Protection (album)

Protection
Studio album by Massive Attack
Released	September 26, 1994
Recorded	???
Genre	Trip hop
Length	48:57
Label	Circa/Virgin
Producer	Massive Attack and Nellee Hooper
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Massive Attack chronology
Blue Lines (1991) Protection (1994) No Protection (1995)

Protection (1994) is Bristol-based trip-hop collective Massive Attack's second album.

Sound

Protection was featured in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine's 'Coolest Albums of All Time List,' calling it "great music for when you're driving around a city at 4 am," due to the 'chill out' nature of the album. Like most of Massive Attack's albums, the music often defies quick categorization, ranging from R&B (title track, Sly) to hip hop/rap (Karmacoma, Eurochild) to reggae-tinged synthpop (Spying Glass) to classical-influenced electronica instrumentals (Weather Storm, Heat Miser). This album in particular has a heavy use of string instruments (or at least synthesizers imitating string instruments) compared to other Massive Attack albums, although certain tracks before and after have featured strings, like "Unfinished Sympathy" and "Live with Me". Paul Evans of Rolling Stone gave the album four of five stars calling it "Cool, sexy stuff, it smoothly fuses dub, club and soul, grounding its grace in sampled hip-hop beats." It is also listed in the book '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'. The track "Karmacoma" featured vocals from Tricky, and the video was directed by Johnathan Glazer. DJ Mad Professor remixed the album in 1995 under the name No Protection.

Track listing

1. "Protection" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Thorn) – 7:51
2. "Karmacoma" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Tricky/Norfolk/Locke) – 5:16
3. "Three" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Hooper/Suwoton) – 3:49
4. "Weather Storm" (Vowles / DelNaja / Marshall / Hooper / Armstrong / Harmon / Napoleon /Lloyd /Murray) – 4:59
5. "Spying Glass" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Hooper/Andy) – 5:20
6. "Better Things" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Thorn/Watt/Brown) – 4:13
7. "Eurochild" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Tricky/Norfolk/Locke) – 5:11
8. "Sly" (Vowles, Del Naja/Marshall/Hooper/Suwoton/Goldman) – 5:24
9. "Heat Miser" (Vowles/Del Naja/Marshall/Hooper/de Vries) – 3:39
10. "Light My Fire" (live) (The Doors) – 3:15

Personnel

• Massive Attack - Producer, Mixing, Programming, Artwork
• Nellee Hooper - Producer, Mixing
• Marius De Vries, Andy Wright, The Insects, Nick Warren - Programming
• Robert "3d" Del Naja, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky, Tracey Thorn, Horace Andy, Nicolette - Vocals
• Craig Armstrong - Piano
• Chester Kamen - Guitar
• Rob Merril - Drums
• Mark "Spike" Stent - Mix Engineer
• Jim Abiss - Mix Engineer
• Jeremy "Jim Bob" Wheatley - Additional Engineering
• Al Stone - Additional Engineering
• Mike Marsh - Mastering
• Michael-Nash Assoc. - Artwork
• Matthew Donaldson, Jean Baptiste Mondino, Eddie Monsoon - Photography