Completing the triumvirate of greatest hits sets from the nineties best cross-over dance acts (the other two being the Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers) comes “Collected” the latest two disc offering from Massive Attack. By now you’ll already be familiar with a majority of these tracks and age has certainly done nothing to dampen their appeal. The brooding “Karma Coma” still bristles with a barely suppressed tension and old favourites including “Mezzanine’s” “Risingson” sound as relevant now as they did some nine years ago. Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn and The Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser turn in career best vocal performances on the dewy eyed “Protection” and the spine tingling “Teardrop” respectively and these are just a few of the stand-out moments here (of which there are many to pick from).
The non-linear chronology deployed in the track-listing certainly works to the band’s benefit helping to disguise the relatively disappointing numbers that are included from 2003’s “100th Window”. Despite that, caveat tracks like “Special Cases” still beat a majority of what passes for cutting edge dance music these days hands down.
The mid-way point witnesses the band’s coup de grace in the jaw dropping form of “Unfinished Sympathy” – a single so good you find yourself wondering why it failed to crack the UK top spot on its release in 1991 (it only made a disappointing number 13). Shara Nelson’s exquisite vocal performance only serves to highlight the subtle musical touches the band deploy, the trademark panoramic beats, inter-woven samples and deft use of strings proving to be a band speciality.
The obligatory new track (every best of collection needs one after all) “Live With Me” closes the album in suitably epic fashion. Over sweeping strings Terry Callier steals the show with a truly wonderful vocal performance, his soulful tones adding a bluesy grit to proceedings. “Collected” will certainly whet the collective appetite of those anxiously awaiting the release of the band’s fifth studio album “Weather Underground”. With TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek on board and long time cohort and co-producer Neil Davidge behind the mixing desk there’s every reason to suggest that the band will soon be adding to the impressive creative legacy on display here.
