Blue Lines
by Massive Attack
Massive Attack bestography
Blue Lines is ranked 2nd best out of 9 albums by Massive Attack on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Massive Attack is Mezzanine which is ranked number 139 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 9,858.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Listen to Blue Lines on YouTube
Blue Lines track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Blue Lines rankings
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AAL2014Blue Lines collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 486 members
Blue Lines ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 924 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days ago |  CA Dreamin | 742 | 70/100 | |
| 4 days ago | Map | 491 | 80/100 | |
| 02/05/2026 22:53 | Gedi | 153 | 84/100 | |
| 01/28/2026 08:54 | BuddyJimbo | 26 | 98/100 | |
| 01/25/2026 23:19 | wizardalien | 795 | 47/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.1/100, a mean average of 79.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.
Blue Lines favourites
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Blue Lines comments
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Here is an album that tries to combine several musical styles. I liked the rapping of the band's main trio, and didn't care so much for the soul on the tracks with guest singers. The music is well executed. Considered the first trip hop album, iconic.
Massively influential maintaining dark moody atmosphere throughout, but not very consistent. The obvious biggest highlight is Unfinished Sympathy and I also really like Safe From Harm and Five Man Army, the rest is good but blends together for me.
Got a listen to this from 2019 - three outstanding tracks on a good solid album - Safe From Harm, Hymn Of The Big Wheel and the immense Unfished Sympathy. No bad tracks for me.
An amazing debut album. Such a unique sound, unparalleled in this genre. Unfinished Sympathy is one of my favourite songs of all time - even the band seemed surprised at how good it was judging by the lyrics at the end of the song - "Don't know where this one came from". I'm also a big fan of the title track. The rest of the album is solid.
Album Rating: 94.00
(846/9)
Released in 1991, it wasn’t until the late 90s when I, as a 16 year old, snuck into pubs and bars with fake ID before stumbling on to the last bus home to be serenaded to sleep by Blue Lines. It used to be my preventative hangover cure and I am still convinced that I’ve never woken up with a sore head after listening to all 45:04 of this brilliance before bedtime.
1. "Safe from Harm” ft. Shara Nelson - 99
2. "One Love" ft. Horace Andy - 91
3. "Blue Lines" - ft. Adrian Thaws (Tricky) - 92
4. "Be Thankful for What You've Got" - 93
5. "Five Man Army” - 97
6. "Unfinished Sympathy" ft. Shara Nelson - 98
7. "Daydreaming" ft. Tricky - 84
8. "Lately" ft. Shara Nelson - 96
9. "Hymn of the Big Wheel" ft. Neneh Cherry & Horace Andy - 94
IanFrance 07/02/2021 22:49 | #271278
Groundbreaking electronica from the Bristol collective. Unlike some pioneering work, however, this sounds great too. Covering jazz-fusion drumming and lovers rock all within the trip-hop parameters, this LP sounds better on every listen.
Rating: Excellent
Best track: Hymn Of The Big Wheel
teague 01/28/2021 21:03 | #265230
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THE BEST START FOR A BAND
planetneutral 12/15/2020 03:49 | #262714
Overall more mellow than I go for, but relatively listenable.
Timestarter 07/01/2020 20:36 | #254909
ALL SONGS ARE MY FAV. TRACKS!!!
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