Product Details
Artist : Portishead
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0042282855329
Label : Universal Music Group
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 1995-01-18
UPC : 042282855329
ASIN : B000001FI7
Track Listings for
Disc-1
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
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Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
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
Un Essentiel amazon.fr
On s'est beaucoup gaussé de la crédibilité à inventer une étiquette supplémentaire pour définir cette musique : le trip hop. Encore un truc de journalistes, persiflaient les détracteurs. Il n'empêche. Avec Massive Attack, Tricky et Dummy, le trip hop est la bande-son idéale de la ville dont il est originaire : Bristol, cité fantôme pluvieuse dont Portishead (étape dont le groupe tire son nom), avec ses grues rouillées noyées dans la brume en bout d'estuaire, est le résumé sinon l'unique symbole. Sur Dummy, Portishead invente des rythmes inédits, propices au trip. En écoutant "Sour Times" et "Glory Box", une sourde léthargie envahit, initiée par des tempos sous Tranxène à nuls autres pareils. Ici, on est loin de l'hystérie des breakbeats poussifs. Portishead préfère les routes de campagne où il fait bon prendre son temps aux circuits de F1 où l'on tourne en rond à toute berzingue. Mystérieuse et fascinante, l'ambiance un chouilla dépressive de Dummy est l'écrin parfait pour la voix tristement alanguie de Beth Gibbons portée par la pertinence des samples de Geoff Barlow. D'une rare sensualité, Dummy ne doit pas uniquement être l'apanage des âmes solitaires. --Philippe Robert
Customer Reviews
Brilliant (2005-08-06)  It is always astounding when an album shows so much originality and a distinct sound that somehow feels fresh a decade after being released. The one song that I cannot get enough is Wandering Star. It is deliciously dark, with a driving, thumping beat that propels the song forward as if being sucked down a vortex of grief. I love it! Each song is different though and each song is a trip onto itself. You must experience this album! You must!
No "Dummy" (2004-07-06)  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.
10 years old and still hasn't aged a day. (2004-06-29) The sublime, noir beauty of Portishead's debut hasn't been replicated since its '94 release. No other British trip-hop act comes close, save maybe Massive Attack (and I find their work to be somewhat uneven over the course of their four albums--Mezzanine is genius, Blue Lines is good but dated, and Protection and 100th Window are merely so-so). Vocalist Beth Gibbons and studio artist Geoff Barrow really tapped into something brilliant here. While most trip-hop strives to sound dark and downtempo, Dummy is the only trip-hop album that feels like it could be incorporated seamlessly into a '40s noir flick while sounding perfectly distinctive on its own. There are traces of jazz, hip-hop scratches and beats, acoustic guitar flourishes, chiming percussion, and some clever, low-key sampling. Sometimes the crackly sounds and pops of an old 45 can be heard. It establishes a perfect atmosphere, one in which smoking a filterless cigarette and wearing a trenchcoat would not be out of place; and I haven't even begun to describe the vocals yet. Beth Gibbons' melancholic wail just oozes soul out of every pore; on the hit single, the James Bond-esque Sour Times her sorrowful voice runs a chill up my spine. In other songs like Glory Box, she recalls the stylings of Billy Holiday, and on It Could Be Sweet her smoky, low-key singing is downright sexy. Overall, Gibbons is one of the finest voices in trip-hop, up there with contemporaries Elizabeth Fraser and Tracy Thorn. There's not a single out-of-place track here, just an excellent unified sense of moodiness and sorrow, not feeling too bleak but not insincere either. If you've come looking for the perfect music for rolling down the sparsely populated city streets in the rain at 3 am--you've just found it. Dummy is absolutely essential.
A timeless masterpiece (2004-06-20) There are few albums in this world that I have ever regretted selling, one of them is Portishead's amazing debut album "Dummy". I sold my copy a couple of years ago because I was short on cash but since then I had come to regret selling my copy of this stellar masterpiece in downtempo music. I was fortunate to find a used copy at my favorite record store today so I bought it. Along with Massive Attack, Portishead has helped to forge a new sub-genre of music in the dance genre most people know as 'trip hop' music. "Dummy" personifies the laid back grooves that fuses hip hop beats, jazz melodies, and sensual female vocals that helped influenced later trip hop acts like Olive, Zero 7, and Supreme Beings of Leisure. "Dummy" definitely was ahead of its time when it came out ten years ago. Beth Gibbons' plaintive wail and the laid back grooves was nothing that I heard of at the time. It was the break through single "Sour Times" that attracted me to Portishead. I could imagine hearing it play in the background in a James Bond film. It had that sensuous, mysterious sound that would have been ideal for a James Bond film. One of my favorite songs on the album is the ballad "Roads". It is one of the most beautiful songs that Portishead had ever created. I also love the opening track "Mysterons". I am so glad that I bought "Dummy" again. Next time I will know better than to sell it. It is one of those albums that should not be sold. One more thing, contrary to what a reviewer wrote, Beth Gibbons has only released one solo album as herself. The artist known as "Poe" is a completely different artist and is not Beth Gibbons herself. Poe is an American artist while Beth is from England.
Give Me A Reason To Hate This (2004-06-09) This album is very interesting. If you've heard it before, then you know what I mean. The songs are pretty long but that really shouldn't be a factor in anything, because the songs are classics. 1.Mysterons-There is this one part in the song (I think it's after the chorus) and it's just this really cool instrumental. Onto the song, I think they were smart to have this song as the opener. 2. Sour Times- "Nobody loves meeeeeee, it's true." wails Beth. This song is a very good song, and, with msot of their songs, there are some creepy instrumentals. 3. Strangers- Not a personal favorite of mine, but I think that this song is an excellent song in terms of jsut vocals. 4. It Could Be Sweet- A rather unforgettable song, with the singer going "I don't wanna loooose what we had...." 5.Wandering Star- This is a very good song, one of my favorites. I don't know exactly why, but it's just a good song. 6.It's A Fire- Not as good as the upcoming song, but it's still a pretty good song... 7. Numb- Probably my favorite song. There is just something eerie about how she goes "Still feeling lonely, feeling so unholy" 8.Roads- This song is a little slower (well none of the songs are exactly fast paced, but this is almsot like a "ballad", if there is such a thing in Portishead Trip Hop. 9.Pedestal- I can't seem to make it through this song, it just seems a little too boring. 10. Biscuit-Good, but you can tell that this album is almsot over. 11. Glory Box- I like it, but it doesn't seem to be an appropriate closing song, but maybe it's just me.
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