Massive Attack
Unfinished Sympathy

B-sting said on Sunday, 29 May 2011:
Wow, great find. It looks like Wikipedia has had the info wrong for years too, so I edited that. I compared both samples to be sure with Unfinished Sympathy and it's correct. Even the bell-sound from Bob James is different and could never had been sampled directly.

ay-jay said on Monday, 04 January 2010:
oops, x-post, Spinks has already done it, thanks!

ay-jay said on Monday, 04 January 2010:
I'll try that "Report missing or wrong information / video" red link up there. And John Trent below deserves the credit for this one!

Spinks said on Monday, 04 January 2010:
Cool guys, fair enough, we've now changed the sample page to show that it's from J.J. Johnson's "Parade Strut". For the record, this page used to show a sample of Bob James's "Take Me to the Mardi Gras", but it's been agreed that while the bells are similar and Massive Attack may have meant to interpolate them, they weren't directly sampled and the reference isn't clear and obvious enough to be included on the site. The credit has been changed to user John Trent who suggested it first. Thanks everyone!

asymmetry said on Monday, 04 January 2010:
Nice catch! I couldn't find a clip to compare it to, but I'm glad someone did. So um...how do we get this changed and get credit to the right person?

ay-jay said on Monday, 04 January 2010:
We have a winner: JJ Johnson's Parade Strut - sorry asymettry! The rhythm of the Mardi Gras 'bell' (agogo I think) is vaguely similar to Unfinished Sympathy, but they're obviously different tones - Mardi Gras has only 2 bell notes, whereas Unfinished Sympathy has four - and a different rhythm. (and even if it was 'replayed' by Massive Attack, that doesn't make it a sample) And the drum pattern & sounds are very obviously different. Parade Strut's busier hats and exact drum pattern and sound (around 9 seconds in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kms9EuygCgw) are plainly audible in Unfinished Sympathy, with added glass-tinkling, or whatever for the 'bells' (seriously, it sounds like glasses or bottles with different amounts of water to produce different notes/pitches).

theplantyherbs said on Wednesday, 26 August 2009:
I think the guys from Massive Attack can only confirm whether or not those bells are sampled from the Bob James track. I don't find them sounding the same at all. Only the same instrument, nothing more than that.

M1989 said on Sunday, 02 August 2009:
If you listen to the bells from Chicago's, Street Player at around 5:00 they sound very similar to massive attack. I think they may have sampled that

Spinks said on Thursday, 26 March 2009:
Wow, the shakers on JJ Johnson's Parade Strut do follow the same groove as the bells on Unfinished Sympathy. Matthiaszich, you could be right...

M1989 said on Thursday, 26 March 2009:
ive listened to JJ Johnson and personally i think that Bob James is a closer sample.

John Trent said on Wednesday, 25 March 2009:
Yeah, but you should agree that Bob James did not invent the bell! I just wanted to add that I'm (still) not sure about this one, not even about it being a reference. But I have only my two ears and maybe they just dont listen closely enough. Btw: take a listen to that JJ Johnson song! This should be more obvious, right?

asymmetry said on Wednesday, 25 March 2009:
Well, that would still make it a sample. Just a replayed one. I think it's rather obvious that, replayed or not, the bells are from Take Me to the Mardi Gras. I don't think they are different enough to say it's an original production.

John Trent said on Wednesday, 25 March 2009:
Oh, empty post...lol. I wanted to add that I'm not sure whether this is correct. To me MA definitely sampled JJ Johnson's Parade Strut for Unfinished Sympathy (sample appears at 0:08). I think those bells are added by simply playing them.

asymmetry said on Wednesday, 25 March 2009:
I think it's manipulated. I'm not sure to what degree, though.

Spinks said on Wednesday, 25 March 2009:
The reference to the Bob James track is obvious but I was never 100% sure that this is a direct sample - the bells on Unfinished Sympathy sound somewhat different and I'm still not sure if Massive Attack just manipulated the original break or recorded their own version of the bells. Any opinions?