Anyone who was lucky to attend one of the 2003 shows on the 100th Window tour knows how awesome they were. I suppose it was a combination of Massive Attack’s absence from touring in the four years previous to it, along with the amazing L.E.D screen provided by the UVA guys (still the best visuals on any of their tours since IMO).

It was also my first time I saw Massive live. Still remember it vividly, even though it is now just over 9 years ago – Brixton Academy, London -18th April 2003. Fittingly enough, it also happened to be a Good Friday that same day. A very good Friday it was too.

So in memory of the tour, I was originally going to post some of the photos taken at the shows that year, but instead opted for something a bit different – to post all the backstage/behind the scenes photos I have sitting on my hard drive. All of course, from the aforementioned 2003 shows.

In the gallery below are some nice candid photos (just over 100) showing Massive Attack getting prepared to go on stage before a packed crowd, or just chilling/travelling in between shows. It gives you some idea of what life must be like on the road for any touring band.

I’m pretty sure the majority of these photos would have been taken by Annabelle Dalby, who is to my knowledge the only time Massive Attack have hired a dedicated photographer to photograph the entirety of any of their tours. Which also explains why this tour is the best documented tour, certainly in terms of all these behind the scenes photos. None of the other tours come close in that regard.

And hey if after checking out some of these photos and you’ve got any memories of the 100th Window tour that you would like to share, please enlighten us in the comments below or on the forum.

Download Archived Folder Of These Images – 5.42MB

[Show as slideshow]

Just a quick update to the bootlegs area of the site. I’ve uploaded a lossless audio rip of the Four Walls EP. Not that I don’t expect anyone to be unaware of it but, that’s the recent Burial remix crossover thing that came and went  last year. Only released on limited edition vinyl, (not even a official digital release), and now being flogged without remorse at an online auction site near you.

This is’nt my own rip. It was originally seeded by a user called paradiseDecree over at the torrent site, Demonoid. Its the best quality rip I’ve heard of this EP straight from the vinyl source that your going to get at 24-bit lossless FLAC. I’ve also uploaded a separate mp3 down-conversion at 320 kbps, if you not a lossless purist, I guess.

I don’t have any problems with uploading and distributing this audio rip, because as far as I’m concerned the commercial intent of this record ended the moment the 1,000 copies sold out.

Anyway, here are the links to the FLAC and MP3′s of the EP.  No more listening to YouTube videos of this EP with Mary Anne Hobbs gushing nauseatingly on in the background anymore!

FLAC (24-bit) (448MB)

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MP3 (320 kbps) (55.8MB)

This will be fairly oldish news to some, but forgive me as I’m still in a state of catch-up with my new blog and it would be remiss not to mention this little morsel.

Hooverphonic have done a cover version of Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy and it really is rather lovely in my opinion.

It’s a classy orchestral affair, all stripped back allowing Noémie Wolfs voice to really soar beautifully over those aching strings. Its a great cover, as it reminds me how great the original Massive Attack version is, while still being its own thing.

The background information behind this cover is that it’s for Hooverphonic’s newly released album “Hooverphonic: With Orchestra”, which the name implies is the band doing orchestral versions of their back catalogue with a few cover versions thrown in. They’ve also being doing a series of concerts with a full orchestra backing them up in and around their native Belgium.

Here is a Youtube video for one of those performances along with the some Amazon/ITunes linkage below it, if you want to buy the album.

Watch this video on YouTube.

(Unfinished Sympathy – Song Only)

(Hooverphonic: With Orchestra – Full Album)

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(Hooverphonic: With Orchestra – CD Album) (UK)

(Hooverphonic: With Orchestra – CD Album) (US)

And to finish off, how could I talk about a cover of Unfinished Sympathy without mentioning Tina Turner’s stab at it back in 1996. Noteworthy for being amongst the worst covers, (Massive Attack or otherwise) I ever heard. Well maybe its not quite that awful, but throwing all those “Baby’s” over it does nothing for me, except turn it into some generic R’n'B tune. Talking about murdering a classic.

Take my advice and stick with Hooverphonic on this one. Sorry Tina!

News broke yesterday morning, via HaloWaypoint, that Neil Davidge is scoring the next installment in the Halo series of video games. Not altogether unexpected, as he composed the music featured in the teaser trailer for Halo 4 that came out last summer.

Neil, of course has been Massive Attack’s faithful co-writer and producer going on about 17 years now. Last I heard, I thought he was working on a solo album, but this news, after doing a bit of reading up on the Halo franchise is pretty exciting.

I’m a complete Halo noob, even though I’m aware its a pretty big deal in the game industry, with something approaching $2 billion in revenue over the last 10 years. And to be honest a definite step up from scoring “Push” and “Clash Of The Titans”. Neil’s work on them was great, but the films themselves left a lot to desired.

Here is a small sample of the soundtrack score that’s been released as a tease, which I’m also featuring on the front page of my YouTube Channel for the next while.

Taken from yesterday’s press release is a good quote from Neil on scoring the game and how it was actually working with Massive Attack that got him into playing the games originally.

“I don’t really play a lot of video games, but I’ve always played Halo. I started when I was making 100th Window with Massive Attack; it was how I entertained myself while I was waiting for the band to show up. Even later on if I was in the studio and feeling frustrated, Halo was one of the first things I’d turn to to get my head straight.”

- Neil Davidge (Halo 4 Press Release)

Besides the press release I also found four new interviews with Neil that came out yesterday, concerning his involvement in the Halo 4 soundtrack. Here are the ones I could find:

MTV Interview (Featuring 2 Video Interview Segments)

Complex Gaming Interview

Rolling Stone Inteview

Spin.com Interview

I also read that the Neil’s score will get an official release at the same time the game is due out, which is scheduled for some time coming up close on Christmas. Looking forward to it! I might actually have to pick up the game at that time as well to and see what all the fuss is about.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Well first off, two things.

One, the new Massive Attack track  “Summertime” featuring Scarlett Johansson (needs no introduction, I’m sure) is out digitally from ITunes and Amazon.com as of today on the soundtrack for the Mexican thriller, “Days Of Grace”. Secondly, it is’nt really what you might think i.e. a collaboration.

It’s just a glorified remix track that probably got more attention than it deserved when news of the Scarjo/Attack track broke nearly a year ago last May.

I think alot of people were under the impression that Scarlett and Massive had collaborated directly together in the studio or something. Miss Johansson already recorded a cover version of this George Gerswin composed track back in 2006 for the celebrity covers album “Unexpected Dreams”. Massive just took her vocals from that recording and just did what they’re good at, breaking it down, re-interpreting it to be pretty far removed from the original and giving us all some ear candy to listening to.

Here is the original 2006 recording of “Summertime” with Scarlett’s vocals.

Good for comparsion’s sake with the new Massive remix.

The press release for the Days Of Grace soundtrack said April 3rd for the digital release date, but from what I can see, the Days of Grace soundtrack was postponed a week until the 10th. The physical release of the album won’t be until 8th May.

Personally, I’m holding off hearing the song until the CD release I’ve pre-ordered arrives next month, or until some enterprising individual sticks them on Youtube.

But here are the ITunes and Amazon download order links:

(Summertime – Song Only)

(Days Of Grace – Full Album)

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(Summertime – Song Only)

(Days Of Grace – Full Album)

Judging from the ITunes sample, it reminds of some of the remixing stuff Massive were doing in the post-Mezzanine phase of their career – the All Main Courses remix of “3 Libras” springs to mind. Lots of distorted vocals and looped up atmospherics. Honestly not really doing anything for me, but I’ll pass on judging it until I hear the full thing. I was hoping more for them to keep some of the orchestral arrangements from the original track.

Of course, I would love to know how much of this remix  is 3D’s and how much is Tim Goldsworthy’s doing, who is also credited with the track.

Goldsworthy (of DFA records fame) as you may know came on board to help produce parts of Heligoland, and it seems he’s been kept around on the payroll. It’ll be interesting to see what he contributes to any future Massive Attack recordings.

Speaking of which, there’s actually more Goldsworthy to be found on the Days Of Grace soundtrack. The purely instrumental track “Permanent Shade” features him along with Euan Dickinson – the engineer at Massive Attack studios/100 Suns, for anyone whose not a Massive Attack nerd! So there’s actually another Massive Attack track (sort of) on this soundtrack.

The rest of the Days Of Grace soundtrack has some other pretty notable names on it. I’m looking forward the most to hearing some of the Atticus Ross tracks, whose basically Trent Reznor’s right hand guy these days.

The film itself looks good from the trailer, and it’s apparently getting alot of critical buzz in its native Mexico. Here is the official site for the film and it’s IMDB entry.

So after getting to the end of all this, if you want to share your thoughts on the “Scarjo/Attack” track, then please do in the comments area below or on the linked forum topic. Thanks.

We all like a good read now and again, so they say, so here’s some Massive Attack press clippings I’m just after scanning in and uploading into the media gallery.

What we have here are a nice selection, ranging from an old Neil Davidge interview uncovered from 1998, to Jonny Dollar’s obituary in the Independent from 2009. My favourite of the bunch is the Future Music one from 1994, one were Mushroom uncommonly does most of the talking. Oh, and if you look hard enough you’ll even find a certain baby photo in one of the scans. Not too sure how that got in there, but cute nonetheless.

For the future, I’ve got a few more bits and pieces still left over to scanned in, but I’ll leave that until over the summer.

Of course if you want even more archived press interviews with the Massive, just check out the reading area over at Red Lines. When I was just learning about Massive attack back in 2000, reading all the interviews on there really got me clued up on the band. I’m just copying Avalanche’s idea of scanning in any interviews I can find and doing my own text translations on the majority of them.

So anyway, here’s the newly added scans. Enjoy!

The Wire Magazine Interview

Publication Date: September 1994
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 16.9MB

5 Photos

Future Music Magazine Interview

Publication Date: September 1994
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 14.0MB

3 Photos

Dazed And Confused Interview

Publication Date: February 1998
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 62.2MB

9 Photos

The Independent Newspaper Interview #1

Publication Date: October 1998
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 9.00MB

2 Photos

Evening Standard Newspaper Feature

Publication Date: November 1998
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 16.1MB

2 Photos

The Guardian Newspaper Interview

Publication Date: April 2003
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 25.0MB

5 Photos

The Guardian Newspaper Review

Publication Date: June 2008
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 6.00MB

1 Photos

The Independent Newspaper Feature

Publication Date: June 2009
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 16.7MB

2 Photos

The Independent Newspaper Interview #2

Publication Date: September 2009
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 12.8MB

2 Photos

Record Collector Magazine Interview

Publication Date: February 2010
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 24.2MB

5 Photos

Out today is the new Mark Stewart album, “The Politics Of Envy”.

Mark Stewart paying a visit to Massive Attack's Bristol studios back in 2009. Keith Levene of PIL is also featured in this photo.

That’s great and all, but why am I blogging about it. Well, apart from being Mark’s first album since 2008′s Edit (which was a great return to form for him) it also has on one track, a collaboration between himself and Massive’s Daddy G. The track’s called “Apocalypse Hotel” and you can hear a preview of it (and all the other tracks on the album) from 7Digital or ITunes. Outside the online samples, I have yet to hear the album, but will probably be picking it up in a few weeks and will offer my opinion of the G track then.

This is’nt the first time, that G has lent his deep, gravelly vocals to a non-Massive Attack track. The last time I can remember was back in 2001, on the Alpha album “The Impossible Thrill” – a track called “Wishes”. Good on a rainy day to listen to. If you have’nt heard it, or if it’s been awhile you can listen to it right below.

Makes me want to hear more G vocals on the next Massive attack album. Hopefully “Heartcliffe Star” or “All I Want” will eventually see some sort of release.

To finish off this post, I’ve included a quick quote from G about Mark Stewart and his contribution to the eponymous “Bristol Sound” over the years. He made this quote back in 2008, when “Mark Stewart and The Maffia” were due to play a set at Massive Attack’s Meltdown festival.

“We’ve known Mark since way back in the day in Bristol – I used to DJ for him at his concerts when I was a nobody (still am…) – and he’s a figure of crucial importance. He started out in The Pop Group, who were incredible, because they were a punk band but they flirted with the funk, and they were politically sussed, and then he hooked up with the On-U Sound crew. He knew a lot of the original punks, like the Clash, the Slits and Lydon, and he always brought a lot of reggae to the table. And his latest album, Edit is fantastic, too. “

- Daddy G (Meltdown 2008 Programme)

Next up, in terms of new Massive Attack material of some sort, is the Scarlett Johansson track which is eminent on the “Days Of Grace” soundtrack out digitally on the 3rd April. I’ll be definitely posting about that one, once I hear it.

On news-shelves this month is a nice 3 page article in Q Magazine, about the tense recording sessions Massive Attack underwent when recording Mezzanine and how it ultimately led to the near fracturing of the band. I’ve already scanned and added it to the gallery archive for anyone who would like to download it in glorious 300dpi.

The article’s been penned by one, Dorian Lynskey, a name I’m familiar with as he’s written several Massive Attack articles in various music publications over the years and would seem to know his stuff. Plus its got that awesome picture of Massive engulfed in flames. That’s one picture I’ve seen before but never had a high quality copy of it until now. Its a pretty apt visual metaphor for the pressure Massive must have been under at that time. Pressure that for whatever the reasons (probably of which we might never really know), ended with Mushroom leaving.

Q Magazine Feature

Publication Date: March 2012
Download Archived Folder Of These Images - 12.2MB

3 Photos

After giving it a quick once over, there does’nt appear to be anything earth-shatteringly new in this write-up. Any self-proclaimed MA aficionado’s who are up to speed on their trivia probably know the whole story already.

No new quotes, everything just culled from old interviews at the time – two interviews in particular, the Mojo magazine interview from 1998 and the Q magazine interview from 1999. To this day, these two articles are still probably the best pieces of journalism on what went on during the recording of Mezzanine. Lots of candid quotes and interesting info to be gleaned. Required reading for new fans.

Even though the info in this new Q article is nothing new, it’s still nice to see the deconstruction of the Mezzanine recording sessions written from someone knowledgeable about the band.

And for any new-ish MA fans chancing upon this blog post, I’ve made a quick list of some notable trivia tidbits mentioned in the new Q article:

• Madonna came close at one point to singing an earlier version of Teardrop dubiously titled “No Don’t”.
• Angel emerged from an aborted attempt at trying to coax Horace Andy into singing a cover version of The Clash’s “Straight To Hell”.
• Inertia Creeps was sampled heavily from an unknown tune floating around in a Turkish belly dancing club.
• Group Four lyrically being about an overanxious night watchman suffering from a serious case of isolation.

You never know, this stuff might come up in the next pub quiz your in, so keep it in mind.

As for that list of trivia points, it’s all intriguing to know, especially the Madonna one. It’s hard to imagine anyone but Liz Fraser singing Teardrop now. Not that I care much for Madonna, but I’ll give it to her, that around that time she probably was at the peak of her career creatively – the “Ray Of Light” album and all that. So it might still have been a good collaboration and it’s apparently what Mushroom wanted. Not that I think Mushroom getting his way on this would have prevented his departure from Massive in anyway.

Wrapping up, if you have’nt checked out the article already, do so. I’m sure Mr. Lynskey’s words are alot better than my own.

And as a side-note, I’ll be adding to the gallery archive as I go along. I have about dozen more articles and interviews to get scanned in, which I hope to get up before the summer. Happy reading!

This is the first post in a new series I’ll be writing from now on, were I’ll be featuring a different Massive Attack playlist on a recurring monthly basis. The playlist could be collecting together certain Massive songs (b-sides, rare mixes), audio interviews etc… arranged around some sort of theme – maybe remixes from Mezzanine or soundtrack only songs etc… And of course it gives me an excuse to show off the pop-up music player widget I made for the sidebar.

So for this inaugural playlist of the month, I’m focusing on the old 100th Window samples that used to be played repeatedly on the old MA.COM, circa 2003. They’re an interesting representation of the album broken down into its most basic elementary forms. After listening to these, I think you may have an even further appreciation for the intricacies and depth of sound offered by the 100th Window album.

The only track to not have any samples available is Special Cases. For whatever reason, this track was not featured on the old MA.COM site. These samples have not to my knowledge been readily shared on the internet since they were taken down from MA.COM back around 2006, so enjoy them here now!

As its mid-March now, I probably won’t be changing this playlist until the beginning of May.

You may already be aware that I uploaded these to my Youtube several months ago, so this may be slightly redundant playlist, but I thought it would work well as an introductory one. That Youtube playlist can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF63056A2DCC5334B&feature=plcp

As for a bit of background, I ripped these samples from the old MA.COM myself back in the day – straight from my old computer’s sound card. Actually over the years, I’ve become pretty proficient at ripping streaming audio/video from the web. Most of that admittedly being Massive Attack media that was impossible to download any other way.

MA.COM, circa 2003 - where these 100th Window samples were recorded from. More info from Hi-Res.net.

Talking about the old MA.COM site, circa 2003 it was an all flash based affair, that for its time, was a great use of that particular medium – lots of pop-up’s, overlaying images, blinking lights, sounds and music (that you could’nt mute). Very cool to experience, but kinda became annoying after awhile.

Bear in mind of course, that all flash promotional websites back in the early 00′s were all the rage. Nowadays, if I saw an all flash based website I’d run a mile from it. But that’s just how much the internet changes in less than a decade.

And to finish off, if you don’t want to go to the bother of listening to the samples on YouTube or on my pop-up player, then I’ve zipped them up on the server here to download.

http://massiveattack.ie/100th%20Window%20Samples.rar

Next time you need reminding how great 100th Window is, just stick on these.

This is the first in a series of posts were I’ll be looking back at previous Massive Attack releases and giving my own opinion on them along with a rating out of 5. You know, like a real reviewer would. In terms of what I’ll be reviewing it could be anything from the albums, to singles, to obscure b-sides or remixes.

OK, with that out of the way let’s look at this trio of E.P releases that came out during the Heligoland era. They all fit neatly together, all having had a limited edition release from Vinyl Factory and all having some neat artwork from 3D adorning their lovely glittering coverings.

Splitting the Atom E.P

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

At the time, this E.P was a bit of disappointment to me. Coming out in October 2009, it was the teaser for Heligoland and had alot riding on it. I don’t think it quite reached the mark as a standalone entity, but was a decent release in retrospect, that did its job in selling us all on the upcoming album and the kind of sound the band were going for.

The song itself – Splitting The Atom, I’ve got something of a love/hate thing with. On the one hand, its has that atmospheric hook that alot of Massive Attack songs draw me in with and it also featured a great return of Daddy G on vocals (a first in over 10 years). On the other hand, the beat is just way too repetitive and it goes nowhere and comes across to me as Massive trading in on their chilled stoner persona to carry the song.

Pray For Rain goes in the opposite direction – very dynamic with a complex drum pattern that shifts wildly throughout the middle section. It also features the unmistakable vocals of Tunde Adebimpe (don’t ask me to pronounce that one!). And I still like this track alot. The more sombre piano parts took abit of getting used to, but its that almost funky breakdown groove that occurs in the 4th minute that really elevates this track into something quite special. One of my favourite moments not just on this E.P but Heligoland itself.

Of more interest perhaps, are the two remixes exclusive to this release. First up is the BulletProof Love remix (bit of a cheesy title really, I’m glad they changed it to Flat Of The Blade on the album). It coasts along at a languid pace with a light thumping beat and horns floating above the surface. Guy Garvey’s vocals are heavily processed and lose alot of their flavor which would’nt be revealed until the album version came out. I could say the same about the horns as well. I do love the album version, but I’m just fairly indifferent to this remix, good in parts, but could of done with a bit of a trim.

With Psyche, we have something rare for a remix admittedly – its better than the album track. At least for me it is. The album version is beautiful and soothing and all that other good stuff yes, but there’s something about this Flash Treatment mix that I find better. This version just has more life to it and I got used to the reverb on Martina’s voice and missed it when I finally got to hear the album track a few months later. Which brings us to…

Atlas Air E.P

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

No shocker here really, but this is my least favourite of the E.P’s, and I’m pretty sure the overall critical reaction to this upon release is’nt too dissimilar to my own. The timing for this E.P did’nt really do it any good. It was post-Heligoland and I think fans were expecting to be graced with some new material, perhaps culled from the tracks debuted live back in 2008. For good or bad, knowing Massive Attack they confounded those expectations and choose to go a different route. Instead what we got here were three electronic music producers taking their stab at remixing with no real unifying concept or theme going on.

I just get nothing really from either of the 2 Atlas Air remixes on this. They are just bland electro house fillers to me that I have trouble telling apart at times. It’s a shame too, because Atlas Air is my favourite cut off Heligoland.

Which leaves us with the Clark remix of Red Light. Originally written during the soundtrack recording sessions of “In Prison My Whole Life”, Red Light has been knocking around for a number of years, and as the initial press release of the E.P seemed to indicate this was it’s time to shine.

Well disappointingly, some sort of switcheroo occurred before the E.P came out and we ended up with this Clark remix, which was’nt really my thing at all. I’m not really a fan of IBM music, which this remix is in the style of. It takes all the warmth and energy out of the song and leaves it cold and brittle. This might suit some people’s tastes but, I’m guessing alot felt cheated that we did’nt get the original version of Red Light. Maybe Massive are just holding on to it for a more higher profile release, like, I don’t know, the next album, say?

If you really want to hear Red Light, just listen to this soundboard recording from the Milan 2009 show. Best sounding version out there hands-down, until Massive decide to release this track properly once and for all. Just putting this live version on the E.P would have made me happy.

The overall best thing I can say about this E.P really is the sparkly minstrels image on the front cover. HINT TO D: Release as a print on POW now. Easy £325.

Four Walls E.P

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

On the surface, this has the same problem as the Atlas Air E.P – it just’s another bunch of remixes, no new band material as such. Where this release succeeds however, is the whole concept approach taken with it, getting Burial in and making it alot more of a cohesive listening experience, in contrast to the last E.P, which was a bit too much of a random listening experience for me.

Not much Massive Attack then in either of these remixes, which makes this a Burial E.P for all intents and purposes. On that level I can enjoy it though. Over the course of the 24 minutes running time of the 2 remixes, Burial keeps the beauty of Hope Sandoval’s vocals while slowing down the tempo and adding a dreamy fuzz to the whole thing. Dark and menacing, while being calm and mystical at the same time. I get that vibe from alot of Massive’s best tunes, so it was a treat to see Burial give his own approximation of those feelings in his own musical terms of distorted looped-up soundscapes. And the last 3 minutes of Paradise Circus – the “let love fly” bit. Don’t need to go in depth on this one, but that was amazing.

One last thing about this E.P, while nothing to do with the quality of the music itself, I can’t help but feel half amused/annoyed, with how its been flogged on Ebay. It’s been selling for upwards of £200 in many cases continually since last October. I reckon about half of everyone who bought it direct from Vinyl Factory, only had this intention. It’s not Vinyl Factory’s fault but, I suppose that’s the danger of limited editions; you run the risk of a true music lover losing out to chancers looking for an easy buck.

The odd thing is that the other 2 E.P’s don’t seem to attract half as much interest or resell value on Ebay, even though they were all produced in the same limited quantity of 1,000 copies. Maybe that’s because of the higher profile of Burial as a remixing artist, or simply because unlike the other 2 E.P’s, this one never received a digital release, with the physical vinyl being the only way to legally own it. Good music should’nt have to be that dear to own.

In terms of future E.P’s, I think I speak for most fans, that remixes can be nice sometimes, but the odd bit of original material would’nt go amiss. I think it would be lazy at this stage to release another E.P comprised entirely of remixes. Perhaps this post-Heligoland release phase of E.P’s is now concluded, but would I heartily pay for a nice Vinyl Factory edition that had say Dobro, All I Want, Marakesh and Red Light on it? Yep! And I think that would keep me happy on the new material front for the next couple of years. Honestly!