Dub Days Part 2

On the opposite end of the dub spectrum, No Protection takes a sparser route to the style lacking the reggae flavour present on the last offering from the Spacemonkeyz, it's perhaps a little less accessible, what with the tracks taking a long time to build up and that, but give it a chance and you'll see it's still quality. Get ready for some tracks after the properly amazing album art!



The opener is probably my favourite track from this entire album. The track it remixes, Protection, has one of the best intros I've ever heard, and the remix takes that, adds some reverb, drops some massive bass and garnishes with some cut up snippets from the vocals of the original. Pretty amazing stuff.



I'll admit that some of the remixes take a while to get going, but not this one. Despite being the shortest here (not much longer than the original track, Three) it's still nicely structured; following the outline laid down by the opening track, with some psuedo-breakdowns thrown into the mix to keep stuff fresh.



Another remix of a favourite of mine from Protection, I was skeptical of whether it could live up to the standard set by the original Weather Storm. Not only did it do that, but it managed to give the entire thing a whole new atmosphere in line with it's new title. Some stellar chillout stuff.





The opening of the Sly remix sounds to me like a darker version of Nightmares On Wax's Les Nuits, but that soon changes and we're treated to the usual Dubbing formula, with the orchestral elements do swell back into the foreground from time to time. It gets interesting during the last quarter or so, I especially like the bits at 4:13 & 4:34 and wish they stuck around longer.



Playing us out is another short one: I Spy. Surprisingly, unlike all the other remixes of tracks with vocals in, the Mad Professor does not lend his chopped and reverb-ed technique to Horace Andy's voice from the original Spying Glass. It's a shame, I'd like to hear what Horace would sound like given that treatment. Regardless it's a fine track, and if anything feels just a bit too short.



And that's all folks, I'd like to have posted some more, but the LP's only 8 tracks long. I like the Professor's remixes, they're an interesting take on Massive Attack's distinct sound, though I feel the album kinda peaks too early by having arguably the best reworking first, but I guess it was inevitable as it follows the track layout of Protection.

Way Down Bristol,
-Claude Van Foxbat