Low-Life | UK Hip Hop Story | Massive Attack - Danny The Dog OST CD [Virgin]

Intro

Early Doors:
1979-1985

False Dawn:
1985-1990

Underground Years:
1990-1995

The Renaissance:
1995- 2000

The Future:
2000 & Beyond

Artists &
Discographies

Massive Attack - Danny The Dog OST CD [Virgin]

Tracklist:
01. Opening title
02. Atta' Boy
03. P is for piano
04. Simple rules
05. Polaroid girl
06. Sam
07. One thought at a time
08. Confused images
09. Red light means go
10. Collar stays on
11. You've never had a dream
12. Right way to hold a spoon
13. Everybody's got a family
14. Two rocks and a cup of water
15. Sweet is good
16. Montage
17. Everything about you is new
18. The Dog obeys
19. Danny the dog
20. I am home
21. The academy

Virgin Records will release Massive Attack's original score to the Luc Besson film Danny The Dog on 11 October.

It appears that the band were approached personally by the famous Luc Besson and the film’s director, Louis Leterrier, to record the soundtrack. The band worked solidly over an 11-week period, with their main intention being to create an instrumental soundtrack which captures both the fast-paced action and reflective sadness of Danny The Dog. The soundtrack is made up of 21 pieces of music, which run in chronological order throughout the film, with each piece depicting a certain scene. From the intensity of tracks such as Atta’ Boy, Simple Rules, Collar Stays On, You’ve Had A Dream to the haunting dub and ambience of Sam’s Tunes, Right Way To Hold A Spoon and Everybody’s Got A family, the soundtrack demonstrates perfectly the band’s gift for capturing the intricate mood of film.

However this is not really the Massive Attack of old. The Sara Nelson grooves and feeling of '91's Blue Lines or '97's Unfinished Sympathy are missing. I'm not really familiar with Mezzanine, so I don't know if this is a departure or a progression. Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja have always been masters of conjuring ephemeral and transient ambiences and the band have very much used their musical skill to create mood pieces and more specifically, they have produced music which fits with the film and is not a pop album in any sense.

Massive Attack, studied as they are, have not done anything outlandish here. There are rocking beats with power riffs and a dance feel for the more upbeat and hyper tracks, and there are soft strings and washes with intricate mellow details and pianos for the really poignant parts. I'm not sure if there is anything that shouts Massive Attack out at me, but at the same time, even without seeing the film I am left with a sensation of an enormous sweeping soundstage and a flow of sentiments and sensations delivering a passionate offering which no doubt Luc Bresson and the other film makers were very pleased with.

Danny The Dog is a martial arts thriller starring Jet Li, Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of Danny (Li), a slave who has lived his life without any sort of normal human education, with the mind and personality of a young child, with only one lesson learned: how to fight. Treated like a dog by his owner, Bart (Hoskins), which includes having to wear a collar, Danny fights in illegal gladiator-style fight clubs. After a car accident that lands Bart in a coma, however, Danny meets a kind elderly blind piano tuner (Freeman), who uses music to teach Danny some humanity.

Danny The Dog is a film about the power of love, the terrifying realities of man’s capacity for violence, and the wonder of music. As such Massive Attacks composition should blend with and support the film beautifully. Some could perceive this as a heavy work, and it is something mostly for the background, but tracks like Montage with its stronger beats and '60's feel could easily make a single with an additional vocal. The whole thing is instrumental, but there is no need for singers as Massive Attack are able to fill the spectrum without them.

The arrangements are worthy of a classical composition and and are very much in the vein of other OSTs that I like. Obviously this isn't Hip Hop, in fact most of it is beat-less, but despite this I would recommend people check it out for its variety of sound and richness of the production. Massive Attack are on form.

Danny The Dog OST will be released on 11 October. As ever Massive do produce a tremendous live experience and this year they headlined on the NME stage at the V Festival in both Staffordshire and Chelmsford, on 21 and 22 of August respectively. I imagine a live performance of this would be something to behold.

Related links:

Danny The Dog Player

http://www.massiveattack.com