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Rating: I've recently, very recently, developed a passion for Trip-Hop, but it was mad love at first listen.
For now, I only know the two masterpieces of this genre, "Mezzanine" by Massive Attack and "Dummy" by Portishead. My review will focus on the latter, the spectacular masterpiece by Portishead, who, along with the aforementioned Massive Attack, are the cornerstone group of the Bristol scene.
In 1997, "Dummy" was released, a record of rare beauty and importance, based on a retro sound, paced by hip-hop beats and embellished with scratches, more modern sounds and, above all, the soothing voice of Beth Gibbons. It's a unique album, alternating between poignant moments and exhilarating ones; where time no longer dictates music but becomes infinite within it. It opens with the splendid "Mysterons", where the album's distinctive sound is already apparent. This track features Gibbons' splendid and haunting voice, simulating a Moog synthesizer to create an "extraterrestrial" atmosphere. The next track is the famous "Sour Times", where Soul blends with trip-hop and unfolds into a captivating melody. "Strangers" is a cabaret jazz, with Gibbons' filtered voice, mixing with a "massive" sound. Interspersed with the excellent "Wandering Stars", a very dark song, are the album's two most sentimental tracks, perhaps making it fall slightly short: "It Could Be Sweet" and "It's A Fire", where Beth's voice becomes sweeter and less harrowing. "Numb" is a more cheerful and energetic track, while "Pedestal" and "Biscuits" are marked by a heavy use of scratches. The jazz, sensual and hypnotic, returns with "Glory Box".
Many might think that, in my tiresome track-by-track, I've forgotten a song, but that's not the case: I've left "Roads", the track following "Numb", for last because I believe it's the masterpiece of the album. Indeed, it is a splendid and poignant song. After a wonderful string intro, comes the Voice (sorry for the capital letter, but you'll understand I'm not talking about Frank Sinatra), perfectly interspersed with guitar and paced by the drums. It arrives melancholic, poignant, enchanting. It arrives and consecrates "Dummy" as one of the best albums I have ever listened to. And yes, because it's hard to find something so original, that combines the old with the new, containing 11 gems of rare beauty and never tires from pleasing. If you haven't done so yet, listen to this album because you'll be struck by the elegance of this music.
A note: as many say, this can be considered film music; not just because it echoes such motifs, but because each track offers a different image, and together they contribute to creating a colorful and varied musical vision.
P.S. Apologies for two things: 1) The track-by-track, which I didn't want to avoid for an album like this 2) The fact that this review is a damn duplicate. In my defense: I saw that the two reviews of this album on DeBaser are not well-received, so without much pretense, I decided to do one myself since the album impacted me greatly.
Album rating: 9+
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Mysterons (05:06)
Inside you're pretending
Crimes have been swept aside
Somewhere where they can forget
Divine upper reaches
Still holding on
This ocean will not be grasped
All for nothing
Did you really want?
Did you really want?
Did you really want?
Did you really want?
Refuse to surrender
Strung out until ripped apart
Who dares, dares to condemn
All for nothing
Did you really want?
Did you really want?
Did you really want?
Did you really want?
02 Sour Times (04:14)
To pretend no one can find
The fallacies of morning rose
Forbidden fruit, hidden eyes
Courtesies that I despise in me
Take a ride, take a shot now
Cause nobody loves me, it's true
Not like you do
Covered by the blind belief
That fantasies of sinful screens
Bear the facts, assume the dye
End the vows no need to lie, enjoy
Take a ride, take a shot now
Cause nobody loves me, it's true
Not like you do
Who am I, what and why
Cause all I have left is my memories of yesterday
Ohh these sour times
Cause nobody loves me, it's true
Not like you do
After time, the bitter taste
Of innocence, descent or race
Scattered seeds, buried lives
Mysteries of our disguise revolve
Circumstance will decide
Cause nobody loves me, it's true
Not like you
Nobody loves me, it's true
Not like you do
03 Strangers (03:58)
Ohh...
Can anybody see the light
Where the morn meets the dew
And the tide rises
Did you realise no one can see inside your view?
Did you realise forwhy this sight belongs to you?
Ohh...
Just set aside your fears of life
With the sole desire
Done it warning
Done in now
This ain't real
On in this side
Done it warning
Done in now
This ain't real
On in this side
Done it warning
Done in now
This ain't real
Done it warning
Done in now
This ain't real
On in this side
Ohh...
Oh can anybody see the light
Where the morn meets the dew
And the tide rises
Did you realise no one can see inside your view?
Did you realise, forwhy this sight belongs to you?
04 It Could Be Sweet (04:20)
I don't want to hurt you
For no reason have I but fear
And I ain't guilty
Of the crimes you accuse me of
But I'm guilty of fear
I'm sorry to remind
You but I'm scared
Of what we're creating
This life ain't fair
You don't get something for nothing, turn now
Gotta try a little harder
It could be sweet
Like a long forgotten dream
And we don't need them
To cast the fate we have
Love don't always shine through
'cause I don't wanna lose
What we had last time
You're leaving
This life ain't fair
You don't get something for nothing, turn now
Gotta try a little harder
It could be sweet
But the thoughts we try to deny
Take a toll upon our lives
We struggle on in depths of pride
Tangled up in single minds
'cause I don't wanna lose
What we had last time
You're leaving
This life ain't fair
You don't get something for nothing, turn back
Gotta try a little harder
'cause I don't wanna lose
What we had last time your leaving
This life ain't fair
You don't get something for nothing, turn back
Gotta try a little harder
It could be sweet
05 Wandering Star (04:54)
Please could you stay awhile to share my grief,
For it's such a lovely day,
To have to always feel this way,
And the time that I will suffer less,
Is when I never have to wake.
Wandering stars,
For whom it is reserved,
The blackness of darkness, forever,
Wandering stars,
For whom it is reserved,
The blackness of darkness, forever.
Those who have seen the needles eye, now tread,
Like a husk, from which all that was now has fled,
And the masks, that the monsters wear,
To feed, upon their prey.
Wandering stars,
For whom it is reserved,
The blackness of darkness, forever,
Wandering stars,
For whom it is reserved,
The blackness of darkness, forever.
Doubled up inside,
Take awhile to shed my grief,
Always doubled up inside,
Taunted, cruel.
Wandering stars,
For whom it is reserved,
The blackness the darkness, forever,
Wandering stars,
For whom it is reserved,
The blackness, the darkness, forever.
07 Numb (03:58)
I'm ever so lost
I can't find my way
Been searching, but I have never seen
A turning, a turning from deceit
'Cause the child roses like
Try to reveal what I could feel
I can't understand myself anymore
'cause I'm still feeling lonely
Feeling so unholy
'Cause the child roses like
Try to reveal what I could feel
And this loneliness
It just won't leave me alone, oh no
I'm fooling somebody
A faithless path I roam
Deceiving to breath this secretly
A silence, this silence I can't bear
'Cause a child roses light
Tries to reveal what I could feel
And this loneliness
It just won't leave me alone, oh no
And this loneliness
It just won't leave me alone
A lady of war
A lady of war
08 Roads (05:05)
Ohh, can't anybody see
We've got a war to fight
Never found our way
Regardless of what they say
How can it feel, this wrong
From this moment
How can it feel, this wrong
Storm.. in the morning light
I feel
No more can I say
Frozen to myself
I got nobody on my side
And surely that ain't right
And surely that ain't right
Ohh, can't anybody see
We've got a war to fight
Never found our way
Regardless of what they say
How can it feel, this wrong
From this moment
How can it feel, this wrong
How can it feel, this wrong
From this moment
How can it feel, this wrong
Ohh, can't anybody see
We've got a war to fight
Never found our way
Regardless of what they say
How can it feel, this wrong
From this moment
How can it feel, this wrong
09 Pedestal (03:41)
How can I believe this miracle
Where the wind blows dry
Through the force of a man
Undenied by his eye
Oh you abandoned me
How I suffer
Ridicule breathes a sigh
You abandoned me
Lost forever
Hush, can you hear
Enter and rejoice this pedestal
where the rainbows hide
Your destiny
Mystery of all time
Oh no time make or reason
Ridicule breathes a sigh
no time, make or reason
Hush, hear him cry
No time, make or reason
No time, make or reason
No time, make or reason
10 Biscuit (05:04)
I'm lost, exposed
Stranger things will come your way
It's just I'm scared
Got hurt a long time ago
Can't make myself heard
No matter how hard I scream
Oh sensation
Sin, slave of sensation
Fully fed yet I still hunger
Torn inside
Haunted I tell myself yet I still wander
Down, inside
It's tearing me apart
Oh sensation
Sin, slave of sensation
I'll never fall in love again
It's all over now
At last, relief
A mother's son has left me sheer
The shores I seek
Are crimson tastes divine
Can't make myself heard
No matter how hard I scream
Oh sensation
Sin, slave of sensation
I'll never fall in love again
It's all over now
11 Glory Box (05:06)
I'm so tired
Of playing,
Playing with this bow and arrow
Gonna give my heart away
Leave it to the other girls to play
For I've been a temptress too long
Just. . .
Give me a reason to love you
Give me a reason to be...
A woman.
I just wanna be a woman.
From this time, unchained
We're all looking at a different picture
Through this new frame of mind
A thousand flowers could bloom
Move over, and give us some room,
Yeah
Give me a reason to love you
Give me a reason to be...
A woman.
I just wanna be a woman.
(Instrumental)
So don't you stop bein' a man
Just take a little look from our side when you can
Sow a little tenderness
No matter if you cry
Give me a reason to love you
Give me a reason to be here;
A woman.
It's all I wanna be is a woman
For this is the beginning of forever and ever
Its time to move over
I'm so tired, of playing
Playing with this bow and arrow
Gonna give my heart away
Leave it to the other girls to play
For I've been a temptress too long
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Other reviews
By luciano
Portishead is the only project that managed to impose a 9-year-old track of theirs in a car commercial.
The album is a benchmark.
By lovi
Add in epic and cinematic sounds, and heartrending and melancholic lyrics, and you feel transported into a three-dimensional dimension.
Beth shows all the J.LO or Spears what it means to have a bold voice... that naturally knows how to captivate.
By The_dull_flame
This album engages, which is more difficult: you feel in the middle of the record, as if Beth were singing beside you.
‘Roads’ represents the pinnacle of beauty on the album, a dark ballad that gets under your skin like a needle.
By luludia
What is this stuff? Hyper-depressed dub? Melancholic white soul?
The voice, that voice, comes from there....
