Safe from Harm
The opening track of Blue Lines, with Shara Nelson and 3D on vocals over a Billy Cobham bass line.
Massive Attack, from Blue Lines (1991)
- Written by
- Robert Del Naja, Andrew Vowles, Grant Marshall, Billy Cobham
- Released
- May 1991
- Length
- 5:18
- Album
- Blue Lines
Del Naja said Safe from Harm was one of the songs on Blue Lines that had been around since the Wild Bunch days. Shara Nelson and Del Naja share the vocals. The bass, guitar and drums are sampled from Billy Cobham's Stratus, from his album Spectrum, with additional drums from Funkadelic's Good Old Music. The record also draws on Herbie Hancock's Chameleon, and some of the backing vocals are based on Johnny "Guitar" Watson's Looking Back. The liner notes of Blue Lines name Taxi Driver as an influence.
It was the third single from the album, released in May 1991, and its Perfecto Mix plays at the end of Michael Mann's film The Insider. Pitchfork's Miles Raymer wrote that it spins an aggressive drumbeat, Del Naja's rap, Nelson's soulful vocals and a mist of sustained minor-key synths around an intimidatingly muscular bass loop.
More songs by Massive Attack
Teardrop, Risingson, Unfinished Sympathy, Protection, Karmacoma, Angel, Inertia Creeps
Sources
- Safe from Harm (song), Wikipedia
- Blue Lines (remastered box set), Pitchfork (2012-11-30)