Protection

Protection is the warm one before the dread, Tracey Thorn on the title track and a gentler, more soulful Massive Attack than the band that would make Mezzanine. It's the sound of the group at ease with itself, which is rarer in their catalogue than the tension. It ranks at eighty-four because it's less monumental than Blue Lines or Mezzanine, a record of grace rather than weight, but the grace is genuine and 'Protection' itself is one of their finest.