Album Review: Massive Attack - Blue Lines: 2012 Remix/Remaster

When Massive Attack's first album Blue Lines was originally released in 1991, it quickly became a soundtrack for a generation. Today, it's a classic that any music fan is proud to have in their collection and has received a raft of awards and accolades from everyone in the music press and beyond.

Now it's been re-released, remixed and remastered from the original tapes at the band's studios in Bristol, England. The great thing about Massive Attack, and this album in particular, is that it feels like it hasn't aged a bit. The remastering has given each track a crisper, clearer sound that makes them sound like they were recorded yesterday, and the music and lyrics are still surprisingly relevant to today's society. That's a sign of great music.

From the bass-filled beats of first track Safe From Harm to the reggae-styled Be Thankful For What You've Got, memories of the '90s come flooding back. Probably the best-remembered and -awarded track on the album, Unfinished Sympathy, still gives shivers down your back like the first time you heard it as Shara Nelson's voice punches through the jangle of percussion and strings to be heard. Many of the contributors on the album – Shara Nelson and Tricky to name a couple – had their first mainstream outing on Blue Lines, and when listening to it again you can clearly hear the first steps of their talent beginning to creep through.

There's nothing groundbreakingly different about this remix, just the same album everyone knew and loved in the '90s with a bit more sparkle.