Mezzanine (album)

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Mezzanine is the third studio album by English electronic music duo Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998 by Circa and Virgin Records. Produced by the duo and Neil Davidge, it served as the first album the latter had produced, and was provided on their website for legal download many months before the physical release was announced. Musically, Mezzanine sees the duo expanding their trip hop sound to electronica stylings, with diverse influences from rock, hip hop, and dub music.

Mezzanine topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand, becoming the duo's most commercially successful album to date. The album spawned four singles: "Risingson", "Teardrop", "Angel", and "Inertia Creeps".

Video Mezzanine (album)

Background

The production of Mezzanine was a stressful process, with tensions arising within the group. The album was meant to be released in December 1997, but was delayed by four months, with Del Naja spending most of the time in the studio "making tracks, tearing them apart, f***ing [sic] them up, panicking, then starting again."

The album's working title was Damaged Goods, which was the name of the Gang of Four's 1978 debut single.

"Teardrop" became the opening theme to the American medical drama television series House, which ran on Fox from 2004 to 2012.

Maps Mezzanine (album)

Composition

Mezzanine has been described as featuring trip hop and electronica. Musically, the album is a major departure from the jazzy and laidback sound of the first two albums, Blue Lines and Protection, invoking the dark undercurrents which had always been present in the collective's music. The album's textured and deep tone relies heavily on abstract and ambient sounds, as demonstrated in the song "Angel" among others.

Similar to their previous albums, several songs use one or more samples, ranging from Isaac Hayes to The Cure. In 1998, Manfred Mann sued Massive Attack for unauthorised use of a sample of the song "Tribute" from Manfred Mann's Earth Band's eponymous 1972 album, used on "Black Milk". The song has subsequently appeared as "Black Melt" on later releases and at live performances, with the sample removed.

Mezzanine marked the parting of band member Andrew Vowles, due to creative conflicts. Horace Andy, a well-known reggae artist, also performed several spots on the album.

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Reception

Mezzanine entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 4 September 1998 and then double platinum on 22 July 2013. However, it failed to share the same success in North America, peaking at number 60 on the Billboard 200 and number 51 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

The album received significant critical acclaim, which praised the collective's new sound. Rolling Stone's Barney Hoskyns, although praising the album, pointed to its flaws: "Sometimes rhythm and texture are explored at the expense of memorable tunes, and the absence of the bizarre Tricky [...] only highlights the flat, monotonous rapping of the group's 3-D." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a two-star honorable mention rating and selected "Risingson" and "Man Next Door" as highlights.

John Bush of AllMusic also had positive words for the album's song "Inertia Creeps", saying it "could well be the highlight, another feature for just the core threesome. With eerie atmospherics, fuzz-tone guitars, and a wealth of effects, the song could well be the best production from the best team of producers the electronic world had ever seen."

Years after the album was released, it was placed on several best-of lists in the UK and the United States. In 2000, Q magazine placed Mezzanine at number 15 on its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 412 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2013, it was placed at 215 on NME's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

As of 2010, sales in the United States have exceeded 560,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

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Track listing

Sample credits

• "Risingson" contains samples of "I Found a Reason", written by Lou Reed and performed by The Velvet Underground, and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", written and performed by Pete Seeger.
• "Exchange" and "(Exchange)" contain samples of "Our Day Will Come", written by Bob Hilliard and Mort Garson, and performed by Isaac Hayes, and "Summer In The City", written by John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian and Steve Boone, and performed by Quincy Jones

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Personnel

Massive Attack

• Robert Del Naja - vocals, production, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples, art direction, design
• Grant Marshall - vocals, production, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples
• Andrew Vowles - production, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples

Other personnel

• Neil Davidge - production, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples
• Horace Andy (tracks 1, 7, 11), Elizabeth Fraser (tracks 3, 8, 10), Sara Jay (track 6) - vocals
• Angelo Bruschini - guitars
• Jon Harris, Bob Locke, Winston Blisset - bass guitars
• Andy Gangadeen - drums
• Dave Jenkins, Michael Timothy - additional keyboards
• Jan Kybert - Pro Tools
• Lee Shepherd - engineering (Massive Attack and Christchurch Studios)
• Mark "Spike" Stent - mixing (Olympic Studios)
• Jan Kybert, Paul "P-Dub" Walton - mixing assistance
• Tim Young - editing, engineering (Metropolis Studios)
• Nick Knight - photography
• Tom Hingston - art direction, design

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Charts

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Certifications

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See also

• List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1990s
• List of European number-one hits of 1998
• List of number-one albums in Australia during the 1990s

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References

Source of article : Wikipedia