100th Window

100th Window
Studio album by Massive Attack
Released 10 February 2003
Recorded 2001–2002
Studio Sony Studios
Genre
Length 73:52
Label Virgin
Producer
Massive Attack chronology
Singles 90/98
(1998)		 100th Window
(2003)		 Danny the Dog
(2004)
Singles from 100th Window
  1. "Special Cases"
    Released: 24 February 2003
  2. "Butterfly Caught"
    Released: 16 June 2003

100th Window is the fourth studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 10 February 2003 by Virgin Records. Of the group's original core line-up, the album only features Robert Del Naja; Andrew Vowles departed shortly after the release of the group's previous album Mezzanine (1998), and Grant Marshall refused to participate in the making of the record. 100th Window was written and produced by Del Naja and Neil Davidge, and features vocals from Horace Andy, Sinéad O'Connor, and Damon Albarn (performing as 2D). It is also the first album by the group that makes no use of samples, and contains none of the jazz or jazz fusion stylings of the group's first two albums Blue Lines (1991) or Protection (1994).

Background

Work on the album started in early 2000 at the Christchurch Studios in Clifton, Bristol. Massive Attack recruited Lupine Howl (a band made up of ex-members of Spiritualized) for the new album. In a November 2001 interview, Lupine Howl's lead singer Sean Cook described the sessions as "very experimental ... that essentially consisted of kinda minimal loops and noises that were fed to our head phones from the computer up in the control room. Then we would have this sort of extended jam session playing along to them and they would do various things to do the loops. Sometimes they would drop out the loop, sometimes they would start processing it with effects and delays and stuff like that, to try and make it change in various ways and see what that would do in terms of our playing. They also had a strobe light in the live room, which they controlled from the control room. They would kind of put that on and speed it up to dictate the intensity and try to affect the way we played with the lighting. It was a really good laugh; we got some good stuff. I mean, hours and hours of stuff, which they have taken back and cut up and arranged and done their things to."[2]

In a 17 July 2002 posting to Massive Attack's forums Del Naja wrote that over the course of time, the band had become "very unhappy with the shapes being formed", and that by the beginning of 2002 they had discarded most of the material that was written up to that point. As a result, Lupine Howl is not credited with any contributions to the final album. However, one song from those sessions, "Nature of Threat", was later made available for download on Massive Attack's website.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Alternative Press[5]
Entertainment WeeklyC[6]
The Guardian[7]
Los Angeles Times[8]
Mojo[9]
Pitchfork5.1/10[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
Spin7/10[12]
Uncut[13]

Initial critical response to 100th Window was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 75, based on 25 reviews.[3]

As of 2010, sales in the United States have exceeded 180,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[14]

Track listing

All tracks written by Robert "3D" Del Naja and Neil Davidge except tracks 2, 4 & 6 written by Del Naja/Davidge/O'Connor

No.TitleLength
1."Future Proof" (vocals by 3D)5:37
2."What Your Soul Sings" (vocals by Sinéad O'Connor)6:37
3."Everywhen" (vocals by Horace Andy)7:37
4."Special Cases" (vocals by Sinéad O'Connor)5:09
5."Butterfly Caught" (vocals by 3D)7:33
6."A Prayer for England" (vocals by Sinéad O'Connor)5:44
7."Small Time Shot Away" (vocals by 3D, backing vocals by 2D)7:57
8."Name Taken" (vocals by Horace Andy)7:47
9."Antistar (Includes untitled hidden track, but sometimes considered to be titled "LP4")" (vocals by 3D)19:40

Personnel

Orchestra arrangement by Craig Pruess, Neil Davidge and Robert "3D" Del Naja

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Poland [15] 1
UK Albums Chart[16] 1

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[17] Gold 35,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[18] Gold 15,000*
Belgium (BEA)[19] Gold 25,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[20] Gold 20,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[22] none 180,000 [14]^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ "Massive Attack – 100th Window – Review". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  2. ↑ Mark Redfern (June 2002). "Under the Radar – Lupine Howl". Archived from the original on 12 November 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  3. 1 2 "Reviews for 100th Window by Massive Attack". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  4. ↑ Bush, John. "100th Window – Massive Attack". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "Massive Attack: 100th Window". Alternative Press (177): 87. April 2003.
  6. ↑ Browne, David (14 February 2003). "100th Window". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  7. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (7 February 2003). "Massive Attack: 100th Window". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Romero, Dennis (9 February 2003). "Visionary, polished and harrowing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Massive Attack: 100th Window". Mojo (112): 97. March 2003.
  10. ↑ Ott, Chris (4 February 2003). "Massive Attack: 100th Window". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  11. ↑ Berger, Arion (28 January 2003). "Massive Attack: 100th Window". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  12. ↑ Hermes, Will (March 2003). "Storm Windows". Spin. 19 (3): 117–18. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  13. ↑ "Massive Attack: 100th Window". Uncut (70): 104. March 2003.
  14. 1 2 http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/959308/massive-attack-prove-new-album-was-worth-the-wait
  15. ↑ "Olis Oficjalna lista sprzedaży". 24 February 2003.
  16. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. 22 February 2003. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2003 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  18. ↑ "Austrian album certifications – Massive Attack – 100th window" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Massive Attack in the field Interpret. Enter 100th window in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen. 
  19. ↑ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2003". Ultratop. Hung Medien.
  20. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Massive Attack; '100th window')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  21. ↑ "British album certifications – Massive Attack – 100th window". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Enter 100th window in the search field and then press Enter.
  22. ↑ "American album certifications – Massive Attack – 100th window". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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