Protection
Artist: Massive Attack
Community Score: 8.14

Massive Attack's sophomore effort could never be as stunning as Blue Lines, and a slight drop in production and songwriting quality made the comparisons easy. Still, from the first two songs Protection sounds worthy of their debut. The opening title track is pure excellence, with melancholy keyboards, throbbing acid lines, and fragmented beats... Read More

Endtroducing...
Artist: DJ Shadow
Community Score: 8.58

As a suburban Californian kid, DJ Shadow tended to treat hip-hop as a musical innovation, not as an explicit social protest, which goes a long way toward explaining why his debut album Endtroducing... sounded like nothing else at the time of its release. Using hip-hop, not only its rhythms but its cut-and-paste techniques, as a foundation,... Read More

Smoker's Delight
Artist: Nightmares on Wax

George Evelyn's solo step as Nightmares on Wax, Smoker's Delight, is a whole delightfully irreducible to its parts, which, as with earlier releases, is largely electro, hip-hop, and soul, with bits of Latin percussion and down-tempo funk thrown in. The album spawned a pair of somewhat forgettable remix EPs and was reissued by TVT immediately... Read More

What Does Your Soul Look Like?
Artist: DJ Shadow

"Soul"'s four parts are united in name only, with Shadow moving from solemn breakbeat-noir through alternately light, up-tempo and slower, more questioning moods. Like past releases, his needlework is inspired, with textured, musical scratches that do more than simply accentuate. Shadow's best, most unified work. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide Read More

Loops of Fury
Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Community Score: 6.00

Loops of Fury is an EP of leftovers released mostly to capitalize on the success of the Brothers' debut. Features a remix by U.K. techno hero Dave Clarke. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide Read More

No Protection: Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor
Artist: Massive Attack
Community Score: 7.35

Protection was widely considered a disappointing follow-up to Massive Attack's groundbreaking debut, Blue Lines. Where their debut bent all of the conventional hip-hop, dub reggae, and soul rules, Protection essentially delivered more of the same. Perhaps that's the reason why Mad Professor's remix of the album, No Protection, was welcomed with... Read More