Guy & Massive Attack

You need to be in the right environment and frame of mind to listen to this sort of music, the same goes for the likes of Portishead, Bjork etc, who I love, but they are not an everyday occurrence, my head would explode!

Guy's voice is so alluring on this track. The lyrics are beautiful. Just have to take it for what it is.
Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star track 'Paradise Circus' is beautiful.

Here is a the clip if you can't get on Spotify:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAIOQMJAzxE

Lee Spoons wrote:

It's probably supposed to sound as disjointed as that, but there doesn't seem to be any connection between Guy's voice and the music

Thats what I think too...same as what I think about Gabriel's version of 'Mirrorball'...as though music and vocals were created in two different places and then rammed together.
Bulletproof Love to me, sounds more alluring and more connected to the music than the album version, Flat of the Blade.

LongLegs wrote:

Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star track 'Paradise Circus' is beautiful.

Agreed - best track on the album (I like the Horace Andy songs too), although you're right that spotify and tinny PC speakers at work is not the best environment to listen to Massive Attack. I'll give it another listen through headphones.

lucky with disease wrote:

Thats what I think too...same as what I think about Gabriel's version of 'Mirrorball'...as though music and vocals were created in two different places and then rammed together.

Yes, exactly that.

Flat of The Blade does seem a bit lifeless in comparison with the Bulletproof Love remix
The best is Fatalism (Ryuichi Sakamoto & Yukihiro Takahashi Remix) from the extended version of Heligoland, it's quite stunning...

Has anyone seen/read any reviews with a mention of Guy's track? A brief mention in Spin's review led me to believe that there couldn't be other reviewers who could only say the song was about a fear of crowds.

'Guy's track'... in that his vocal features? Have any reviews shed light on how much or what other tracks he, or Elbow contributed to, as all collaborations seem not always mentioned on their sleeve notes?
For example, it is Guy singing on Fatalism too.
What Bulletproof love is about? I noticed that like another project Guy was involved in... lyrics are like a stream of consciousness and occasionally phrases are thrown up that have been used in previous elbow songs.

(Just catching up here... so sorry if any of this has already been said)
It took me ages to get into Flat of the Blade after knowing Bulletproof Love, and I agreed with what others have said, but this versio has really grown on me - I think the disjointedness adds to the atmosphere and what the song's about (to me/my interpretaiton anyway). I love the dark edginess and it really sends shivers down my spine, both versions.

I'm sure I read somewhere (can't remember where) that Guy wrote the lyrics; I don't know about the rest of Elbow's involvement.

My first thoughts when I heard it, (amazingly backed up by a couple of reviews - I say amazing because I often put personal interpretations on things that don't bear any resemblance to what the songwriter intended or anyone else thinks ), are that it's about the feelings of someone returned from war/post-traumatic stress disorder.

I didn't know about the bonus tracks (including Fatalism); will search tem out.

I find the collaboration of the two on "Flat of the Blade" highly intriguing. As a fan of tonality, I prefer the middle section where it all merges together in beautiful harmony. However, it's cool to see how Massive Attack made the tritones in the beginning and end sections work so well.