protection, the (departed) Shara Nelson diva slot is divided up between newcomer Nicolette and Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn. MA describe Nicolette as Billie Holiday on acid, and that says it all. Like Nelson's, Nicolette's voice is neither conventially pretty nor easy on the ears, but that--combined with a strange, almost disembodied vibe--is what gives "Sly" its spacey seductiveness. Thorn's carefully plotted delivery propels the album's title track and first single: an anti-love song as much about abuse as the aftershocks of passion. "Protection" is chilling, disturbing and intoxicating. Needless to say, it's also brilliant pop.

Rapper Tricky (who kicks in with the blunt-drenched "Karmakoma") and reggae stylist Horace Andy are holdovers from Blue Lines and they deliver the goods, guiding you through hypnotic grooves given plenty of breathing room by producer Nelle Hooper. With the state of club culture in constant flux, MA could have never duplicated the past. Is Protection as good as Blue Lines? Protection offers up a different magic, but it's magic just the same.