Massive Attack: Mushroom Vowles, Daddy G. Marshall.
Additional personnel: Nicolette, Sinead O'Connor, Terry Callier, Tracey Thorn (vocals).
Massive Attack was always the most creative and exploratory group of the trip-hop movement, and, at their best, made some of the most evocative electronica-influenced pop of the 1990s. Though all of the band's albums are worth considering individually, COLLECTED is a highly effective one-stop primer, drawing equally from BLUE LINES, PROTECTION, MEZZANINE, and 100TH WINDOW (and adding one previously unreleased track). The band's mix of glacial, heavy-lidded grooves, sliding electronic textures, jazzy highlights, and nocturnal atmospheres topped off by a rotating cast of male and female vocalists is here in all its glory, making COLLECTED a great place to sample Massive Attack's stunning catalogue.
What the critics say…
Rolling Stone (p.71) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Slowing hip-hop's funk down to a crawl, delivering dyspeptic raps in raspy whispers and texturing their tracks with the crepuscular film of heavy dub….[They] defined the trip-hop sound."
Uncut (p.116) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "COLLECTED is an impressive reminder of just how innovative and intensely beautiful Massive Attack have been throughout their 15-year journey."
