Massive Attack

Unfinished Sympathy came out when I was at school. Shara Nelson and that music was heaven. Except they had to drop the Attack and were just "Massive" because of the Gulf War. Tina Turner's cover was quite

Protection, I Want You and Teardrop were all pretty good records. Not managed to last an entire album of them.

The Nellee Hooper sound was quite something - Soul II Soul, Massive Attack, Bjork.

And of course The Wild Bunch was referenced in Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance.

I love the tracks with Elizabeth Fraser, but then she is my favourite singer of all time.

No I prefer to live in a peaceful country!!!

I once got high and set my CD player to loop 'Daydreaming' over and over again for hours....

I used to do that with "Teardrop," R4.

Elisabeth Fraser's voice is heavensent, R2. It's the most beautiful voice I've ever heard.

I was friends with Robin from Cocteau Twins for awhile, a few years ago. Met him in France at a festival and we kept in touch. I thought he'd be a lot weirder but he's just a pleasant middle-aged Brit with a beautiful French wife and two grown daughters who likes beer and camping.

Unfinished Sympathy is a beautifully haunting trek that I still listen to this day. The video is amazing. Shot as one ongoing 5 minute walk through Southside LA.

Mezzanine was the last good album, IMO. They really haven't been the same since Tricky left.

Cocteaus are such a gift. I used to wish they'd reunite, but I'm not sure they could reproduce the magic. Robin Guthrie was really lovely on Twitter.

They collaborated with Madonna on this track.

R5 awesome, I’ve been a fan of Cocteau Twins for years! Great to hear that Robin is a nice, down to earth guy. Curious if he ever mentioned Liz? Although I don’t suppose he did. They made such magic together, yet I don’t think they would ever work together again. Too much bad history and trauma.

R9, yeah, a bit of eggshells there, Elisabeth was the One That Must Not Be Named. He would change the subject to current or future projects, and really more than anything loved having conversations about just life, mundane shit. Camping, food, parenting, the weather. Beer. Really a down to earth bloke.

It's crazy how there are these bands that come together, just a few randos who get together with an idea and a few chords, and somehow there is alchemy, and they create pure magic. And here is such a beautiful legacy. But because of drugs, or a love affair gone bad, or jealousy, you name it - it all falls apart. And for us, it's just a romanticized part of that band's story. But for the actual people involved, it's very deep and very real. And then so the reminiscing, the bullshitting about the glory days and resting on laurels is thwarted by the fact of some very human, very painful messes that were made, which exist right in the very center of the memory of it.

I've known a few other people from bands who have a similar issue - as beloved as their band was, as successful as they became, and as many people come up to them on the street fawning over them, they themselves are very conflicted about it all. One guy I know who went on to a fairly successful solo career after his band broke up acrimoniously, refused to even say the name of his old band for many years. And would walk out of a party or a restaurant if one of their songs came on. All the while cashing royalty checks and doing publishing deals. He held onto a lot of resentment and hurt for many many years. Not to mention the nagging fear that his solo career was only held together by nostalgia for the other project.

Are you a musician, R10?

I was, LL, yeah. Up until Covid. Sort of out of the game now, maybe permanently or maybe not. But yeah. For 20 years.

I liked their first album, Protection and Mezzanine.

I did like the Liz Fraser tracks but for me, one of the forever perfect songs of all time is Protection with Tracey Thorn. Period, end of story.

Might we know you by name, R12?

What instrument did / do you play?

I love that one, R13. I agree it was a hugely successful collaboration. Stunning.

Sweet Lipstick Lesbian R14, one of the great and simple, not to mention free, joys of my life is the anonymity of this board. I've already said to much xo

R16, say no more.

Good to have you here with us.

Here's my memory. I remember sitting by myself at a club - a gothic club - here in São Paulo, Brazil, around 2011, and listening to 'Atlas Air'. I felt so good, so whole sitting still there, alone, like I was really living in that moment. I savored it, took in that music, that ambiance, and it felt like everything was just... ideal. I was happy, there, in that moment, FOR that moment, with everything that was around me and inside of me.

It stayed with me all these years, and it's something I cannot compare to any other experience.

I recently worked with an actress, and Massive Attack was playing while I was working with her. She mentioned that she loved the group, and they had scored a movie she was in. I immediately blurted out, "Not Danny the Dog?! I like that movie!", and she looked flabbergasted that 1. anyone saw it, and 2. somebody liked it. The soundtrack is so dreamy..

R8, I really like that track

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game

“Safe From Harm” 💥

My personal favorite is Paradise Circus.

^Yes. I also really like the Gui Boratto remix of that.

Have been in love with this song (and video) for years

didn't Sinead do a song with them?

Safe From Harm and Protection ... unbelievable. Some of my favourite songs.

Did anyone see them when they toured in 2019 with Liz Fraser joining them?

They performed all of the songs from Mezzanine and several covers including Bela Lugosi's Dead & 10:15 Saturday Night.

I was thrilled to finally have a chance to see them live.

My favorite band. I love Unfinished Sympathy the best, then Protection, The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game, Eurochild, Man Next Door and created a loop on my phone of the last few minutes of Group Four.

I love all of Mezzanine and Heligoland but never really got into their other albums. I also liked the one-off attached below and have just about given up hope they'll release a version without the voiceover.