32. Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack

Still the greatest song of all time. Fact.

God I love this song so much: I have to stop and listen any time it comes on, to the exclusion of all else (which makes writing this incredibly difficult). I don’t know what caught me first on this song, but it’s probably those strings. What an amazing voice Shara Nelson had, though. I saw them at Sydney Town Hall, in the huge parquet floored main room, and we were suitably fueled for the evening, which featured the heaviest speakers I’d ever been exposed to at that stage. It was a brilliant night, untouchable, and even as we walked out through the detritus of beer cans (I knew even then they’d never put another show on in that room because of the mess, and sadly I was right) it was the sweep and majesty of this song that filled our heads.

I’ve seen them a bunch of time since – at Finsbury Park with James, in New York, in Brixton, even in Blackheath – but that first magical night stays with me even now. And now it’s sent me down a magic rabbit hole of Massive Attack tracks – Sly, with it’s Australian bush sounds weaving through it, the neverending build of Risingson, the simple perfection of Protection – and I may get nothing further done today. So be it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI