Wow, a couple of great groups are mentioned here! First, I wasn't even aware Massive Attack was going to produce anything else past Mezzanine, but now I'm quite excited to see what they've been up to. Remixes show up from time to time on various downtempo collections, but the MP mixes are the only that I know were released as a collection. I have the Teardrop single which contains some work by British DJs, but to be honest, it's nothing spectacular.
To answer Tireguy, Portishead broke up following their live Roseland NYC concert; fantastic DVD of that one, by the way. It's too bad, because Dummy and the eponymous first album are two of my all-time favorites. Beth Gibbons' vocals are so haunting and Geoff Barrows, the DJ/mastermind of the group, was so meticulous in his mixing that he would cut his own brand-new lps containing the samples he wished to use.
And Bld63, you mentioned MBV. Oh man. Loveless is simply amazing. Layes upon layers of beautiful, complex sound, at times dissonant but always coherent. It sounds terrible to say, but I was a little disappointed to see it gain a lot of positive press from Q magazine and Rolling Stone, because I think some might have bought it to jump on an "insider" feel. I always see some almost new copies sitting in my local used-cd store, and I think it's perhaps not for everyone. As for new MBV, I've heard that the group has lost half its original members and has been sitting on a new release for at least five years, if not longer. If anyone else has any news, it would be most appreciated.
Finally, a thought which arose when I was thinking about MBV above, and trust me, this goes far far FAR afield from the main topic. Does anyone else get slightly peeved and, dare I say it, possessive when a favorite band starts to gain mass-market appeal and all of your buddies buy the CD? One never wants to be thought of as a bandwagoner. In the movie High Fidelity, for example, John Cusack says, "I will now sell 5 copies of the 3 EPs cd by the Beta Band" which, until that point, was a relatively unknown but great introduction to the quirky group. In a broader sense, what about those times when a favorite book, let's say The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, is now re-issued with Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore on the cover and a big splashy logo which says "Now a Major Motion Picture from whoever-it-is!". Aiiii! Many of my friends (and I'm positive I'm much younger than most on this board, hence my juvenile ranting) will watch a movie, then immediate head over to Barnes and Noble to pick up the book. I suspect it's so that they can smugly and knowingly say, "Well, yes, Fight Club IS a good movie, but it lacks the impact of the book." Boy, it's a good thing I'm not cynical, 'cause then, well, um, I'd be...oh never mind.
