I never would have even considered getting this had I not heard "Sour Times" the few times that it got any radio play in New York Top 40 stations. But when I finally did buy it, it turned out to be easily one of the best items in my entire music collection.
Vocals:
The lead vocalist, Beth Gibbons, infuses the entire album with haunting and eerie yet pure vocals. Although you can find comparable voices in groups like Tricky, Hooverphonic, and a variety of other so-called trip hop groups, Beth clearly stands out among the crowd. I thought "Sour Times (Nobody Loves Me)" had one of the most beautiful demonstrations of the female voice I had ever heard, but then when I bought the album I found that "It Could Be Sweet" and all of the other songs put "Sour Times" to shame, if you could imagine that. While the lyrics are rather depressing and brooding, you really just can't turn it off due to her beautiful voice (trust me, it's the only tape that I've listened to over 200 times and still I don't skip through a single track or ever get bored). If the mythical sirens were ever to exist in real life, Beth Gibbons would be their leader for sure.
Music:
The deep, dark turntablism blended with funky, soulful hooks performed by DJ Geoff Barrows also sucks in the listener. The simple methods of scratching and sampling resemble a kid who just bought his first set of Technics 1200s and just started playing around with some old CD's, but it's the extreme simplicity of the sounds that makes it all work. Portishead isn't (or at least in their first album they weren't) about creating a monstrous, heavy-hitting trip hop sound. They just want to lull you into a deep, mysterious, trance. And whatever it is they're doing, they got me hooked.
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