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Dummy

~ Portishead
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
Price: £4.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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  • This item: Dummy ~ Portishead

    Usually dispatched within 5 to 10 days.
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  • Portishead ~ Portishead

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Product details

  • Audio CD (18 Jun 1999)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Universal / Island
  • ASIN: B00004WL7O
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,292 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories:

    #3 in  Music > Dance & Electronic > Trip Hop
    #11 in  Music > Dance & Electronic > Electronica

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1. Mysterons
2. Sour times
3. Strangers
4. It could be sweet
5. Wandering star
6. Numb
7. Roads
8. Pedestal
9. Biscuit
10. Glory box

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The collaboration of studio whiz Geoff Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons, Dummy was made at the same time as a short film noir called To Kill a Dead Man, and the same approach--gloomy, tormented, and wildly melodramatic--permeates the album. "Sour Times" (the hit in which Gibbons cries, again and again, "Nobody loves me, it's true") and the more cryptic "Glory Box" are the linchpins of the album, defining its sound: dark flashes of old soul and film music, dehumanised electronic bleeps, Gibbons emoting like she's consumed by shame, and a bass-and-beat pulse derived from the slow bump and grind of the Bristol scene that spawned Barrow's old collaborators, Massive Attack. --Douglas Wolk


CD Description

Named for a town near Bristol, England, Portishead is a British dance band that grabs ideas from all over the mod pop world (spaghetti Western guitars, turntable scratching, melancholy soul vocals, atmospheric organs, house beats) and stirs them into spacey, dub-like productions that sound like a dance club in the middle of a "Twin Peaks" dream. You could call it surreal hip-hop pop. But if the beats on the band's debut album achieve a kind of trance-like static, the songs themselves reach for something more rousing. With understatedlyrics and overstated melodies, singer Beth Gibbons and bandleader Geoff Barrow write insinuatingly melancholy dance ballads that ebb and flow like waves through rustling waters. Organs quaver in quiet tremolos, guitars emit squiggles and turntables hiccup, while Gibbons, in a high, cutting voice that evokes a less breathy Sinead O'Connor, sings songs of longing and heartbreak with equally palpable emotion.

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Customer Reviews

47 Reviews
5 star:
 (40)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Glory box, 18 Jan 2006
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Trip-hop was never so dark and magnificently despairing as it is here. Portishead draws listeners into a velvety abyss in debut album "Dummy," a glorious blend of jazzy instrumentation, subtle electronica, and Beth Gibbons' sweet moaning vocals.

"Mysterons" opens with an chilly, ghostly air, followed by the exotic despair of "Sour Times" and the jazzy, eerie "Strangers" and "Wandering Star." Portishead delves into pure trip-hop in the pulsing "It Could Be Sweet" and "Numb," then synthesizes strings and stately organ in "It's A Fire," before wrapping things up with the steady lament "Glory Box," with its undulating riffs.

A noir feel permeates "Dummy," giving a grounded feel to the spacier edges of the music. It's easy to imagine trenchcoats, smoky offices, rainy days and femme fatales set to this music. It's soaked in melancholy and dreamy depression, set to music.

The blend of lounge music and trip-hop could have been awkward, but it blends seamlessly. The Rhodes and magnificent Hammond organ are the core of the silky unearthly sound, adding an epic feel to many of the songs. At the same time, the flexible guitar riffs and jazzy percussion bring it down to earth. And the Hammond does double-time as a jazz instrument as well, even when paired with strings.

Beth Gibbons's vocals are outstanding: high and clear and sweet, except in "Strangers," where she sounds like her voice is being filtered through an old radio. She pours plenty of emotion into the despairing lyrics. The songs themselves are simple and evocative, with loneliness and regret dripping from them. ("The salvation I desire/Keeps getting me down")

Jazz and trip-hop blend seamlessly into the beautiful haunting whole that is "Dummy." A beautiful experience, and one of the best albums of the 1990s.

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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A genre defining classic, 15 Mar 2006
By David Johnson "El Burrito" (Buenos Aires) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This beautifully haunting record is one of those indispensables that any serious music fan has in their collection. I remember being completely blown away by the originality the first time I heard it. The punchy, nuerotic beats and the cold distant voice of Beth Gibbons. I guess if you could refer to trip-hop as a genre, this has to be it´s signature album.
"Mysterons," sounds like a martian landing, Gibbon´s distinctive voice unfurls the track with a steely brittleness. This music sounds purposefully distant and edgy. I like the curling beat on the second track,"Sour times." My personal favourite has to be the intro to the pulsating beat on,"strangers."
"It´s a fire," is the only track that sounds slightly out of place. It is the only track on the album that sounds like something you may have heard before.
The ranging,"Roads," is another extremely inventive track that preludes the classic,"glory box." Gibbons sounds like a battered, wounded woman on this song. Her lyrical approach is totally unique.
What more can I say about this? It´s engaging, strangely distant but at the same time thoroughly seductive. A must buy.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless classic, 20 Jan 2003
By doublegone (scotland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Quite simply this is one of the finest cds of the 1990s. The mood, arrangements and performances are quite astonishing.

Beth Gibbons sings the blues, backed up by a blending of sampled loops, hip-hop doodles and live instruments.

It defined the sub genre of Trip Hop. It contains elements of 60s soundtrack, jazz and goodness knows what else.

In Sour Times and Glory Box it also boasts amongst the finest songwriting of its generation. As has been proved by artistes like John Martyn (who covered Glory Box) this stuff does not need its classy fururistic arrangement to stand. These songs would shine with just an acoustic guitar backing.

Mind-bogglingly good, and a must-have.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars sort of old & new ?
when this album came out there was nothing quite like it . a completely new sound dark,evocative,imaginative,and for some reason it wouldn't sound out of place if it was comming... Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. S. Sample

5.0 out of 5 stars Dummy
red wine, nice home cooked food, candle lit meal for the wife and this in the back ground. magic!!!!
Published 5 months ago by peter Thompson

5.0 out of 5 stars An Original
This is a highly original album and one which you will listen to again and again. Every single one of the 10 tracks on this album are superb but the ones which stand out have to... Read more
Published 6 months ago by I. M. Knight

5.0 out of 5 stars Never off the playlist
If you like your music a little dark - this needs to be in your collection.
Published 7 months ago by D. I. Gray

4.0 out of 5 stars uncertain good or great
i was massively excited to come across portishead upon my unexpected intro into trip hop, i downloaded a couple of tracks one being sour times and i thought it was great i thought... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Rafael Lindsay

4.0 out of 5 stars Call me a dummy but.....
I've heard this record for the first time today,(been on another planet!) and the first thing that struck me about it was how the vocal is so similar to my favourite female... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. D. A. Howard

2.0 out of 5 stars Style Over Substance
The reference points are obvious: King Tubby, Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack and film noir soundtracks. Read more
Published 13 months ago by A. Mee

5.0 out of 5 stars 90's Trip hop at it's best
I had heard the name 'Portishead' floating around electronica forums on the net but had never acted on the actions of other people's critic of their music. Read more
Published 13 months ago by L. Roberts

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply brilliant
Hmmm, how does one sum up this album in just a few words? Dark, mysterious, melodic, industrial, melancholic, desolate - any or all of these apply. Read more
Published 15 months ago by RoboScorpion

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly beautiful album-I urge you to buy it!
This album is absolutely brilliant. Vocally, it is pure genius, and musically it is perfectly timed. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Someone

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