Dummy - Portishead

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~ The Album: Dummy ~

It's a matter of both quantifiable and objective fact that if an individual tells you he (or she) is dark, deep and twisted, he (or she) is extremely likely to be as dark, deep and twisted as a well planed, wafer thin sheet of MDF with a light pine veneer to match…it is also possible though - yet highly unlikely - that you have wandered into the wrong type of club on the back-streets of Barcelona where ...
...John Lewis. Gibbons' voice on Dummy is breathy, breathless at times and at many junctures so raw and overcoming that you can hear her bitter sweet vocals against the distinct backdrop of dry lips parting and lungs reeling back the air to feed the next tortured line of the track. The lyrics in their own right, are so beautifully moving and full of innermost expression that it makes Jim Morrisons' highly acclaimed poetic mumblings sound as self exploratory ... more

~ The Intro, or, Eh?…Run That By Me Again…You Want The Band To Be Called What?~

Portishead - Meaning a 'port at the head of a river' this idyllic town near Bristol with a population of approximately 18,000 boasts wide pavements, street lined flower displays and early Victorian buildings architecturally influenced in its hay day by the export trade of iron and steel and more recently by the children's show Portland Bill…and lets not forget the closed down power station…so why the name chosen for a band of such gargantuan influence? Because whilst working with Massive Attack, Geoff Barrow was always referred to as "that guy from Portishead"…obviously branding was not the bands strong point…yet, I would argue, it never needed to be.

~The Backdrop ~

Now back in the early 90's I needed saving (again)...from myself, from my associations with a home town of hidebound Neanderthals and the left-overs of the bubblegum synth pop culture that was still festering in the wake of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, or as they were known in the media and by anybody who had the slightest notion of what good music involved at that time, Shock, Ache and Water Torture.

In 1994, whilst searching fervently for any inspirational musical genre peg to hang my hat of musical identity on, I came to the realisation that all was lost for the future with a musical wasteland stretching out before me that could only muster such dire offerings as 'Ace of Base', Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Bryan Adams and Mariah Carey. Crestfallen I sought out my back-catalogue of old trustworthy greats including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Janice Joplin and The Wombles in the belief that this was the best that ever was and ever could be.

In my darkest hour whilst trying to get my head round existentialism as it was without defined purpose and therefore nothing to do with the phenomena of tongue-twisting, I stumbled across the late night musical presentations of the enigmatic, leather clad Jools Holland spouting the praises of a band known as Portishead; For the next 4 minutes and 20 seconds rendition of Glorybox I knew that there was hope and the bringers of such tidings were known as Barrow and Gibbons..

~ The Band ~

The Protagonists:
Geoff Barrow - Rhodes, programming, drums, strings arrangement, sampling, programming, mixing, producing, turntables, piano.
Beth Gibbons - Vocals, melodies, lyrics, backing tracks.The 'Also-Ran':
Clive Deamer -drums

• Adrian Utley--guitar, bass, strings arrangement, Hammond, Co-Producer
  Neil Solman--Rhodes, Hammond
  Richard Newell--drum programming
  Gary Baldwin--Hammond
• Dave McDonald--nose flute, technician
  Strings Unlimited--strings
  Andy Hague--trumpet

*David McDonald and Adrian Utley, are mentioned in this review as 'also ran' due to the fact that they did not become fully fledged bona-fide members of Portishead until after Dummy. Today, McDonald has done soundtracks for films and TV as well as working with artists including Goldfrapp and Sparklehorse. Utley is admired as one of Britain's best jazz guitarists
~ The Album: Dummy ~

It's a matter of both quantifiable and objective fact that if an individual tells you he (or she) is dark, deep and twisted, he (or she) is extremely likely to be as dark, deep and twisted as a well planed, wafer thin sheet of MDF with a light pine veneer to match…it is also possible though - yet highly unlikely - that you have wandered into the wrong type of club on the back-streets of Barcelona where PVC is awash, everybody is called Bob, and the dish of the day is the Catalan speciality of Rare Cooked Rabbit in Chocolate Sauce…if the latter is the case then you are up to your neck in doggy-do of the most heinous kind.

Barrow and Gibbons have never described themselves anything akin to dark, deep or twisted for it was never a question you needed, nor would want, to ask.

Geoff Barrow and Beth Gibbons first met in 1991 at an Enterprise Training Scheme…and apparently they did not hit it off believing each others work to be too divergent in style to warrant any joined up approach and both believing the other to be well off track with what the downtrodden masses craved for. However, after making as much impact on the world of music as Timmy Mallet did on the world of designer optical frames, Beth linked back up with Geoff in the same year and Portishead was born.

The divergent styles proved to be an antidote to the musical tat that plagued the airwaves at that time with the fusion of Gibbons' lyrically soulful, haunting and starkly pained vocals finding an almost awkward comfort with the deep resonating twisted hip-hop sound of Barrow. The genre to emanate from this somewhat unexpected clash of approaches became known as trip-hop, a genre that to this day places Portishead firmly at the top when it comes down to its pioneering influence on those that followed. Trip-hop though, was a term that Portishead expressed a clear dislike for arguing it to be a media invention designed to categorise their otherwise not-so-categorizable music [Authors note: back to existentialanism then!]

With influences including the likes of Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, Otis Reading and Nina Simone it doesn't take a genius to understand Gibbons' leaning to soul in her work with Portishead. What does come as a shock though is the way she presents that soul which defies her looks being one which could easily pass for a mid 30's, middle class woman living on the right side of town and doing Brunch at John Lewis. Gibbons' voice on Dummy is breathy, breathless at times and at many junctures so raw and overcoming that you can hear her bitter sweet vocals against the distinct backdrop of dry lips parting and lungs reeling back the air to feed the next tortured line of the track. The lyrics in their own right, are so beautifully moving and full of innermost expression that it makes Jim Morrisons' highly acclaimed poetic mumblings sound as self exploratory as a Sesame Street sing-a-long.

To explain her lyrics would be an injustice and impossible, Gibbons' herself when asked to divulge the meaning refused on the premise that they held a personal relevance and that listeners should derive their own personal meaning too.

As far as influences go, Barrow is a completely different species to Gibbons' citing the work of Spaghetti Western soundtrack guru Ennio Morricone, Isaac Hayes, Busta Rhymes, Ultramagnetic MC's, John Barry and composer of soundtracks for The Professionals and The Avengers, Laurie Johnson. Prior to Portishead, Barrow had gained a reputation as a remixer working with such artists as Paul Weller, Depeche Mode, Tricky, Gabriel and the 'God-like' Primal Scream.

With Portishead on Dummy, the depth of Gibbons' often evocative and always emotively charged lyrics allowed Barrow to explore the deepest recesses of his creative mind producing beautifully disturbing yet uplifting musical synergies between the classic and the modern, the sampled and the pure, the synth and the string; a cavalcade of harmonious polarities and misfits all under one roof.

~ The Tracks ~
1) Mysterons
2) Sour Times
3) Strangers
4) It could be sweet
5) Wandering Star
6) Fire
7) Numb
8) Roads
9) Pedestal
10) Biscuit
11) Glory Box

All of the tracks are absolutely sublime…yet to describe them with a level of respect becoming the high standard is a tall order. But my very favourite tracks are as follows (in an extremely gibberish fashion as I listen and describe):

Mysterons: Snare drum in a military style of a high marching tempo being subdued by the desperate yearnings of Gibbons…she seems to be saying that we destroy and we will be destroyed…a reap what you sow scenario…the hard work of the few thrown to the wind. Eerie backing of a soundtrack that casts me into my childhood of bad 1950's UFO films with high pitched synthesizer for effect...an odd "Hitchcokian" thriller style guitar breaks through into the melee and asserts itself…and Gibbons?...so very sad...you just want to give her a blanket, sit her infront of an open fire and provide her with a fresh mug of thick home-made soup with "hardough bread" on the side.

Sour Times: Morricone is high on the agenda here…though with more of a Italian Godfather genre soundtrack than the Spaghetti Western. Gibbons singing that no-body loves her like he does…underlying descending bass line with harp strings. Fantastic lead guitar break taking me back to music produced by The James Taylor Quartet on Money Spider before going all Starsky and Hutch…very sharp…cutting…edgy….clean…complete. Bass line and heavy bass drum beat leads us out of the fray.

Glory Box: Using samples from Isaac Hayes "Ike's Rap II", String backing …lazy backing beat….sounds like a Bond soundtrack of the early Connory era…then Gibbons….screeching distorted guitars…."I just want to be a woman"…embarrassing with the car windows down (being a man of a limited metrosexual leaning)…Guitar solo…pained, reverb, feedback, rocky, … Gibbon almost begging, then demanding - "Give me a reason to love you, give me a reason to be a woman"….a woman who is tired of playing games and wants to move beyond temptation...[Authors note: fair does!]

Biscuit - Leads in with awkward distorted backing horns only to be described as chaotic…Scratched record harsh drum beat …sits uncomfortably with the crystal clear vocals of Gibbons…background scratching, deep, reverberating vocals of a style by someone who sounds like he's best buddies with Beelzebub …its over now… "Cant make myself heard no matter how hard I scream"…..track feels dragging the listener into a place of chasm of abolute nothingness and distress…repetitive, trance-like scratch back beat.

Roads: Probably my favourite track ever by anybody and probably always will…beautiful, evocative, yet ugly, sinister and disturbing at the same time. Harsh, almost painful snare drum, earthy deeply reverberating underscore of synthesizer breached against light echo effect guitar leaving you somewhere between abandonment and rekindled hope….Gibbons…so pained, so lost, almost naive to the point of adopting childlike qualities…absolutely captivating….then there's the string/bass interlude which takes the track spiralling ever upward to a dizzying height of splendour that seriously drives tears to the rims of your eyelids….you don't know why or what it is but it beggars whether the Mozart effect is outdated in design, presentation and overall impact…"How can it feel this wrong? Cant anybody see, we've got a war to fight, never find our way regardless of what they say…how can it feel this wrong….from this moment…how can it feel this wrong?"

Wandering Star: Voice…smoothed….almost distant…heavy almost monotone reverberating bass line. The hook...harmonica…shrill bluesy mixed with hypnotically entrancing simple lead guitar riff….scratching backgrounds…sleeeeeeeeeep.

~ Discography ~

Albums

1994 Dummy
1997 Portishead
1998 Roseland NYC Live

Compilations
1998 Glory Times (CD-Single compilation)

Beth Gibbons
2002 Out of Season (Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man)

~ Conclusion ~

Gibbons and Barrow portray moments of desperation, vulnerability, despair and hopelessness that exist in all of us through the most thoroughbred of sublime poetic and musical prose; such a gift is a rare thing considering that such moments can only be normally defined by most of us through the most basic clumsy expletive or embittered sigh.

Thanks for reading. DPxx 

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