If any album deserves a re-issue, it’s Massive Attack‘s 1991 masterpiece Blue Lines. The Bristol collective have spent some time in their studio piecing together original recordings to produce a fully remastered version of this groundbreaking debut. Influenced from the glories of downtempo, electro, soul, reggae, jazz, hip-hop, and god knows what else, the innovative album is one of the best British records of the 90s. With a brilliantly eccentric mixture of breakbeats, sampling and live instrumentation mixed with voice styles ranging from Tricky’s scratchy rapping to Shara Nelson’s sultry female vocals to Horace Andy’s singular crooning, Blue Lines engendered a unique aesthetic which rocked the musical landscape and helped launched the trip-hop movement worldwide. Clearly still resonating to this day, the 2012 remastered album will be available on a single CD, with standard and high resolution digital downloads. OR, if you really want to embrace this epic re-issue, it will also be available as a Deluxe Box Set which contains the CD, and a DVD with 96K/24 bit high resolution audio files. The album is split over two 180g vinyl LPs and also includes the original 24″ x 18″ Blue Lines promo poster. Both will be packaged in 5″ and 12″ card mailers, respectively, with the album’s artwork screen-printed per the original release. The remastered album, which is dedicated to the memory of Johnny Dollar, is set for release by EMI on November 20th.
Tracklisting for the “Blue Lines” Remastered Box Set after the Jump…
Blue Lines Remastered Box Set Tracklists:
CD/DVD:
Safe From Harm
One Love
Blue Lines
Be Thankful For What You’ve Got
Five Man Army
Unfinished Sympathy
Daydreaming
Lately
Hymn Of The Big Wheel
2LP:
A1. Safe From Harm
A2. One Love
A3. Blue Lines
B1. Be Thankful For What You’ve Got
B2. Five Man Army
C1. Unfinished Sympathy
C2. Daydreaming
D1. Lately
D2. Hymn Of The Big Wheel
I must admit it ranks up there among one of the most unique blog ideas I have ever seen.