Collected - The Best Of Massive Attack : Greatest Hits

Now normally i'm not really one to buy greatest hits albums but with this one i just couldn't resist.Massive Attack that helped (along with Portishead and Tricky)define the poignant trip-hop genre that was popular throughout the 90's this is a great run down of what Massive Attack are about and if your new to them this album is essential.

1.Safe From Harm - Taken from their debut 'Blue Lines' and features some great vocal stylings of Shara Nelson this is one of the highlights and one of my favourite songs overall 10/10

2.Karmacoma - This is one of the only songs im not crazy about the vocalist just seems to babble about..well nothing really it's one of the on duds on her 4/10

3.Angel - This is an interesting song it features the legendary roots reggae singer Horace Andy and the song is a rehash of his own song "You Are My Angel" its one of the most sexiest...yes this song is very sexy to me anyway and Horace Andy's vocals are fantastic this sounds great through headphones 10/10

4.Teardrop - My absolute favourite and i'm not alone here this song was not only Massive Attack's biggest hit but its the song that made them a mainstream success with the so-beautiful-it-hurts vocals by the former Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser this is also a very sexy song it was accompanied by a very artist and ahead of its time video which till this day still leaves me gobsmacked everytime i see it this also stands as one of my favourite songs of all time 10/10

5.Inernia Creeps - A cool song with a eastern influence one of the most original songs on the CD i would say. Again the same vocalist from track 2 but this time it works and turns out to be a satisfactory song it has a very good build up 10/10

6.Protection - Taken from the album of the same name this song as guest vocals from Tracy Thorn who sang in the group Everything But The Girl this song is the longest clocking over 7 minutes its a great song and Tracy's voice is just mesmerising i played this song alot and for some reason it reminded me of Beth Orton a definate highlight 10/10

7.Butterfly Caught - The song is taken from the low-key album "100th Window" (which is great by the way) a very electronic song that honestly doesnt really do anything for me it's ok to listen to once in a while but i wouldn't say it was great the minimalistic vocals are quite good and is a song that stands out but it's a bit too dancey for me 7/10

8.Unfinished Sympathy - What can i say about this song that hasn't been said already its a musical masterpiece after being said in various music polls as the best song of all time i think there is some truth there it features vocals by Shara Nelson who sang on "Safe From Harm".This is one of those ultimate "ive been done wrong" songs this is also one of my favourite songs of all time and one of the best on the album 10/10

9.Risingson - I remember catching the video to this song a long time ago and thinking "what the hell" i used to think this song was terrible but it's actually not that bad it's got a catchy vibe but again not exactly the best song but a joy to listen to once in a while 8/10

10.What Your Soul Sings - One of the best songs from "100th Window" Sinéad O'Connor lends her ethereal vocals to this great song which stands as another favourite of mine though usually quite eccentric Sinéad gives a very Beth Gibbons performance here and it shines a wonderfully beautiful song 10/10

11.Future Proof - A spacey electronica song which some cool guitars the song itself is a bit of a miss to be honest but it's not really bad at all the vocalist deep brooding voice gives it a good atmospheric feel and perceives itself quite dark 7/10

12.Five Man Army - Again with some great vocal stylings from Horace Andy although the rap by Tricky is a bit rubbish the song is cool just coz Horace Andy is on it and the song has a strong reggae influence enjoyed this one alot 9/10

13.Sly - Is a great song that features a somewhat unknown singer Nicolette her voice sounds a bit like Billie Holliday with some Erykah Badu in there somewhere this is a great song i like the panpipes in the background and the bouncy bassline good song 10/10

14.Live With Me - Is the only new song which i wasnt really impressed with when i heard it on the radio even though it performed quite well on the charts (charting at #17) the greatest thing about this song is Terry Callier's voice after hearing his music as a child it was good to hear something fresh from him 10/10

Top 5

1.Teardrop

2.Unfinished Sympathy

3.Safe From Harm

4.Live With Me

5.What My Soul Sings

You know how great Massive Attack are even though some of the tracks are not as good as others it's a good idea to check this one out.

Firstly, the weaknesses. As a Best Of, it's never going to flow as well as the albums; indeed, MA albums often flow better than many so-called concept albums, so the sequencing here would be jarring regardless. Secondly, it doesn't suit those who don't like Massive Attack, or their music, although whether you can blame the album for this is debatable. I can respect the opinions of such people; but they are wrong.

Strengths: mainly, this doesn't fall into the traps of so many other compilations by other bands, a particular one being the tendency to lift half of an album critically hailed as a "classic" and then to bolt on a couple of songs from others, e.g. like Blur's Best Of which lifts six songs (out of 18) from Parklife and then use no more from three from any other album. Collected is roughly even between all four albums (although Mezzanine gets an extra cut- a slight at departed member Mushroom perhaps?) and the DualDisc features videos from every single from 1990 onwards.

Overall, it's an excellent introduction; I only had one album before buying this, and it convinced me into getting the other three. In that sense, it does its job.

...for all future 'greatest hits' packages.

Whilst the single-disc version is great if you simply want all the 'hits' in one place, there is so much extra stuff on the two-disc version that it is well worth the small extra cost.

It is a cliche to describe trip-hop as sounding 'cinematic', but the tracks on disc two really do sound like the soundtrack to a film (indeed, several have appeared in movies).

There is absolutely no let up in quality on disc two; all the tracks sound great, as magnificently moody as anything on the first disc.

Add the fact that you also get all the band's videos on the second disc, and it really does add up to an absolutely essential package.