Massive Attack – Be Thankful For What You've Got

Not brilliant, exactly, but certainly worthwhile. These are definitely not the standard Massive Attack sound, and they also sound quite dated compared both to current music and to other old Massive Attack releases. Despite the dated sound, this strange promotional-only release is charming in its own way. It has a bit of that late '80s club/dance major label sound, with maybe about 50% "new jack swing" in the backing track's DNA, with a crisp, clean, hyperactive beat, and some reasonably sympathetic samples interwoven. These mixes have been sped and possibly pitched up from the "Blue Lines" album version, too. In any case, this mixes on this release definitely inject the song intentionally into the pop - hip hop - soul ("urban", I believe, is how the majors marketed it back then) sound of the era more strategically than anything on the "Blue Lines" LP itself did; I suppose I can see why Virgin decided to let someone remix it for the US market since the album didn't sound like anything else in 1991. Amusingly, though, these mixes are now long forgotten and indeed just a dusty old artifact — whereas Massive Attack, Johnny Dollar, and Nellee Hooper's various production works of that era have lasted decades and influenced music so hugely that it's impossible to see all the echoes.