Mezzanine (album)

Mezzanine
Studio album by Massive Attack
Released	20 April 1998
Recorded	1997–1998
Genre	Trip hop, electronica, downtempo
Length	63:29
Label	Virgin
Producer	Neil Davidge, Massive Attack
Massive Attack chronology
Protection (1994) Mezzanine (1998) 100th Window (2003)

Mezzanine is the third studio album by English trip hop group Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998. It was produced by Neil Davidge along with the group. The album was released on Virgin Records.

The entire album was provided on their website for legal download many months before the physical release was announced. It was one of the first major uses of the MP3 format by a commercial organization.^[1]

Sound

Musically, Mezzanine 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 "Mezzanine" among others.

Similar to their previous albums, the majority of the songs consists of one or more samples, ranging from Isaac Hayes to Led Zeppelin. 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 in "Black Milk".^[2] 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.^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
Drowned in Sound	[5]
Entertainment Weekly	(A-)[6]
Robert Christgau	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]

Mezzanine was released to near-universal acclaim worldwide, and was a huge success in the UK and other parts of Europe. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at #1,^[9] and was certified Platinum (marking sales of 300,000) by the BPI on 1 May 1998.^[10] It failed to share the same success in the United States, peaking at number 60 on the Billboard 200.^[11]

The album was well received by critics, who 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 (who appeared on Blue Lines and Protection) only highlights the flat, monotonous rapping of the group's 3-D."^[12]

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."^[13]

Years after the album was released, it was placed on many "Best Of" lists in the UK, and even in the United States. In 2000, Q magazine placed Mezzanine at number 15 in 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.^[14]

Use in popular media

In 1997, the group contributed to the movie soundtrack of The Jackal, recording "Superpredators (Metal Postcard)", a number containing a sample of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Metal Postcard" and "Dissolved Girl", a new song with vocals by Sarah Jay. In the 1999 film The Matrix, the main character falls asleep listening to Dissolved Girl, although the song was not included on the movie's soundtrack. Angel appeared in the Guy Ritchie film Snatch in 2000, the 1999 film Go, and an extended version of Angel was prominently used in the episode of the television series The West Wing in 2003, "Commencement" as Zoey Bartlet is kidnapped, and was also featured in a 2010 Hugo Boss fragance advert. In 2004, the song "Teardrop", was used as the theme song, for American TV, for the television series House. "Teardrop" was also used in the TV series Prison Break and CSI: Miami. "Angel" was used in the 2004 remake of Flight Of The Phoenix by Elleston Trevor, and it was also featured in the 2005 film Stay. The Japanese bonus track "Superpredators" was chosen as the theme song for the character Zaraki Kenpachi from the manga Bleach. The song "Inertia Creeps" was used in CSI: New York (season 3) and a 2002 Victoria's Secret television ad featuring model Giselle Bundchen. "Inertia Creeps" is also heard in series 1 of Peep Show as well as the 1999 film Stigmata. Currently it is the soundtrack track for the 2011 TV show Person of Interest.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Angel"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Hinds	6:18
2.	"Risingson" (sampled "I Found a Reason" by The Velvet Underground)	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Reed, Seeger	4:58
3.	"Teardrop"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Fraser	5:29
4.	"Inertia Creeps"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles	5:56
5.	"Exchange"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Hilliard, Garson	4:11
6.	"Dissolved Girl"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Sarah Jay Hawley, Matt Schwartz	6:07
7.	"Man Next Door" (sampled "10:15 Saturday Night" by The Cure and "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin)	Holt, Smith, Tolhurst, Dempsey	5:55
8.	"Black Milk" (sampled "Tribute" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band)	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Fraser	6:20
9.	"Mezzanine"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles	5:54
10.	"Group Four"	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Fraser	8:13
11.	"(Exchange)" (sampled "Our Day Will Come" by Isaac Hayes)	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles, Hinds, Hilliard, Garson	4:08
12.	"Superpredators" (Japanese bonus track)	Del Naja, Marshall, Vowles	5:16

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1998	UK Albums Chart	1
	ARIA Charts	1
	Norwegian Charts	2
	Austrian Charts	3
	Belgian Charts	4
	Finnish Charts	4
	Switzerland Charts	6
	Billboard 200	60

Personnel

• Robert Del Naja – vocals, producer, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples, art direction, design
• Grant Marshall – vocals, producer, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples
• Andrew Vowles – producer, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples
• Neil Davidge – producer, arrangements, programming, keyboards, samples
• Horace Andy, Elizabeth Fraser, Sara Jay – vocals
• Angelo Bruschini – guitars
• John Harris, Bob Locke, Winston Blisset – bass guitars
• Andy Gangadeen – drums
• Dave Jenkins, Michael Timothy – additional keyboards
• Jan Kybert – ProTools
• Lee Shepherd – engineer
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
• Jan Kybert, Paul PDub Walton – assistant mixing
• Tim Young – cut
• Nick Knight – photography
• Tom Hingston – art direction, design

References

1. ^ http://massiveattack.com/wiki/index.php/Mezzanine Retrieved 27/10/10.
2. ^ VH1.com : Massive Attack : Manfred Mann Sues Massive Attack
3. ^ http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/andy_horace/bio.jhtml
4. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r348738
5. ^ http://drownedinsound.com/releases/4739/reviews/706-massive-attack-mezzanine
6. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,283121,00.html
7. ^ Robert Christgau Review
8. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/237405/mezzanine
9. ^ "Massive Attack - Mezzanine". ChartStats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/albuminfo.php?id=6607. Retrieved 19 October 2009. 
10. ^ "Certified Awards Search". BPI. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Retrieved 19 October 2009. 
11. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p13625/charts-awards/billboard-albums
12. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/massiveattack/albums/album/237405/review/6067962/mezzanine
13. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r348738
14. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6626741/412_mezzanine

Preceded by Life thru a Lens by Robbie Williams	UK number one album 2 May 1998 – 15 May 1998	Succeeded by International Velvet by Catatonia
Preceded by Ray of Light by Madonna	Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album 3 May 1998 – 9 May 1998	Succeeded by The Wedding Singer: Music from the Motion Picture by various artists