Guide
The Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE is an attempt to compile a list or catalogue of all known Massive Attack releases, retail, promo or otherwise. MASSIVEATTACK.IE will only list official releases/items that were issued by Massive Attack’s record label. This automatically excludes any bootlegs or unofficially produced fan-made productions. I have been collecting Massive Attack records and memorabilia for three years and have a fairly respectable collection at this point, but there is certainly many holes in it. If looking through the Discography & Memorabilia section you find any faulty or ommited information on a release, then please contact MASSIVEATTACK.IE or leave a reply in the Collector forum. I’ll be very interested as well if you can help me complete my wantlist of items that I’m still looking for.
For each individual release in the Discography & Memorabilia section there is an assigned Rarity Rating value that works on a one to five star rating system. This is just a simple informed opinion by MASSIVEATTACK.IE as how exactly rare a release is so that you can have an idea of how hard it is to find and therefore how much you might expect to pay for it. The one to five star rating scales like this:
One Star: Common As Muck - Any item that has a one star rating should be easily purchasable in any good record shop. Nearly all of Massive Attack’s albums should be in this catergory. All Itunes releases also fall under this heading as well.
Two Star: Less Common;Still Not Rare - Any item that has a two star rating is harder to find than before but still not to difficult especially if you have access to the internet and can purchase online.
Three Star: Getting There - You will almost certainly not find these items in any normal record shop and will have to rely on scouring the internet or used record fairs. Despite this, if you have any idea where to look, you should be able to find these releases without too much trouble. Most of Massive Attack’s single and vinyl releases would fall under this catergory.
Four Stars: Rare - A four star rating will mean that this item is quite hard to find and will require a lot more patitence or diligent searching to uncover. You might only get very few oppertunities a year for the chance to purchase an item in this catergory.
Five Stars: Very Rare - Anything with five stars is extremely rare and very hard to find. Oppertunites to buy such items do not appear very often. It might take several years for such an item to appear on Ebay from the last time it was on auction, for example. Suffice to say, that any time they do appear, their price can get pretty steep.
Countries, Formats and Release Dates:
The Discography & Memorabilia section will list the different countries variations on a particular release, if that countries release varies notably from the regular UK/US editons. A good example of a notable difference in countries releases is any of the Japanese releases with their more elaborate packaging and use of obi-strips. As for formats, the main ones employed are CD, Vinyl (either 12″ or 7″), cassettes and Itunes (either normal Itunes or the new Itunes Plus releases). Occassionly you might see some different formats such as CD-R (see below), enchanced CD (these are CD’s with an enchanced data layer such as a video, which is normally only playable on a computer) and 3″ CD (these CD’s are smaller than the normal 5″ CD’s.). Finally the release date specfic for that release in whatever country it was released on will be given, if it is known.
These CDs are not factory pressed, but burned, much in the same way as you would write to a CD using a CD writer. Because of this, they can come in a variety of colours and do not require any special CD player to use. They are often made prior to the pressing of CDs, vinyl etc. You could view many of them as being test pressings (these are almost always only intended for internal use within the record company). These are generally produced in very limited quantities. Because they are always so rare, a CD-R (or DVD-R for that matter) automatically recieves a five star rarity rating in the Discography & Memorabilia section
A Digipak is a type of CD case which can vary in size, but is usually the same size as a regular plastic CD case. The front and back covers of the case are made of card instead of plastic.
An OBI strip is a small strip of paper containing release information which comes wrapped around the side of certain CDs, usually those from Japan. They usually wrap around the spine and cover a portion of the front and back.
Every record listed on MASSIVEATTACK.IE has a catalogue number assigned to it. This is the labeling scheme used by record labels around the world to identify specfic releases. It is normally listed on both the sleeve of the record and on the actual disc/cassette itself. Occassionly there might be a discrepency between catalogue numbers listed on the sleeve and disc of an release. In this case the catalogue number listed on MASSIVEATTACK.IE will be the disc catalogue number. CD-R and DVD-R promos do not generally have any catalogue numbers.
The matrix number of a CD, DVD or piece of vinyl is a series of characters that is located on the inner ring. On a CD or DVD it can sometimes only be seen by holding the disc up to light. The matrix number of a release can be very useful for identifying specific editions or pressings.The matrix numbers shown in the item descriptions on this site are for illustrative purposes only. They can vary slightly depending upon when the item was produced. CD-R and DVD-R promos do not generally have any matrix numbers.
Any video releases in the Discography & Memorabilia section rather they be VHS or DVD, will state weather they are PAL (European TV standard), NTSC(North American and Japan TV standard) or SECAM(French or Austrailian TV Standard). With DVD releases there is also another variable to worry about; that being the region code. Fortunately, the Discography & Memorabilia section will not need to give the region code as all current Massive Attack DVD releases are region free, meaning they will play in any DVD player (regardless of that players region code) in the world.
The Discography & Memorabilia section offers a list of known non-record items i.e Memorabilia. Such memorabilia will include items such as t-shirts, posters, key-rings/chains, books and some other unusual promo items.
The majority of Massive Attack’s back catalogue (both albums and singles) are available for download on Apple’s popular Itunes music store. As this is an legitimate official release, albeit non-physical one, it will be included in the Discography & Memorabilia section under Itunes format releases. As of 31st May 2007, Itunes launched the Itunes Plus service which means higher quality, no DRM music downloads for all EMI artists, which Massive Attack are luckily apart of. The Discography & Memorabilia section will list both the normal Itunes release and the new Itunes Plus releases were possible.
Where can I buy the items in the Discography & Memorabilia section?:
Your ability to find and buy the items listed , will vary greatly depending on the rarity of the item in question. You can use the rarity rating value to get an idea of how rare any such item is. For good places to start looking for rare records online, MASSIVEATTACK.IE would recommend places such as Espirit, GEMM and of course, eBay. You can also try the Collector forum here on MASSIVEATTACK.IE.
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