| | |  | Keyword Search: Meat Loaf | Home » Dummy | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008. | | | Product Details: | | | Audio CD Release Date:
| October 17, 1994 | | Studio:
| Polygram Records | | Number Of Discs:
| 1 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 273 reviews |
| | | Track Listing: | | | 1. | Mysterons | | 2. | Sour Times | | 3. | Strangers | | 4. | It Could Be Sweet | | 5. | Wandering Star - Portishead, Allen, Sylvester | | 6. | It's a Fire | | 7. | Numb | | 8. | Roads | | 9. | Pedestal | | 10. | Biscuit | | 11. | Glory Box | |
| | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 classic`Aug 07, 2010
There was a point in the 1990s when "eletronica" was on the top list as the "next big thing." Suddenly, even grunge bands had that strange, digital drum click on their albums. It had no business being there, but like strings and horns after the Beatles Sgt Pepper, it felt mandatory. It also felt trendy.
Portished did not. In 1994, grunge was still king, fueled by Kurt Cobain's death. "Electronica" was still an underground wave, and Dummy was one of the first albums to crack. It was also, and is sixteen years on, one of if not the best.
Unlike the plugged in flannel boy trend mongers, Portishead had a damn good reason for every sample, every beep and blip, and for that matter every sound on Dummy. These were songs lovingly built from the ground up: songs that would have been great with guitar, bass and drums.
But Portishead evened the score on every track, perfectly balanced the dozens of sounds, electronic and organic. Listen to the first few seconds of Dummy. "Mysterons" opens with 1960s creep soundtrack tremalo guitar, weird keyboard effects, and a marching beat. This, like the rest of Dummy, sounds small initially, but in the smallness is tons and tons of sound. Listen to the children's music that appears and vanishes on "Stangers," completely out of context but essential once you hear it.
Listen to the jazz sax sample on "Wondering Star." So quick, so sneaky, so fighting for room in Portishead's texture ocean. Is it a wonder it took this band three years to make a follow up album, each sound in place
All this is process, and would mean nothing if not for Portishead's shocking ability to create nuance. Dummy as a whole is a dark, oppressive soundscape, lead by Beth Gibbons, who kept her voice just below the music, as if trapped, unable to escape her band's claustrophobia. A brilliant vocalist, under cellophane.
The music is pure synergy: 1960s shadow acid, spy soundtracks with the lights shot out. 1990s goth. Drowning in black paint. If Dummy has one achievement over all its others, it is not in the production or the writing, but its ability to genuinely creep you out.
It is a masterpiece in nuance above all else
...Not like you do...Jul 10, 2010
Hopefully I'll never be so jaded that I won't be able to recognize a masterpiece. Even when it comes from a genre that I don't particularly care about. Even when it has so obviously been produced to "wow". Even when it has much more than a whiff about it of slickness and of product. But nobody could ever calculate all of the elements that come together to make this such an evocative and moving work. I am probably alone in having Numb as my favorite track. But the vividness of all of the sounds! I could eat them. That Hammond - that drum sound. It goes right into my belly and my heart.
Beth Gibbons has something about her sound that reminds me of my beloved Alison Statton of Young Marble Giants. It's a strange comparison. Beth is obviously much more of a "singer" than Alison ever was. But maybe it has something to do with the way they both place themselves INSIDE the music rather than the usual singer thing of on top of it. Maybe there's a psychological similarity rather than a sonic one.
When this CD came out, it was played in every hip café and restaurant. I tried to resist it - especially the hit, Sour Times. But it was impossible to resist. That plaintive cry "Nobody LOVES me!..."
Such an ambiguous, poignant moment. And all those filmic downward bass lines and strings (especially on Glory Box) - delicious!
15 years on, it still sounds great. Is it too commercial, too slick? It is definitely both commercial and slick. But it is also musically brilliant, compelling and magical.
Addicted to this AlbumJul 09, 2010
I am a newcomer to Trip Hop, and this is the 1st CD I've bought of Portishead. All I have to say is Wow, what a beautiful CD. It is rare to find an album were you would label every song with 4.5-5 Stars, but I would definitly make that exception with Dummy. It's etheral, sublime, moody, mysterious, and everything you could ever want from a Trip Hop album, from a novice's standpoint anyway. You couldn't ask for a better vocalist then Beth Gibbons, her voice has given me several weeks worth of entertainment and odd fascination, it is amazing how the dark samples match her whisperey voice so perfect. Enough Gushing. Buy Dummy, It is an important album not only TH fans but for Music lovers in general.
Track Ratings:
1)Mysterons- 5/5
2)Sour Times-4.5/5
3)Strangers- 5/5
4)It could be sweet-4.5/5
5)Wandering Star-5/5
6)It's a fire-5/5
7)Numb-5/5
8)Roads-5/5-FAVORITE
9)Pedestal-4.5/5
10)Biscuit-4.5/5
11)Glory Box-5/5
This is one purchase you will not regret adding to your collection, ignore the naysayers.
 Dummy - PortisheadMar 17, 2010
This is an eclectic sound. It sets the mood for romance and sitting in a place with big sofas and pillows. The vocals are very effective and leave you feeling that you've that you've heard something here that's very different. I would recommend it to anyone.
3 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 I let this kind of music suck the joy out of my soul.Jan 16, 2010
Nothing against the artists in particular, but I used to love this album as well as all other sorts of "downer" music. I felt the same as the artists and could deeply identify with it. A few months ago I was having a seriously depressive episode for the 3rd time in my life. I had imagined how I would go, and my hardest decision was what song would be playing in my truck when they found my body. Music does affect you! Pretty pathetic, but I really thought I had nothing to live for. All the music that I listened to reinforced that "belief". To make a long story shorter, I got on depression meds, started reading the bible, accepted Christ and things have swung 180 degrees. I see how blessed I really am. Instead of thinking that God is holding out on me, I am realizing that he has provided me with everything I have ever had. How ungrateful I was that I grew up in a 2 parent family, have a good paying job, have eyes that see and ears that hear, etc. It didn't happen overnight. I was reading my bible and this verse jumped right out at me --- Jude 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom it is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. A very interesting video on music and it's effects can be found here: [...] God bless you all.
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