When the three-man army of Massive Attack broke out of Bristol, England with Blue Lines back in 1991, the term "trip-hop" wasn't even born yet. All the kids stateside were recovering from the here-today-gone-tomorrow dance collectives exported from Europe (Black Box, anyone?), the relapse of hair metal and some new brand of rock called grunge leaking in from Seattle.
Hip-hop itself was in a transitive phase. Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer were still topping the pop charts, while the underground was still buzzing from Ice Cube's departure from N.W.A. Something fresh was sorely needed, and more dance music out of the U.K. wasn't exactly the cure the public was looking for-- even if they were crafted like rap records.
What distinguished Blue Lines from the average hip-hop record (and from their predecessors, dancehall fathers Smith & Mighty) was the atmospheric dub drama it revealed in such a short record. Clocking in at a mere 45 minutes, 3-D, Daddy G and Mushroom (with collaborators Shara Nelson, Willy Wee, Horace Andy and Tricky) packed in the pianos and violins, like on the classic "Unfinished Sympathy," led by Nelson's been-there-and-done-that vocal; "Daydreaming," their first single, showcased a very young Tricky before he went gruff, spinning the rhymes in the midst of English rappers who sounded a little too monotone for the Yanks. And in "Hymn of the Big Wheel," Andy's sage-like voice brings the dub bliss.
And you can't forget the beats. The lead track, "Safe From Harm," with its sexy vocals, could be mistaken for the underground even now, and "Lately" is a better ode to the old school rap of yesteryear than Madonna's "Music" or Def Squad's remake of "Rapper's Delight." It took advantage of the end of the great sample revolution, the only credit given to the immortal James Brown. And if there were any doubts before, Blue Lines just goes to show that just because the Americans started it doesn't mean we're always the best at it.