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Protection is the second studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, first released on 26 September 1994 by Circa and Virgin Records.
Like most of Massive Attack's albums, the music often defies categorisation, ranging from R&B (title track and "Sly") to hip hop/rap ("Karmacoma" and "Eurochild") to reggae-tinged synthpop ("Spying Glass") to classical-influenced electronica instrumentals ("Weather Storm" and "Heat Miser"). The album follows Blue Lines structurally, to the point that the font used on the cover of the album is the same, Helvetica Heavy Italic. The album cover also nods to Blue Lines, revealing a futuristic, impenetrable wall behind a mostly-burned version of this previous album's artwork- implying that the depicted "flammable gas" had been ignited.
Tricky again appeared on the album, rapping on the tracks "Karmacoma" (whose video was directed by Jonathan Glazer, and which featured a sample from The KLF's "Dream Time in Lake Jackson" at the 2:00 minute mark) and "Eurochild" (which featured samples from Startled Insects' "Cheetah" and Liquid Liquid's "Lock Groove (In)").
Paul Evans of Rolling Stone wrote, "Cool, sexy stuff, it smoothly fuses dub, club and soul, grounding its grace in sampled hip-hop beats." In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked Protection at number 51 on its list of the "100 Best Albums of the Nineties"
Tracklist
Protection
Karmacoma
Three
Weather Storm
Spying Glass
Better Things
Euro Child
Sly
Heat Miser
Light My Fire (Live)
Soundwave