Unfinished Sympathy

"Unfinished Sympathy" is a 1991 song by the English trip hop group Massive Attack, released under the temporary group name Massive. It was written by the three band members Robert "3D" Del Naja, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, the song's vocalist Shara Nelson and the group's co-producer Jonathan "Jonny Dollar" Sharp. It was released on 11 February 1991 as the second single from the band's first album, ''Blue Lines'', on the band's Wild Bunch label distributed by Circa Records. The name "Massive" was used to avoid a radio ban, as the track's release coincided with the Gulf War. Produced by Massive Attack and Dollar, the song incorporates various musical elements into its arrangement, including vocal and percussion samples, drum programming and string orchestration by the arranger Wil Malone.

"Unfinished Sympathy" topped the Dutch Top 40 and was a top-20 hit on the singles charts of several countries, including Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video, directed by Baillie Walsh, was a single continuous shot of Nelson walking through a Los Angeles neighbourhood, oblivious to her surroundings. Regarded as a pioneering song in the development of British dance music, "Unfinished Sympathy" was acclaimed by music critics for its production and Nelson's vocals. It ranked highly on several publications' year-end lists of the best singles of 1991, and has since appeared in many polls of the best songs of all time by both music critics and the public worldwide. The song was later used on the soundtrack of the 1993 film '' Sliver''.

Background and composition

Nelson had known the members of Massive Attack when they were still part of the Bristol sound system collective The Wild Bunch, having been introduced to them by Adrian Sherwood, and had sung vocals on the Wild Bunch's 1986 single " The Look of Love". "Unfinished Sympathy" developed out of a song Nelson had been writing which she had provisionally titled "Kiss and Tell". Hearing Nelson singing the melody to herself in Bristol's Coach House studio during sessions for ''Blue Lines'', the band and the producer Dollar encouraged her to develop the song further – as band member 3D later recalled, "We thought, there's something there." The band, Dollar and Nelson worked on the song during a jam session in the studio, using a drum machine, keyboards and Nelson's vocals. It acquired its new name – a pun on Franz Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" – during this session. 3D explained, "I hate putting a title to anything without a theme, but with 'Unfinished Sympathy', we'd started with a jam... and added an orchestral score later. The title came up as a joke at first, but it fitted the song and the arrangements so perfectly, we just had to use it."

The orchestral section was originally played on synthesizers, but as DJ Mushroom said, "The synth sounded too tacky, so we thought we may as well use real strings. The orchestra definitely changed the feeling of the song, making it heavier and deeper with more feeling. They were really good utit took them about five takes to do it because they were slightly behind the beat." It was Dollar's idea to use a full orchestra, and he contacted the British music producer Wil Malone who arranged and conducted the song's string section which was recorded in Abbey Road Studios, London. However, as Mushroom later admitted, the group had not taken the cost of the orchestra into account when planning the budget for the recording of ''Blue Lines'', and were forced to sell their car (a Mitsubishi Shogun) in order to pay for the strings.

A trip hop song, "Unfinished Sympathy" incorporates drum programming and scratching performed by Mushroom into its arrangement; John Bush of ''AllMusic'' refers to these elements as references to the group's "b-boy past." The song's initial tone is set by "chilled hip hop beats" and samples of a percussion break from "Parade Strut (Instrumental)" by J. J. Johnson. Notably, the original album version of "Unfinished Sympathy" does not have a traditional bass line. Vocal samples of a man singing "hey, hey, hey, hey..." – originating from John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Planetary Citizen" – are present throughout the song.

Music video

West Pico Boulevard (Los Angeles), with the path Nelson takes in the video marked in grey">

The accompanying music video for "Unfinished Sympathy", (a docu-fiction) was directed by Baillie Walsh, who had also directed the video for Massive Attack's previous single "Daydreaming", and was filmed in a single continuous shot from 1311 South New Hampshire Avenue to 2632 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The video, filmed on Steadicam, begins with a shot of a street gang before moving to follow Nelson walking along the pavement unaware or uncaring of her surroundings, which include drunks, bikers and disabled people. As the video progresses, first Daddy G, then 3D (having finished making a call on a public phone booth) and then Mushroom (pushing a cart) can be seen walking several paces behind her, slightly out of focus. At the end of the video, Nelson walks past the camera and off down the road into the distance. The video was originally supposed to conclude with an overhead shot of Los Angeles, but the scene was not used.

Not all of the people in the video were actors: 3D told ''Melody Maker'' that "some of them were extras. And some of them couldn't be f***ed to get off the street. The gang at the beginning with the dog – they were real, they lived there." The performance artist Leigh Bowery was the video's art director; the group later described him as "definitely the most outrageous character", recalling, "Because we weren't part of that London scene, he tried to dress down and go low-key around us. This basically meant he turned up to the shoot for 'Unfinished' in LA, dressed in this mental outfit, like a faux- Manc casual. Massive parka, a mad pudding-basin wig, big Stone Roses baggies, and dripping with sweat."

Dan Kneece, best known for his work on the 1986 film '' Blue Velvet'', operated the Steadicam for the video shoot. 3D said that Kneece was one of the main reasons why they had chosen to shoot the video in Los Angeles, "because there aren't many people n the UKwho have the expertise to hold a Steadycam on their back for five minutes", the other reason being "the light, because you can't get that kind of golden light anywhere else". Kneece recalled that the shoot started with him on a Shotmaker arm on which he filmed the gang before being lifted into the air and then down again, at which point he had to take a running jump off the arm onto the sidewalk to follow Nelson. Six takes were recorded before Kneece became too exhausted to carry the camera any more. The equipment used for the filming included an Arriflex III camera, a Cooke triplet lens, and a 400-foot camera magazine. Precision speed control was used to fit the entirety of the song onto the camera roll.

Sean O'Hagan of ''The Guardian'' described the clip as a "benchmark in modern video direction, more a breathtaking short film than a mere pop promo". English alternative rock band The Verve later paid homage to it in the video for their 1997 song "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which in turn was parodied in the video for the song "Vindaloo" by Fat Les.

Release

"Unfinished Sympathy" was released as the second single from ''Blue Lines'' on 11 February 1991. As the single was released in the midst of the Gulf War, the word "attack" was temporarily dropped from the group's name at the advice of their record company and management. The name "Massive Attack" had previously been deemed "unpatriotic" by the BBC – thus, the name change was carried out to prevent the single from being banned from airplay. The single was a commercial success for the group, managing to chart highly in several European countries. "Unfinished Sympathy" became a number-one hit on the Dutch Top 40 and peaked at number two on the Dutch Mega Single Top 100 chart. It also gave the group their first major hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for nine weeks. But on the UK Dance Singles Chart, it hit number three. The single reached the top ten in Switzerland and the top twenty in Germany and the Flanders region of Belgium. Outside of Europe, it peaked at number 48 in New Zealand.

Critical reception and legacy

Upon its release the single received widespread critical acclaim from the music press. The ''NME'' made it single of the week and called it "an intense, warmblooded dance track that boasts more fire in its balls than the Pixies ever dug for" (referring to the Pixies' recently released single "Dig for Fire"). In ''Record Mirror'', where it was also crowned single of the week, the review said, "The wisely understated production allows both the beauty of the swelling strings and the emotional pull of the vocals to shine through. Fiendishly expert with rhythms, too cerebral to be termed just a dance act, Massive can't put a foot wrong." Although it was not reviewed in ''Melody Maker'' at the time of its release, in December 1991 the magazine made "Unfinished Sympathy" its single of the year, stating that it "will unquestionably stand as one of the greatest soul records of all time". The song was also placed at number eight in the ''NME'' critics' list of the singles of the year.

Former ''Record Mirror'' writer and BBC Northern Ireland presenter Stuart Bailie stated that, "It was soul music. But it had bold, symphonic arrangements. It featured samples of the Mahavishnu Orchestra going 'hey, hey hey, hey'. It had funky breaks and an emotional power that was hard to figure. It sounded anxious and lost. But there was a grandeur in the music also. People who came across the record became obsessed, spinning it endlessly."

Elsewhere in music media, "Unfinished Sympathy" has frequently been placed highly on lists of "the best songs of all time":

*The TV channel MTV2 in the UK ranked it number one in a poll of the best songs of all tim

*'' The Face (magazine), The Face'' (UK) – Singles of the Year, ranking number on

*''Melody Maker'' (UK) – Singles of the Year, ranking number on

*'' NME, New Musical Express'' (UK) – Singles of the Year, ranking number eigh

*''Iguana'' (Spain) – Singles of the Year, ranking number tw

*A BBC Radio 2 poll ranked it number 44 in the best songs of all time
*Reviewer Julie Burchill has described it as her favourite song of all tim

*Mr. C of techno act The Shamen ranked it his number-one song of the 1990s.
*Dance music producer Darren Tate has described it as his favourite record ever.
*''Mixmag'' (UK) – ranked number 10 in The 100 Best Dance Singles of All Time (199

*''New Musical Express'' (UK) – ranked number 10 in The Top 100 Singles of All Time (200
Greatest Singles
*'' Q (magazine), Q'' (UK) – The 1001 Best Songs Ever (2003), ranking number 3

*''Q'' (UK) – Top 20 Singles from 1980 to 2004 (2004), ranking number eigh
greatest songs
*BBC Radio 1 (1998), ranking number on

*Triple J (Australia) Hottest 100 of All Time 2009, ranking number 93
*Mixmag top 10 songs of all tim

*'' Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork'' best tracks of the 1990s, ranking number 44


According to Acclaimed Music, a site which uses statistics to numerically represent critical reception, "Unfinished Sympathy" is the fifth most well-received song of the 1990s, and the 63rd of all time.

Track listing

* 7-inch
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Nellee Hooper 7-inch mix) – 4:34
# "Unfinished Sympathy" – 5:12

* 12-inch
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Paul Oakenfold mix) – 5:18
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Paul Oakenfold instrumental mix) – 5:18
# "Unfinished Sympathy" – 5:12
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (instrumental) – 4:08

* CD
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Paul Oakenfold mix) – 5:18
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Paul Oakenfold instrumental mix) – 5:18
# "Unfinished Sympathy" – 5:12
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (instrumental) – 4:08

* 12-inch remixes
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Nellee Hooper 12-inch mix) – 5:50
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (Nellee Hooper instrumental mix) – 5:34
# "Unfinished Sympathy" (original) – 5:12

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''Blue Lines'' liner notes.

Recording
* Engineered and recorded in Abbey Road Studios, London
* Mixed at the Matrix Recording Studios, London
* Recorded at Coach House, Bristol
* Strings conducted and recorded in Dublin and Abbey Road Studios, London

Personnel

* Jeremy Allom – engineering, mixing
* Haydn Bendall – engineering
* Robert Del Naja – production, songwriting
* Grantley Marshall – production, songwriting
* Wil Malone – arrangement, conducting

* Shara Nelson – songwriting, vocals
* Jonathan Sharp – production, songwriting
* Gavyn Wright – lead violin
* Andrew Vowles – production, scratching, songwriting

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

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1991 singles
Massive Attack songs
Tina Turner songs
1991 songs
Virgin Records singles
Songs written by Daddy G
Songs written by Robert Del Naja
Songs written by Andrew Vowles
Songs written by Shara Nelson
Music videos directed by Baillie Walsh
Songs written by Jonny Dollar
Song recordings produced by Jonny Dollar
Dutch Top 40 number-one singles