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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0042282852229 Label: Universal / Island Manufacturer: Universal / Island Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Universal / Island Release Date: June 18, 1999 Running Time: 45 minutes Studio: Universal / Island Sales Rank: 260
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - 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 if the rest of the album sounds like this i'm gonna absolutely love it! well i'm uncertain i've heard it about 5 times now maybe more and my opinion has changed repeatedly. before listening to the album i was expecting a dark yet beautifully enticing piece of carefully crafted art, and after the first listen i had to convince ... Read More
Rating: - 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 singer, the little known (in this country}, HEATHER NOVA. I'm not a fan of much electronic music, and I was particularly irritated by the 'vinyl scratching' that appears in several of the songs, however mainly because of the vocal and the songs that don't involve the scratch I know i'm going to really like this album. If you dont know ... Read More
Rating: - Style Over Substance
The reference points are obvious: King Tubby, Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack and film noir soundtracks. Back in the '90s Portishead were unfathomably cool and fashionable, and did much to popularise trip-hop. Portishead repackaged soul and jazz music, and sold it to critics who had no real interest in those genres. Tellingly, the album received the prestigious Mercury Music prize in 1995, confirming its status among indie rock critics as that years' most highly regarded novelty record.
Rating: - 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. However, I came onto amazon and found a nearly all 5 star review from all the reviews so I just had to buy as a vivid fan on trip hop style music.
From first glance, you can hear how much Massive Attach have been influenced by this gritty, smooth jazzy 90's trip hop feel, it feels like a 45 minute drug that intises you into a olbivion of funk and ... Read More
Rating: - 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. Others have already waxed lyrical about the 'feel' of the album, but I think you really have to listen to it - all of it. Maybe even a few times, as it took a few listens for me to really 'get it'.
As soon as I did 'get it' I totally loved it, and it remains one of the most frequently played albums in my collection even after nearly 15 years.
Never ... Read More
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