761. Portishead - Dummy (1994)

Track Listing

1. Mysterons
2. Sour Times
3. Strangers
4. It Could Be Sweet
5. Wandering Star
6. It's A Fire
7. Numb
8. Roads
9. Pedestal
10. Biscuit
11. Glory Box

Review

It is now that we are starting to get albums that make me feel really old. This came out 14 years ago! I mean there are people reading this blog who are younger than that I would imagine. I can't even conceive of people born after this. Probably the same reason why I don't get Myspace. I am more of an IRC man, myself.

So this is the most trip-hoppy of trip-hop albums. As such it has dated somewhat, trip-hop was a very time specific phenomenon. However, this is no reason to ignore this album, in fact it is a pretty amazing piece of work.

The sampling from Lalo Shinfrin samples, the amazing scratch work, Beth Gibbons voice... Portishead were never as good and this definitely marks the pinnacle of a whole genre. As such it is an essential album in anyone's collection. It is more than a cultural artefact, however, it is also a damn good album to listen to. Never boring, always interesting, this is something I really cherish.

Track Highlights

1. Sour Times
2. Roads
3. Glory Box
4. Wandering Star

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize, beating stiff competition which included PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love, Oasis' Definitely Maybe, and Tricky's Maxinquaye.

Sour Times: