Portishead - Dummy [Import] (New Vinyl LP)

Top 500 #131

Limited Edition import-only vinyl LP repressing of this album. Go Beat Records

It’s difficult to sustain, over an entire album, something as vague as ambiance, but Portishead did it on their debut. Along with fellow Bristol, England, innovators Massive Attack, they headed up the trendy mid-Nineties trip-hop movement. Long after the genre petered out, their debut remains immersive and haunting, built on skittering break beats, jazzy samples, spare arrangements, and discomforting pauses. But it’s singer Beth Gibbon’s brooding, pop-cabaret vocals that make it feel classic, hinting at real pain below trip-hop’s stoned exterior. The result was cinematic enough to recall John Barry’s lustrous scores for James Bond films.

Tracks:

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