EDIT:Since first publishing this post, the release dates for both the hardback and deluxe copies of the book have been pushed back, according to the Vinyl Factory website. They are now the 4th November for the hardback and the 11th November for the deluxe boxset.
If your reading this, then there's good chance you've heard the news that 3D is to release an art book (a visual companion, if you will) on the history of Massive Attack.
I think it's an exciting prospect for many fans, since he's teased it quite often in interviews in the least few years, and to many fans (myself included), the band's visual identity has made almost as big an impression as their music down through the years.
So rather than regurgitate the information that's already in the press release, I'll just cut to the chase and start a poll on this post about if you're getting the book or not, and rather or not its worth the price, bearing in mind there's a cheaper version of the book available at £50.
This book feels like the inevitable result of 3D's recent "Fire Sale" exhibit at London's Lazarides gallery. Trawling through the archives for that exhibit must have yielded a lot of material to archive permanently in this book. It was also the Lazarides website, which back in May let it slip during promoting Fire Sale, that 3D was working on this book.
This is actually the 2nd time that 3D has released a book of his art. The 1st time being in 2000, with "Fitting In", which cost a cool £380.
The limited edition of the book at a whopping £350 is a hard sell for the vast majority of people in these times. I suppose you could try to justify the price by reasoning that there is a Lazarides screenprint included, which if sold on its own, would probably be worth a couple of £££ at least.
And of course there's also that exclusive 12" single in the boxset (which they haven't revealed the name of). That 12" alone will probably go on to be a big collector's item for years to come. Just think of the ridiculous prices the Massive Attack/Burial 12" is still fetching on EBay. I hope that whatever the new track on the 12" is, that they release it officially as a download, so no one's forced to pirate it in order to hear it.
While still on the price of the limited edition, the interesting thing is, that this isn't even the first or even most expensive art book that 3D has released. Back in 2000, he put out "Fitting In", a compilation of his art and photography up until then. Only 150 of those were made, and were sold for a scant £380.
Anyway back to the present and "3D And The Art Of Massive Attack" - You can pre-order the limited edition of the book now from the Vinyl Factory. The order link for the cheaper hardback version should be up closer to the release, which is the 28th October.
Let me know if you intend to get the book (in either variety) or not, by leaving a comment down below. And if your still deciding rather to part with your cash or not, here is a YouTube video, soundtracked to Atlas Air, offering a nice slideshow of 3D's art and graffiti work for you to admire.
Following on from the first two EP's (Ritual Spirit and The Spoils) Massive Attack have released so far this year, we have two more brand new tracks on separate releases on the same day today. Both of these tracks can be previewed as one minute samples in this post.
We're roughly halfway through Massive Attack's 2016 tour, which has just finished its UK leg before hitting the rest of Europe, so its about time for a news update post covering all that's been going on in the last couple of weeks.
Massive Attack's first (and hopefully not only) release of 2016, gets underway today with the release of a new 4 track EP entitled Ritual Spirit. The EP was mainly written and produced by 3D and Euan Dickinson. The press release for the EP also intriguingly states that there will be a second EP out shortly that is more Daddy G centric, and with that to be followed by a new album later this year.