Massive Attack – Blue Lines (1991) (2012 Mix/Master) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Blue Lines is the landmark debut by trip-hop band, Massive Attack. Rolling Stone declared the album “one of the most influential records of the Nineties.” It is a stylish combination of rap, dub and soul. Included on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” the masterpiece includes the massive hit “Safe from Harm.” It is featured on various “Best Of” lists including Spin, Q, NMEand Vibe.

Chart History/Awards
On Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
On Q‘s “90 Best Albums of the 1990s.”
#8 on Q‘s “Best 50 Albums of Q‘s Lifetime.”
On Spin‘s “90 Greatest Albums of the ’90s.”
On Vibe‘s “100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century.”
On NME‘s “Greatest Albums of All Time.”

The first masterpiece of what was only termed trip-hop much later, Blue Lines filtered American hip-hop through the lens of British club culture, a stylish, nocturnal sense of scene that encompassed music from rare groove to dub to dance. The album balances dark, diva-led club jams along the lines of Soul II Soul with some of the best British rap (vocals and production) heard up to that point, occasionally on the same track. The opener “Safe from Harm” is the best example, with diva vocalist Shara Nelson trading off lines with the group’s own monotone (yet effective) rapping. Even more than hip-hop or dance, however, dub is the big touchstone on Blue Lines. Most of the productions aren’t quite as earthy as you’d expect, but the influence is palpable in the atmospherics of the songs, like the faraway electric piano on “One Love” (with beautiful vocals from the near-legendary Horace Andy). One track, “Five Man Army,” makes the dub inspiration explicit, with a clattering percussion line, moderate reverb on the guitar and drums, and Andy’s exquisite falsetto flitting over the chorus. Blue Lines isn’t all darkness, either – “Be Thankful for What You’ve Got” is quite close to the smooth soul tune conjured by its title, and “Unfinished Sympathy” – the group’s first classic production – is a tremendously moving fusion of up-tempo hip-hop and dancefloor jam with slow-moving, syrupy strings. Flaunting both their range and their tremendously evocative productions, Massive Attack recorded one of the best dance albums of all time.

Tracklist:
01 – Safe From Harm
02 – One Love
03 – Blue Lines
04 – Be Thankful For What You´ve Got
05 – Five Man Army
06 – Unfinished Sympathy
07 – Daydreaming
08 – Lately
09 – Hymn Of The Big Wheel

The original analogue recordings were transferred from analogue tape at 24/48 and then upsampled to 24/96 before being mixed on an analogue desk and printed at 24/96 through Benchmark converters. The final mixes were mastered at 24/96 by John Dent at LOUD Mastering. The audio files are in 96/24 format.

Download:

mqs.link_MassiveAttackBlueLines19912012MixMasterHDTracks2496.rar

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