Acclaimed Music Forums

Merry Christmas, everyone! Since BleuPanda has not been able to keep up with the Rank the Tracks game in a while, so I decided to step up. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up, but I figured one album couldn't hurt.

The basic idea is to rank the tracks off the album each week to see how each track compares to each other. It's an excuse to go back to classic albums and a way to gauge the best and worst tracks of the most acclaimed albums. Simply rank all the tracks from your favorite to your least.

I plan to go in cycles of decades with the 1950s and 2010s once every other cycle. I will go with the top album of each respective decade, but I might skip questionable albums (I doubt anyone wants to rank the tracks of 69 Love Songs, no matter how great the album is). Next week will be The Strokes' Is This It.

However, since I am not able to tally the score of past albums, you should not rank any previous albums.



Blue Lines track listing:
1. Safe from Harm
2. One Love
3. Blue Lines
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
5. Five Man Army
6. Unfinished Sympathy
7. Daydreaming
8. Lately
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel

This album is a quite the divider of generations. I've met a lot of older 'Gen X' who swear by this record while most of my friends considered to be 'Gen Y' don't feel it is anywhere near as good as 'Mezzanine', or that it's even a classic. Caught in the middle - I do consider it a classic, though unlike Mezzanine (which sounds timeless) this sounds very much of its time (not a bad thing in my book). While it isn't quite as consistent it does have the better singles in my opinion. In fact the only song I've never cared for is 'One Love'. Even the the B-Side 'Any Love' was much better.

6. Unfinished Sympathy
1. Safe From Harm
2. One Love
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
7. Daydreaming
5. Five Man Army
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
3. Blue Lines
8. Lately

I see Blue Lines in very much the same way as I see most of the so-called classics of 1991 - overrated. As said previously, Blue Lines sounds like a product of it's time, so to these ears it hasn't aged as well as Mezzanine or even Protection. I don't agree with Unfinished Sympathy's masterpiece status. It's good and all, but I find it too repetitive and not as moving as what people seem to claim. Top spot goes to "Safe from Harm" but it doesn't rival anything that comes on Mezzanine.

1. Safe from Harm (4/5)
6. Unfinished Sympathy (4/5)
3. One Love (3.75/5)
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got (3.75/5)
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel (3.5/5)
2. Blue Lines (3.5/5)
7. Daydreaming (3.5/5)
5. Five Man Army (3.25/5)
8. Lately (3.25/5)

Overall: 72/100

Matski wrote:This album is a quite the divider of generations. I've met a lot of older 'Gen X' who swear by this record while most of my friends considered to be 'Gen Y' don't feel it is anywhere near as good as 'Mezzanine', or that it's even a classic.

I'm in my early 20's and I have to agree here. Most of my friends who are into Massive Attack (which is a surprisingly high amount considering I'm an American) prefer "Mezzanine" over "Blue Lines" any day of the week. It's not that they don't like "Blue Lines", because they really do like it, but to them "Mezzanine" is the definitive classic.

To me they're about equal, with a slight preference for "Blue Lines". On the AM 3000 I think "Blue Lines" is a slightly overrated (it belongs around the 100 range and not all the way in the 30 range) and "Mezzanine" is a bit underrated (it belongs in the top 200, in my opinion).

"Protection" is really good too, but it's obvious to just about everyone (fans and critics alike) that it's the worst of their first three albums.

Matski wrote:This album is a quite the divider of generations. I've met a lot of older 'Gen X' who swear by this record while most of my friends considered to be 'Gen Y' don't feel it is anywhere near as good as 'Mezzanine', or that it's even a classic.

I'll be twenty in July and can totally attest to this. After a quick check of my last albums list, Mezzanine was #96 and this was all the way at #315. I don't even think "Unfinished Sympathy" is all that great.

Daydreaming
Safe from Harm
Blue Lines
Hymn of the Big Wheel
Unfinished Sympathy
Five Man Army
Lately
One Love
Be Thankful for what You've Got


And I'd be glad to do a future album if you can't, Ron.

6. Unfinished Sympathy
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
2. One Love
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
1. Safe from Harm
7. Daydreaming
5. Five Man Army
3. Blue Lines
8. Lately

I'm surprised by the relatively high placements for "Be Thankful for What You've Got". It's a cover that is not far from the original, and thus IMO the one song that doesn't add any value to the album.

Henrik wrote:I'm surprised by the relatively high placements for "Be Thankful for What You've Got". It's a cover that is not far from the original, and thus IMO the one song that doesn't add any value to the album.

In my opinion it adds more to the album than Hymn of the Big Wheel does, the only weak song of the album.

And I have to agree, people around me of my generation, including me, easily rate Mezzanine higher than Blues Lines. Mezzanine is the true Massive Attack classic. I've always been surprised by the critic's favourite of Massive Attack. The again, early albums generally do better with the critics.

Just re-listened to "Be Thankful for What You've Got", it's definitely groovy and soulful and probably the catchiest song on this whole album. I'm tempted to place it higher on my list.

Also as an added bonus, I went through some more Massive Attack albums, the biggest surprise for me was Mezzanine not being as enjoyable as I last remembered. ALL the songs go on for waaay too long, and the exchanges are kinda pointless. So for me it goes: Blue Lines (72/100), Protection (74/100), No Protection (67/100), Mezzanine (77/100). I'm clearly not the biggest fan, but Is it worth checking out some of their compilations or later albums?

'Collected' is a competent compilation of singles from the first four albums but if you weren't with enamored with any of those albums then I doubt it will convince you either. While I didn't mind either '100th Window' or 'Heligoland', other opinions on them tend to be more divisive. The former follows on in a similar style to its predecessor, 'Mezzanine' with its tracks running even longer so I doubt it will be to your liking either.

A good rediscovery

2. One Love
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
1. Safe from Harm
6. Unfinished Sympathy
8. Lately
5. Five Man Army
3. Blue Lines
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
7. Daydreaming

"Like a soul without a mind, in a body without a heart, I'm missing every part"

01 | Unfinished Sympathy
02 | Safe From Harm
03 | Daydreaming
04 | One Love
05 | Five Man Army
06 | Blue Lines
07 | Lately
08 | Be Thankful For What You’ve Got
09 | Hymn of the Big Wheel

6. Unfinished Sympathy
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
3. Blue Lines
5. Five Man Army
8. Lately
7. Daydreaming
2. One Love
1. Safe from Harm
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got

6. Unfinished Sympathy*
1. Safe from Harm*
8. Lately
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
2. One Love
3. Blue Lines
5. Five Man Army
7. Daydreaming
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel

Personal favorites *
Overall album rating: 6.94

Thanks again to Honorio for sending me the list of the albums I was missing. This will prevent me from making another "double-listing" in the future. (And, since I'm giving each of these a thorough re-listening, there's definitely a chance my rankings wouldn't match up exactly each time!)

1. Unfinished Sympathy
2. One Love
3. Save From Harm
4. Blue Lines
5. Five Man Army
6. Daydreaming
7. Lately
8. Be Thankful for What You Got
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel

06 | Unfinished Sympathy
09 | Hymn of the Big Wheel
04 | Be Thankful for What You've Got
01 | Safe from Harm
03 | Blue Lines
07 | Daydreaming
05 | Five Man Army
02 | One Love
08 | Lately

Safe From Harm
Daydreaming
Be Thankful for What You've Got
Unfinished Sympathy
Hymn of the Big Wheel
Blue Lines
Five Man Army
Lately
One Love

Haven't listened to this for a long time resulting in a big re-evaluation. Unfinished Sympathy falls from first to fourth.

6. Unfinished Sympathy
1. Safe from Harm
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
2. One Love
3. Blue Lines
8. Lately
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
5. Five Man Army
7. Daydreaming

6. Unfinished Sympathy
3. Blue Lines
1. Safe from Harm
7. Daydreaming
8. Lately
5. Five Man Army
2. One Love
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel

6. Unfinished Sympathy
1. Safe from Harm
3. Blue Lines
2. One Love
5. Five Man Army
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
7. Daydreaming
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
8. Lately

6. Unfinished Sympathy
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
8. Lately
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
3. Blue Lines
1. Safe from Harm
2. One Love
7. Daydreaming
5. Five Man Army

5. Five Man Army
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
3. Blue Lines
1. Safe from Harm
6. Unfinished Sympathy
7. Daydreaming
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
8. Lately
2. One Love

For me this is much more an R&B than a dance album. It’s a step forward from ‘80s hip-hop, in which the group brought the vocals and grandiosity of soul music; the darkness and grooves of dub; and put it together with rap basis, creating a new sound for their times.

6. Unfinished Sympathy
4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
5. Five Man Army
2. One Love
1. Safe from Harm
7. Daydreaming
3. Blue Lines
8. Lately

Hello,

For many years I have found people trying to convince me that Mezzanine is better than Blue Lines, and after reading the thread I see that the discussion is not near its ending.

Personally I am a big fan of Blue Lines, which would make me older. Funny. At a certain moment this ranked as my favourite album ever, according to RYM still on my top 5.

I don’t know if this album can be called a balanced album. It shouldn’t be if we consider the distance between Unfinished Sympathy and the others is enormous, but this is only due to that song being one of the best songs ever. All the other positions could swap at any moment, because the level is similar (very high) for all of them.

1- 6. Unfinished Sympathy
2- 4. Be Thankful for What You've Got
3- 8. Lately
4- 1. Safe from Harm
5- 9. Hymn of the Big Wheel
6- 2. One Love
7- 3. Blue Lines
8- 7. Daydreaming
9- 5. Five Man Army

Regards