Protection (album)

Protection
Studio album by Massive Attack
Released	26 September 1994
Recorded	Wild Bunch Studios, London
Genre	Trip hop, lounge, chillout
Length	48:57
Label	Circa/Virgin
Producer	Massive Attack and Nellee Hooper
Massive Attack chronology
Blue Lines (1991) Protection (1994) No Protection (1995)

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

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	A−
Rolling Stone
Sputnikmusic
NME

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 categorisation, ranging from R&B (title track and "Sly") to hip hop/rap ("Karmacoma" and "Eurochild") to reggae-tinged synthpop ("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 Bold Italic.

Paul Evans of Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half 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 the second and last Massive Attack album listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

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)").

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/Del Naja/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 Cover) – 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 Abbiss - 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