CD Review: Massive Attack "Collected" (2006)

This could quite possibly be the most boring CD I've purchased in a very long time.

Ten years ago, this ambient trip-hop stuff would have been considered extremely cutting edge. Now, it's just dull. Sparse beats with minimal instrumentation which at times can be made interesting by a nice vocal track (on this collection, all of those are sung by the ladies), but even at that, most of the time there's no passion or emotion flowing at all.

As an alternative to alternative in the 90s, Massive Attack's brand of early electronic experimentation had merits, but as the years have gone by, it has become obviously tired. The limitations of this outfit are on clear display with this collection.

This will collect dust on my shelf, no doubt, as I'm sure many other Massive Attack discs are doing at this very moment across North America. Too bad - I was hoping to get turned on to something new.

Overall rating: 3/10