Protection (Massive Attack album)

Protection
Studio album by
Released26 September 1994 (1994-09-26)
Recorded1993–1994
Studio
  • Wild Bunch (London)
  • Massive Attack (Bristol)
  • Antenna (Bristol)
GenreTrip hop
Length48:57
Label
  • Wild Bunch
  • Circa
Producer
Massive Attack chronology
Blue Lines
(1991)
Protection
(1994)
No Protection
(1995)
Singles from Protection
  1. "Sly"
    Released: 17 October 1994 (1994-10-17)
  2. "Protection"
    Released: 9 January 1995 (1995-01-09)
  3. "Karmacoma"
    Released: 20 March 1995 (1995-03-20)

Protection is the second studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 26 September 1994 by Wild Bunch Records and Circa. DJ Mad Professor remixed the album in 1995 under the name No Protection.

Composition

Like most of Massive Attack's albums, the music often defies categorisation, ranging from R&B (title track and "Sly") to hip hop/rap ("Karmacoma" and "Eurochild") to reggae-tinged synth-pop ("Spying Glass") to classical-influenced electronica instrumentals ("Weather Storm" and "Heat Miser"). The album follows Blue Lines structurally, to the point that the font used on the cover of the album is the same, Helvetica Heavy Italic. The album cover also nods to Blue Lines, revealing a futuristic, impenetrable wall behind a mostly-burned version of this previous album's artwork—implying that the depicted "flammable gas" had been ignited.

Tricky again appeared on the album, rapping on the tracks "Karmacoma" (whose video was directed by Jonathan Glazer, and which featured a sample from The KLF's "Dream Time in Lake Jackson" at the 2:00-minute mark) and "Eurochild" (which featured samples from Startled Insects' "Cheetah" and Liquid Liquid's "Lock Groove (In)").

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Christgau's Consumer GuideA−
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The Guardian
Knoxville News Sentinel
NME8/10
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Select5/5
Tom Hull – on the WebA−
Vox8/10

Paul Evans of Rolling Stone wrote, "Cool, sexy stuff, it smoothly fuses dub, club and soul, grounding its grace in sampled hip-hop beats."

In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked Protection at number 51 on its list of the "100 Best Albums of the Nineties". The album is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

As of February 2010, the album had sold 292,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Protection"7:51
2."Karmacoma"
5:16
3."Three"
3:49
4."Weather Storm"
4:59
5."Spying Glass"
5:20
6."Better Things"
4:13
7."Eurochild"
  • Vowles
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Tricky
  • Norfolk
  • Locke
5:11
8."Sly"
5:24
9."Heat Miser"
3:39
10."Light My Fire" (live)The Doors3:15
Total length:48:57

Sample credits

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

  • Nellee Hooper – production, mixing (all tracks); mix engineering (track 10)
  • Massive Attack – production, mixing
  • Mark "Spike" Stent – mix engineering (tracks 1–8)
  • Jim Abbiss – mix engineering (track 9)
  • Jeremy "Jim Bob" Wheatley – additional engineering
  • Al Stone – additional engineering
  • Mike Marsh – mastering

Artwork

  • Massive Attack, Michael-Nash Assoc. – artwork
  • Matthew Donaldson, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Eddie Monsoon – photography

Charts

1994–2001 chart performance for Protection
Chart (1994–2001) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) 15
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 21
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 47
Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 46
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM) 49
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 76
European Albums (Music & Media) 21
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) 33
French Albums (SNEP) 24
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 63
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 9
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) 37
Scottish Albums (OCC) 12
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 14
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 29
UK Albums (OCC) 4
UK R&B Albums (OCC) 1
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) 19
2020 chart performance for Protection
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Polish Albums (ZPAV) 44

Certifications

Certifications for Protection
Region Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP) Gold 100,000*
Netherlands (NVPI) Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) Gold 7,500^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) 2× Platinum 653,864
Summaries
Europe (IFPI) Platinum 1,000,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.


This page was last updated at 2023-11-27 00:56 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari