Sly (Massive Attack song)

"Sly" is a song by British trip hop collective Massive Attack. It was released as a first single from their second album, Protection (1994), on 17 October 1994 by Wild Bunch and Circa Records. Vocals on the track are performed by Scottish singer-songwriter Nicolette. "Sly" reached number 24 in the United Kingdom, becoming Massive Attack's fourth top-40 single there. The accompanying music video was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui and filmed in New York City.^[2]

"Sly"
Single by Massive Attack
from the album Protection
Released	17 October 1994 (1994-10-17)[1]
Genre	Trip hop
Length	5:25 (album version) 4:56 (single edit)
Label	Wild Bunch Circa
Songwriter(s)	Andrew Vowles Robert Del Naja Grant Marshall Nellee Hooper Nicolette Suwoton Vivien Goldman
Producer(s)	Andrew Vowles Robert Del Naja Grant Marshall Nellee Hooper
Massive Attack singles chronology
"Massive Attack (EP)" (1992) "Sly" (1994) "Protection" (1995)
Music video
"Sly" on YouTube

Background

"Sly" was the combination of Craig Armstrong's strings combined with Nicolette's vocals. After hearing her first album Now is Early, and being suitably impressed by it, Massive Attack chose Nicolette to appear on Protection.^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception

Push from Melody Maker felt releasing the song as the first single from the Protection album was "the smartest choice", praising the "dreamy-voices" by Nicolette. He concluded, "Thumbs up."^[3] Robbert Tilli from Music & Media described it as "slowly-creeping".^[4] Andy Beevers from Music Week gave it a score of four out of five and named it a "moody, downbeat song".^[5] Dele Fadele from NME wrote, "'Sly' finds Nigerian-born Nicolette trilling on in a sultry and wistful manner about time-travel, fate and destiny whilst the string-laden, mid-tempo backdrop conjures up images of the South Seas Pacific and somewhere more devastated and ominous. The overall effect is of putting your ears close to a sea shell and hearing clear, chiming, harmonic bells; as dazzling as that."^[6] Brad Beatnik from the Record Mirror Dance Update remarked the singer's "sultry and jazzy vocals" on "a beautiful moody tune that won't be easy to fit in a set (although times are changing fast in clubland)."^[7]

Music video

The music video for "Sly" was directed by French music video director, photographer, film producer and actor Stéphane Sednaoui, and produced by Line Postmyr for Propaganda.^[8] It was filmed in New York City and released on 17 October 1994. In the video, three mysterious storylines merge.^[8]

Track listings

UK CD1 and cassette single; Australian CD single[9][10][11] "Sly" (7-inch edit) – 4:10 "Sly" (7 Stones mix) – 5:58 "Sly" (Underdog mix) – 5:19 "Sly" (Underdog double bass & a cappella) – 3:36 UK CD2[12] "Sly" (album version) – 5:24 "Sly" (Underdog version) – 4:29 "Sly" (Cosmic dub) – 5:26 "Sly" (Eternal Feedback dub) – 6:23 UK 12-inch single[13] A1. "Sly" (7 Stones mix) – 5:58 A2. "Sly" (Underdog mix) – 5:19 B1. "Sly" (Cosmic dub) – 5:26 B2. "Sly" (album version) – 5:24 B3. "Sly" (Eternal Feedback dub) – 6:23

European CD single[14] "Sly" (7-inch edit) – 4:10 "Sly" (7 Stones mix) – 5:58 US maxi-CD single[15] "Sly" (7-inch edit) "Sly" (7 Stones mix) "Sly" (Underdog mix) "Sly" (Cosmic dub) "Karmacoma" (LP version)

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[16]	98
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[17]	77
Europe (European Dance Radio)[18]	20
Scotland (OCC)[19]	29
UK Singles (OCC)[20]	24