Customer Reviews

Dummy

5 star:		(231)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is definitely another five-star item from me. Every time I listen to it, no matter how long it's sat in my CD shelf (forgotten, but only temporarily and never for too long), I am constantly surprised by how great it is...ahh the joy of "rediscovering" a favorite.

Dark and moody, much of the album sounds like a memory...of a place you've been once, or a movie you saw, or music you heard as you drove by an open window or door late one night in the city. Some of it is incredibly sexy (like "Numb," "Pedestal," and the awesome "Glory Box"), other parts are mournful (like "Biscuit," "Sour Times," "It's a Fire," and "It Could Be Sweet"), and still more are mysterious or just plain funky ("Mysterions" and "Strangers").

It's really hard to pick a favorite song on this album...almost all of them perfectly fit different moods I have at different times. They seem to encompass an incredibly vast range of modern urban sensitivities. "Sour Times" is, of course, wonderfully reminiscent of a moody classic spy flick while a song like "Strangers" bounces back and forth between an intense, pulsing beat like a walk through the club district of a large city and gentle, delicate interludes like the dawn over the Sea of Japan.

My least favorite is "Wandering Star," which I think is a bit too repetative, but even that I'm willing to listen to without much complaint.

Smoothly sexy, definitely modern, and particularly urban, *Dummy* is a classic and well worth your time and money.

If it wasn't for Portishead's vocalist Beth Gibbons, you could listen to Dummy all of the time. With tight, fresh hip-hop beats and a subtle jazz flavor, most of Dummy is danceable, although the band do have a knack for creating an especially eerie mood with moaning organs and swelling strings. But when Gibbons enters the scene, her clear delicate vibrato casts a shadow of isolation and absolute melancholy over the whole album.

Portishead easily draw you into their lonely world, and their ambient trip-hop entices you to stay. Songs like "Numb" and "Biscuit" are dark trances enduced by the combination of hip-hop, mellow guitars, and a variety of samples coated by Gibbon's desperate pleas for salvation. Hearing her cry, "Nobody loves me, it's true" (from the superhit "Sour Times") is enough to tear at anyone's heart.

On "Roads" - a track already enveloped in sorrowful elegant strings - Gibbon's soprano trembles with pain. However, the twisted lounge acts, "Strangers" and "Pedestal" feature very soulful and powerful vocals accompanied by some excellent jazz performances.

The last track, "Glory Box", is Portishead in full blow. Over a sample from Isaac Hayes' "Ike's Rap III" and a slinky blues guitar, Gibbons duels with herself as she tries to justify a relationship. She first comes off as a contemptuous Billie Holiday and then switches back to her sweet, sad self as she pleads, "Give me a reason to love you/ I just want to be a woman."

By all means, Dummy is an essential album for trip-hop fans and beginners. A definite keeper.

Portishead's miraculous debut, Dummy, is soul music in the truest sense of the word, a journey into the heart of darkness which leaves you emotionally exhausted and bewildered, but ultimately intoxicated. Beth Gibbons' voice is white light refracted through a shattered psyche: at times pure, resonant and beautiful, at others desperate, hysterical and bordering on the deranged. The music is often suffocating, the power of the bass seeping into the marrow of your bones, while the breakbeats attempt to destroy your eardrums: the sound of sanity disintegrating.

Mysterons steals into your consciousness like an electronic dream, but it is Sour Times that really kicks you awake, full-on John Barryesque orchestration attacks your senses, providing Beth with a backdrop to enchant you with her siren's song, "Nobody loves me, it's true - not like you do". The album descends into the depths for much of the middle period, Wandering Star and Numb darkly funereal shards of fear and despair. Then there is Roads, the album's masterpiece. As Beth croons "Can't anybody see, we've got a war to fight" the violins slowly build into an unbearably beautiful torchsong which tries to steal your heart, and very nearly succeeds. Pedestal and Biscuit are the comedown, the 3am stoned lullabies. Then, just as you're drifting off to another world, Glorybox glides into focus, Beth in full Eartha Kitt mode, imploring someone "Give me a reason to love you, give me a reason to be a woman". A fantastically drunken guitar solo then ushers in a change of pace, a crash of drums and a promise: "This is the beginning of forever and ever..." As Isaac Hayes' strings fade into the dawn and if you've been paying attention, I defy you not to feel a little fragile.

I am a recovering trip-hop addict. For about a 4 years I ate up just about anything with the words trip-hop or downbeat attached to it. Sure there was a lot of quality albums there from groups like Massive Attack, Portishead, and the first Tricky album, but there was also a lot of [stuff] like the Sneaker Pimps and every other Tricky album. Now I know better. Just because somethings slow and dark doesn't necessarily mean its brilliant.

Portishead is different though. Beth Gibbons backs up the dark music and lyrical gloom with the most beuatifully raspy alto I've ever heard. There are more samples than I can possibly count but they all seem to blend together so tightly that you could swear that this album was recorded by studio musicians (I meant that as a compliment). Theyre self titled album is great too, but i dont think that it or any other album in the genre could ever surpass Dummy.

Portishead's 1994 debut, "Dummy", is a timeless album that swings from mood to mood(from heartbreakingly dark to teary eyed to slightly optimistic). And implies many styles( rock, jazz, soul, hip hop, gospel, classical) while keeping it consistent and gaspingly beautiful. "Dummy" doesn't even sound like it was recorded in ANY era. It's ahead of it's time while keeping a effective film-noir quality.

The surprise hit "Sour Times" ("No body loves me/ It's true") stills sounds relevant as it did when first released with it's tense delicacy. From the most accessible cut "It Could Be Sweet" to the quaint "Numb"(sampled by R&B singer Ginuwine on his 1996 single "G Thang") to the lithing morose state of "Roads" to the seductive "It's A Fire", every song on "Dummy" is just enwraps you. Every song is beautiful and enticing. No filler or duds.

With Beth Gibbons' soft, delicate vocals (reminisit of Dido meets Sade) and Geoff Barrow's genius (he first got some shine producing Neneh Cherry's underrated classic "Somedays" on N's "Homebrew" project two years prior to this album's release),
"Dummy" proves that it's one of the most influential albums of all-time. "Glory Box" has been heard in several films with it's Issac Hayes sample and slow strings and dozens of Portishead imitators and acts influenced by the group emerged. This album has been duplicated so many times. One of the best albums of the 1990s and one of the best debuts of all-time as well. Timeless (it could have been recorded this year, it's so relevant) and without peer (OK, maybe Esthero and Everything But The Girl!-since both are as high standing as these guys).
You'll be in a new multilayered, multicolored world when you put this disc in. Out of this universe.

I purchased Dummy after reading all of the glowing reviews, so my expectations were pretty high. I was shocked by the depth of the feelings this CD produced. It is an absolute gem. I am pretty versed in the "Trip-Hop" (I hate that name! btw) movement. Getting started with Massive and Tricky and then expanding into Morcheeba, Lamb, Hoover etc. I am actually kind of glad I waited to check out Portishead. While I highly recommend all of the aforementioned, Portishead seems a little smarter to me. A bit more on the edge. Dummy combines supurb hooks with pulverizing bass and incredible vocals. If you like smart music, sounds that inspire emotion and thought, Dummy is a must buy! Enjoy.

A classic trip hop album needs noirish ambience, haunting vocals and dark, dense production. Portishead's Dummy is so classic and so faithful to the trip hop genre that it has become the unofficial blueprint.

Beth Gibbons is the moody songstress that this album - or any album for that matter - needs. She wails with a kind of grace and vindiction that is so crucial to the band's sound. She's like the Nina Simone of trip hop - untouchable, remarkable and passionate.

The production is flawless in both its listenability and its command of the album's mood. The orchestral feel of the strings and basslines makes it a densely layered listen and leaves you exploring each track many times over. That's perhaps what I love the most about this album: the beautiful vocals and rich production leaves you wanting to revisit each track over and over again, each time leaving you with a new or different impression and/or understanding of Portishead's sound.

If you're a big Morcheeba or Massive Attack fan then you NEED this album. The early 90s trip hop scene in England was the british equivalent to Americain grunge, complete with self indulgence, decadence and darkness. The vocals are always a total treat and the production is always deep and interesting. If you're a big earphone-fiend and love to escape into your music during the morning and evening commute then Portishead is your friend. With a great voice in Beth Gibbons and beats that are both jaw-dropping and mood-setting what more could a music lover ask for?

Beth Gibbons vocals are stunning. I have have had this CD for over 4 years now, I still actively enjoy it, and many of the tunes still give me the chills just as strongly as at first listen. This CD is one of my top 5 of all time, and I like to think I have pretty eclectic tastes. It's also the only CD I have ever ordered from amazon as a gift for a friend (she loved it, so I sent her their second album last week). This isn't necessarily listen-to-in-your-car music, I tend to listen to it during quiet moments at home. Some find it a little ominous or dark even, I just find it very relaxing - the tunes just draw me in.

Portishead's debut offering, _Dummy_, may be best known for the James Bond-esque "Sour Times" track that received decent mainstream airplay. But digging further into the disc, one unearths a true musical marvel, a sound that is at once old and new, fused with a lyrical delivery that makes the album timeless. _Dummy_ takes what later came to be known as trip-hop and elevates it to a level that no one else has yet to match.

To be sure, tracks like "Sour Times" and "Wandering Star" are more in line with the traditional sense of the genre, but still contain enough unique qualities to separate Portishead from other trip-hop artists. The production is simply superb, with every bass line, and every sample, fitting perfectly into each track, giving every song its own distinctive atmosphere. There are no unnecessary flourishes, no attempts to sully the songs with trendier beats or catchier melodies; the songs are true to themselves, and while that may not always result in a radio-friendly track, the songs are much better for it.

When Beth Gibbons is given more melancholy subject matter to sing about, however, it punctuates her haunting delivery and produces incredible tracks. "Roads" is a painful journey through the soul, and the heartbreaking tone of "Glory Box," combined with its minimal yet sweeping backdrop, has to be heard to be believed. Gibbons and the rest of Portishead are masters at producing a very brooding sound, and when that sound is matched with apropos lyrics, the result is music that defies description.

_Dummy_ is the pinnacle of trip-hop, and perhaps one of the defining CDs of 1990's electronic music. Others have attempted to "humanize" electronic music, and some have succeeded, but few can dream of matching the miraculous sound created by Portishead on this disc.

What can be said that already hasn't been said? I don't think there's much. This must have REALLY seemed ground-breaking at the time: Backbeats that sometimes recall hip-hop elements and some real soaring, soulful vocals from Beth Gibbons. There's not a single bad song on here, and it's most famous for the awesome "Sour Times," which sounds at times like a James Bond theme with certain elements. Then there's "Numb" which is probably my favorite song on the album, real soulful vocals there. You get more blues-rockin' moments like on the record's closer "Glory Box." There's occasional samples which rule and sound neat like everything else. If you haven't heard "Dummy" yet you are in for a real treat. Pretty much everyone who owns it can tell you that it's well worth the hype. It is beautiful and proves electronic music CAN BE full of emotion. Even today, it doesn't sound dated at all. I like the follow-up album too, but advise this as your start.