Pros: Splendid innovation and instrumentation, Beth Gibbons' magnificent vocals, real human interest for an album that is so mechanical in its production.
Cons: Inaccessible (or considered so) for many, not the sort of thing you want blaring out at a party, one or two weaker tracks - hence only 4 stars.
A magnificent, and tragically overlooked, offering from Bristol trip-hop outfit Portishead, who combine a wide range of musical reference points and incisive originality to produce one of the better albums to come out of the UK music scene in the 90s.
"Dummy" has its mood comprehensively rooted in the negative array of the emotional spectrum, yet still manages to enthrall and challenge the listener at every turn with constantly innovative and exciting changes of dynamics and bombast. This is done almost entirely with samplers, sequences, synthesizers and other tools of the 90s studio, but, unlike some albums released by their peers of a similar musical genre and background (Massive Attack take note), Portishead manage to produce this intensely soulfull album of GENUINE human interest and involvement without breaking out any of the more "traditional" (although that doesn't seem quite the right word) instrumentation of the trip-hop genre; sounds, present on albums of similar scope and quality, produced by artists who will certainly be remembered by many more people in 30 years time than this lot will. "Dummy" certainly ain't far off being Portishead's own "Revolver" or "Dark Side Of The Moon", but is anyone listening? I fear that without the sort of accessibility or foothold in the mass market that is necessary to really popularise a slightly less mainstream album in the current musical climate, this fine collection of sounds, and this constantly creative and innovative band, may well be lost to the average listener forever.
All this is a bit of a shame, really, because although "Dummy" certainly isn't the sort of LP to throw on the stereo at a party, or even as some background music, it carries the sort of intensity and resonance that is only ever experienced in popular music through a select few, very special, works. It kicks off with "Mysterons", a deeply downbeat and "atmospheric" (cue sounds of reviewer fervently searching dictionnary for less trite adjective) track which really sets the tone for the rest of the album. Like most of the tracks on this record, it's more of a soundscape than a song, in the way that, say, "Hey Jude" is a song, in that it carries little in the way of chorus/verse repetition, but, like so much of Portishead's better work, winds its way from beginning to end in a blissfully non-structured way, tracking back regularly to the same repeated basslines or synth riffs but never turning back and repeating on itself. Portishead are always striving for new sounds, in a way that too few talented bands in the history of pop music have, and this is even reflected upon individual tracks, as if the band is constantly recognising that there are too few sounds on each five minute piece of music, and start throwing a few more melodies or dynamics into the mixture. This is even seen on the more structured pieces on the album, such as the highly recognisable "Wandering Star" and "Sour Times", and contrasts beautifully with the overtly dance-orientated (and therefore, almost by definition, repetitive) nature of this album.
Standout tracks "Strangers", "Sour Times", "Pedestal" and the magnificent "Roads", a powerful journey through the singer's emotional battles with a loved one, live more in the subconscious than anything that can be obviously transcribed by the written word, and all convey the same sense of emotional resonance and involving bombast that Portishead's music thrives upon - not simply turning up the noise and conveying their musical image with volume and simple tonal alteration alone (as too many of their dub/trip-hop/electronic rock contemporaries seem inclined to do), but assaulting the ears with a more complex sound - finding the extremities of their music and really using them, often in a most unexpected and pleasing way.
The album's most successful (and recognisable) track is also its final word, the magnificent and, in lyrical terms, comparatively most straightforward of the lot, Glory Box. It uses a repeated orchestral motif, as does much of the album, which is distorted and overlaid with a simple bass line and some wonderfully sleazy vocals, culminating in a crawling blues guitar solo and entirely unexpected spiral into a trance drum and bass rhythm. For me, anyway, it really sets the album off perfectly, and leaves the listener (who's actually prepared to be challenged by the thing) under no illusions whatsoever that Portishead have here released a genuine 24 carat gem of an album.
Overall, the varied and interesting instrumentation is superb on all but a couple of the eleven tracks, and singer Beth Gibbons has a soulfull voice that offsets the record perfectly, and really does make some of the tracks quite special. Portishead are a band who aren't trying to fool anyone, in a genre that is becoming increasingly populated by bands with a modicum of talent, who seem inspired by the promise of becoming "pioneers" in a fairly young studio-based musical movement, and yet seem content to release a stream of mildly bombastic drivel. For that reason, at least, Portishead have to be worth a listen.
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