Dummy

Day 6 of Albums you must hear before you die.. I was initially disappointed because I looked at the name of the album and it says “Dummy” by Portishead... I thought, damn, what in the hell is a Portishead first and secondly, I thought, I wish it had been something I’m more familiar with. I look at the genre and it’s titled trip-hop, and although I don’t typically like the idea of “genres” when I listed I understood. Man... As soon as I clicked the play button on the first song, I was taken on a beautiful, sexy, smokey, spooky and one of the most sonically pleasing trips that I have ever been on.. Without tripping on acid, of course. (I’ve Never taken acid before by the way, I just could never find any). All jokes aside, this is one of those things that when I first start listening to it and start to let it sink in, I automatically want to know who in the hell produced this!? It’s AMAZING! It’s like 80’s and early 90’s hip-hop/boom bap music had a baby in a film with James Bond played by Isaac Hayes, directed by Martin Scorsese. It’s a cinematic experience that gives you chills. It’s also SO hip-hop that I almost expected Nasir or Andre 3000 to start spitting witty lyrics at certain parts of the songs. They are all crafted so well! All the samples, sound effects, record scratching, the soundtrack to this trip-hop era is so damned satisfying. The arrangements in these songs are so superbly laid out and even though the girl that seems like she’s singing in an old jazz club filled with cigarette smoke with the sweetest voice, that when certain hooks and bridges come in and out that you can only focus on the sounds. Dummy is so well produced, engineered, performed and presented on a platter of gold. Better yet, platinum. Actually four times platinum. Winner of some of the most prestigious awards in music. There’s a saying, you only need two turntables and a microphone, and that is TRUE! But.. If you’re in 1994 in England with access to so many great rhythm and blues albums and jazz records to dig through in the crates, and then be able to use the technology of the time to sample them, and THEN have the obscenely talented singer Beth Gibbons on that side of the fore mentioned microphone, crooning to the notes played from the weeping guitar of Adrian Utley.. Really, it’s a perfect blend of music that makes this album my favorite of them so far at day 6. It caught me by surprise.. Now to give you my favorite songs. I never wanted to skip a single song on all three listens that I had today. If you don’t like this album from the very start it’s not for you. Don’t like the first song? Listen to the very last one, Glory Box. It’s my favorite song and it samples black 007 Isaac Hayes (RIP KING) Now if you don’t like THAT song, we can’t be friends. CANNOT. I also like Mysterons, Numb.. Shit I like them all! I need someone to shame me for not knowing about this group for all these years!! Come at me bro! Last but not least, that producer that I wanted to know so much about, but still don’t because I just learned of Portishead (still a dumb name) yesterday, well, his name is Geoff Barrow, the DJ that you hear creating all these amazing backing tracks for this album that Beth could lyrically mold with her voice like creative hands molding wet clay. I don’t know shit about either of them as people and I want to keep it what way. I prefer the mystique I get from this record. What’s magic without mystery? Music is magic. I’m still excited to gush over some of the great music that I already know so well, after this album, a record that will stay in my rotation from here on out. I’m more excited for the rest of the 1001 albums to hear before you die that I don’t know at all. ✌️

Cities have this ever present dull roar. After having always lived in the country or the suburbs, I remember my first few nights living in an apartment in the city. Getting used to that roar took some time. The city is a living thing. So many people and vehicles and things going on. And yet among it all its easy to feel isolated and alienated from it. People people everywhere, but no one to connect to. This album has an ever present bass and sub bass component. That dull roar*. On top of it, the mid range and high end are very sparsely populated. Anything that lives in that space is delicate and vulnerable. The vocalist isn't singing along to chords. There is no accompaniment. The vocals stand completely on their own. And it really sells the feeling of loneliness, the kind of loneliness borne of a desire to make new connections, and the creeping doubt as to whether that's even possible anymore. The sense conveyed is that I used to have relationships, and I used to understand my surroundings, and it used to be so easy to make friends. The nostalgic elements to the music sell this too. The dirty vinyl sounds, the cimbalom, the theramin, all evoke the past. While the delicate vocals represent the present. Why can't it be easy like it used to be? I'm surrounded by all these people. Is something wrong with me? Or is something wrong with everything else? How can it feel, this wrong From this moment How can it feel, this wrong 'Cause a child, roses light Tried to reveal, what I could feel I can't understand myself Anymore 'Cause, I'm still feelin' lonely Feelin' so unholy Who am I, what and why 'Cause all I have left is my memories of yesterday Oh these sour times 'Cause nobody loves me, it's true Not like you do I don't believe its sad or mournful. This isn't a funeral. It hasn't given up. Not yet. There's just this desire for something, and the question as to whether its even a valid desire anymore. "Did you really want?" On the path toward alienation, but not quite there yet. "Give me a reason to love you." Prove my desires are worth having. Please. Because I've about given up on them. * I just wanted to point out how much the bass of Wandering Star sounds just like distant air brakes from a truck, something you'd hear lying in your bed in the city, but I have no idea how to fit it in.

There's not much else out there that sounds like Portishead. I come back to this album all of the time and never seem to get tired of it. Plus, how is it possible that Portishead was never used for a Bond movie??

This album is SO good! This is the first album I got to the end and immediately started listening from the beginning again. I’ve never actually listened to Portishead, so this is a revelation. Her voice, the ambience, the emotion, it’s all so good. Favourite track: “It’s a Fire.”

I’ve tried a few times over the years to understand what makes this such a beloved record and it just won’t click. In fact, it seems like every time I give this record a shot, I end up liking it less than I did the previous time I heard it. Its a very monotone record to me, with songs that don’t do much to differentiate themselves from each other. This one’s just not for me.

J'ai appris grâce à cet album que je n'aimais pas du tout le trip-hop, ce genre musical ayant émergé au début des années 1990, dans la région de Bristol. Pourtant, vous savez probablement que lors d'une kermesse s'étant tenue dans mon école primaire en 2005, j'avais représenté la ville de Bristol à la toute fin du passage de ma classe avec deux amis moins talentueux. Nous étions le clou du spectacle. À la fin du numéro, j'étais censé déchirer mon T-Shirt noir préalablement découpé et maladroitement scotché à cet effet et le lancer dans la foule. Seulement au moment où la musique s'arrêta, le T-Shirt ne se déchira pas malgré mes nombreuses tentatives. Je dus l'enlever de la façon la plus standard qui soit, avant de le jeter dans une foule qui criait au scandale. Depuis ce jour, je hais la ville de Bristol ainsi que la plupart des courants musicaux qui y ont émergé.

Classic alert! They have a pretty unique sound as a band, only problem I have with them is they never really stray from this sound. IMO this is the only portishead album you really need to listen to, the others all sound the same but worse

Wandering Star is the first song by Portishead I listened to and the song that hooked me. Listening to this album took me back and reminded me what I was so into their sound.

a masterpiece. easily in my top ten albums of all time i listen to this album as uch as any other album i can think of.

Great album. Beth Gibbon's voice is sublime.

Can't recall too many households in the late 90s that didn't have a copy of this album in them. I mean, there's a reason why Glory Box was a smash. Whole album is so classy. Impeccable production. Beth Gibbons (whom I confused with Beth Orton) being a total weapon also helps.

Their second album is better, but this is the one that seemed to haunt everywhere for a while in the mid-90's, and distinguished its aesthetic so strikingly that it felt almost its own cliché on arrival. These songs manage to be delicate and juggernaut at the same time. They knew what to do with this aesthetic: the songs are strong. The only song on the album that drops below the bar is It's A Fire. Analogue production, digital quality control! I am startled by how far Glory Box's popularity on Spotify outstrips the rest of the album. The guitar riff is stunning, channeling Cream-era Clapton after a few pints of brandy. I remember Tricky moaning about how Dummy was basically his song Aftermath, and that was it. I both hear what he's saying - Aftermath is stellar - and think he's very, very wrong. The aesthetics are different, and whereas Tricky went for linear, minimalist stretches which flaunted his digital lifts, Portishead were more obviously analogue, defacing their vinyls and using weirdo, UFO instrumentation, and had time for more formal song structures - robots versus cyborgs. Returning to this album, I rate it above Massive Attack's efforts, and think it might be the zenith of that Bristolian spree. Will wait for Maxinquaye to appear on the list, as I haven't heard that in decades.

I love trip hop, and this is the grandaddy of all trip hop albums. Great vocals, even better sampling and sound design, just a masterpiece.

This has always been the defining trip hop album to me, though I may be slightly biased, because the 1st streaming service I ever listened to in the 90s had a chill channel that may as well have been called the Portishead channel. The production is elegant and creative (some of the samples are way out there), they never stray too far from their moody, haunting sound, but the song writing is great so they don’t need to, and I never tire of Beth Gibbon's voice.

This is what music is supposed to be. Beautifully composed, edited and sung. I can see how this was the springboard for trip-hop and I thoroughly enjoyed the sampling. Overall, this is nearly a perfect album.

Dark, moody, understated. Lovingly arranged, wonderful restrain. Just enough negative space to allow songs to breathe. This album has outsized influence on 90s downbeat sound. If there's one criticism it's that incorporating the scratching record sounds definitely dates the record.

Not as good as the later album but still impressive.

01) Mysterons - 9,0 02) Sour Times - 10,0 03) Strangers - 9,0 04) It Could Be Sweet - 9,0 05) Wandering Star - 10,0 06) It's a Fire - 9,0 07) Numb - 9,0 08) Roads - 9,0 09) Pedestal - 9,0 10) Biscuit - 9,0 11) Glory Box - 10,0 TOTAL: 9,27 (93/100) Current ranking: 19/371 I knew the singles, but I never heard the rest of the album. And the rest of the album is the reason why this is one of the most praised albums of the nineties. Apart from "Glory Box", which is one of my favorite songs of all time, I would like to single out "Wandering Star" and "Sour Times" as highlights of this excellent album.

Mysterious, cinematic, unsettling, cool, strong, oppresive, delicate, original, light, dark, beautiful, enigmatic, surprising, edgy, sad, fragile, desolate, inventive, hypnotic, absorbing, elegant, uncomfortable, seductive, intimate, unique.

Every song's a beauty.

Another favorite from my time as a music biz hanger-on in the early '90s. Go! Discs goes trendy; I attended the "world premiere" of the associated (and pointless) To Kill A Dead Man at the Prince Charles Cinema, oh so glamorous! One of the first of its kind, still sounds fresh and arresting, don't blame this for the subsequent trip-hop tedium. Made any spotty, nervous student oik feel instantly sophisticated. Great voice, clever samples including the first (?) use of the soon-to-be-ubiquitous Isaac Hayes motif on the fabulous Glory Box. Mysterons, Sour Times, Roads, not a dud here even if some tracks are less instantly memorable Nostalgic 5*

My initial thoughts are, "It's Dummy by Portishead, of course it's an automatic five, are you crazy?" But then I started to think a little (and I haven't pressed play yet). Outside the singles 'Numb', 'Sour Times' and of course 'Glory Box' is anything about the rest of the album memorable at all? Are the good songs that good, that it doesn't even matter about the rest? We shall see... 'Mysterons' is such a good opening song, sets the mood immediately. Not much to add about 'Sour Times', great song. I love the throbbing, pulsating drive of the bass and the trippy backwards snare in this song, 'Strangers' is definitely one to remember. 'It Could Be Sweet' is the first song I'm not a fan of on the album, the beat in particular feels off with the rest of the instrumentation and sampling on the track. It's not bad by any means, but doesn't do it for me. 'Wandering Star' picks things back up with a great beat and bass line and some good turntable work. Nice organy opening, I don't really remember this song at all. Hmm, a bit nondescript this one sadly, and I'm rather cold for 'It's On Fire'. Dark and brooding and what a fucking bass line, 'Numb' is fantastic. The processing on the drums creates a great atmosphere too. This song is like heartbreak and despair and sadness distilled and compressed into a single outpouring of grief. The guitar swells and then the orchestra are just perfect. 'Roads' is a fantastic song, probably my favourite on the album. Another great bass line in 'Pedestal' and trumpet solo! (Sounds like a trumpet to me!) The organ sounds good in 'Biscuit' and some more sub-bass is always good. The scratching and slowed down vocal sample sounds great with the organ over the top. 'Glory Box' is a very good song. Debut album, hugely influential, the best song wasn't even a single. 5 / 5 stars.

liked it. pornographic vibes

I hate trip hop - but really like Portishead. Great vocals, non-repetitive beats and an ethereal vibe.

Really enjoyed this album

I vibe with it! Good beats, chill songs. Favorite track: "Wandering Star."

is it pronounced "portis head" or "porti-shed"?

Like someone put 90's hip-hop and alt-rock into a blender. The gloomy mood makes it perfect rainy day music but the record scratches and samples keep the music from becoming too downbeat or melancholy. It’s a cool, druggy vibe. Favorite tracks: “Sour Times” (one of those songs I didn’t even know that I knew until it came on), “It Could Be Sweet” (that bass line!) and “Wandering Star” (love the record scratches and background layers).

No. 240/1001 Mysterons 3/5 Sour Times 3/5 Strangers 3/5 It Could Be Sweet 3/5 Wandering Star 2/5 It's A Fire 4/5 Numb 2/5 Roads 3/5 Pedestal 2/5 Biscuit 3/5 Glory Box 3/5 Average: 2,82 Kinda felt neutral about this.

Fantastic background music with the occasional ear-catcher track, or at least part. Glory Box also really stands out to me. Not a fan of electronica, but this one is a 3.5/5

Eerie and dreamy and totally cool, but also static, almost posing. It could do with some tunefulness. It’s all moods, with little flow and next to no harmony. Trip-hop is not aging all that well; here, the over-reliance on the same little scratchy sound-effect speaks to a passing (now long past) moment of coolness; these songs are equally transitory, if still cool, which lands them somewhere between triviality and ephemerality. 3

The bells on Sour Times sounds like the Taskmaster TV show. And is also a cool groove! It's A Fire is another groove. Glory Box is a nice closer, though I personally feel this album as a whole is lacking.

I want to like this but there’s not enough variation in tempo throughout the album. I could listen to maybe one of these songs at a time but a whole album is just boring, no matter how well the beats are constructed. 5/10

Like the voice and the music is not my style but not offensive then after 10 minutes my ears got bored and stopped listening as every track sounded the same.

Bad

Have the LP, trip hop gold

Nice. Eerie, chill. I enjoyed the instrumentals and ethereal vocal work was excellent. Something about it just works, and I'm here for it. Absolutely would revisit again! 'Sour Times' was my pick for a fave.

not even the best of their three albums, but the other is the best on this entire list. still incredible 9/10

Haven't heard this for a while, I usually default to putting on Third because I think that's their masterpiece. This deserves all the accolades it gets though. Great mix of styles and Beth's iconic voice over the top, then ends with the sexiest song ever written.

Fuck yeah.

Awesome album, great songs great vibes. Never heard of Portishead before, a nice discovery. The music also accompanied studying nicely.

Brilliant album from a brilliant time.

I don’t like how I’ve gotten 2 of my top 10 albums ever this early into this thing ngl

Great album to listen to with your gf, spouse or whatever. Love making music

So good. Roads one of my all-time faves. 5/5

Maybe some of this rating can be chalked up to nostalgia. This album came out when I was 15 and played heavily into my high school years. But regardless... fucking Portishead.

I never used to think I liked Portishead. But I was wrong. This is great.

i can’t believe i’d never heard this album until now. incredibly unique, never heard anything quite like this. the production is moody and atmospheric; elements of hip hop and jazz scattered throughout. Beth Gibbons’ vocals are beautifully depressing, the perfect pairing for this kind of production. will be revisiting this a ton

This is another example of a gem I found on this list. I have never listened to this band before and was very impressed with this record. Moody and atmospheric beats with Beth Gibbons' dreamy vocals make for an amazing listening experience. I will listen to their other releases. Highly recommended!!

Sorti en 1994, le premier album de Portishead "Dummy" est une expérience sonore unique et immersive. Avec ses paysages sonores étranges, son électronique troublante et la voix obsédante de Beth Gibbons, l'album vient de fêter ses 30 ans. Malgré sa nature non conventionnelle, "Dummy" a connu un succès commercial et a été acclamé par la critique. Il reste une oeuvre déterminante du genre trip hop et continue de captiver les auditeurs par son originalité et sa profondeur émotionnelle. Grâce à "Dummy", Portishead est devenu l'un des groupes les plus innovants et influents des années 1990. Un beau 5/5 pour album novateur.

The fucking best. Five stars forevah

So goddamn good

This album just oozes coolness. Trip-hop queen with a voice that captures you with its smooth melodic and sometimes eerie sounds. Probably one of my all time favourite albums.

Drip- Hop.

Its always been a classic. I'd probably give it a 9 but they are getting rounded up. Atmospheric and moody. Beth Gibbons voice is iconic.

An amazing album from start to finish. The mood, the voice, the whole thing… it’s just fantastic. And to think that it closes with the masterpiece, Glory Box… that’s just insane

Incredible album. It's a total vibe and every time I come back to this album it still sounds great.

Finally -- 600 albums in we get our first Portishead album. As far as trip-hop goes this and self-titled are absolutely untouchable. This is among the seminal works of the genre that set such a wonderfully unsettling and exposed tone. FWIW if you enjoy this album, I recommend checking out the album Hybrid by Elsiane -- I discovered it around the same time and, while it is different aesthetically there is some common element there. Especially in the intro track Vaporous. This album is all hit, no miss for me. One of those rare albums that I can put on literally anytime and be at peace. Mysterons is a great opening track that puts Beth Gibbons haunting vocals on full display over a spooky, minimal electronic instrumentation. Subtle shifting and scratching underpin a regular drum sample over which what sounds like a theremin warbles about. Sour Times carries forward the melancholy tone with a bit jazzier/bouncier entry featuring an exotic (eastern?) string sound and echo-laced guitar work. Strangers is among my favorites on this record and from Portishead in general. Love the way this one bounces back and forth between what I'll call "clean" and "dirty" segments. The clean are stripped down with canned vocals, while the dirty pull in the hip-hop beat with fuzzed out guitars and more clean and forward vocals. The result is a damned cool song. Numb is another favorite of mine. Simple, but highly effective. Then there is Roads, which stands out as one of the most popular relative to Spotify plays -- understand the broad appeal -- its a beautiful song that works so well. Full-bass, lush orchestral sweeps, and a droning organ sound give this a hug-like warmth. While Gibbons vocals sound so incredibly vulnerable. Biscuit is a wonderfully dusty, downtempo adventure. Trippy, chopped and screwed vocal samples and light mixing give this a delightfully cluttered vibe. Sprinkling keys work wonderfully in counterpoint to the dominating synth lines. Bleak and beautiful. Glory Box burns the album down slowly in a seductively drawn out inferno. Once again, just a beautiful jam that hits on all cylinders. So glad for this album to exist... Easy 5

Hell yeah love Portishead. So mysterious sounding. This and Mezzanine (hopefully is on here) are the quintessential trip hop albums. The arrangements and programming is just hauntingly beautiful from start to end. Beth Gibbons voice just mixes so well with the music also. Her voice on It Could Be Sweet is fantastic. Also just going through the wiki and on Roads there is an instrument called the 'nose flute.' If this wasn't an easy 5 already it sure is now. Love Glory Box. So easy to bounce your head to every song on here and Beth Gibbons voice is so emotional and has the perfect amount of tremble in it. This was an easy 5 before I started and loved hearing it again. Time to go listen to the Roseland live album by them.

fantastic debut album. 5 stars just for glory box. Favorite track: Glory box other picks: sour times, it could be sweet, wandering star Two 5 ⭐️s in a row after van halen 😀

This lives in that hard to define area between “Tori Amos made a James Bond soundtrack,“ and “the Cowboy Junkies went clubbing.“ No matter how thin you slice it, this is pretty cool stuff.

Hell yeah this slaps. Weird as hell.

I was literally just the other day saying I needed to properly listen to this album, since Roads and Glory Box are absolutely impeccable tracks, and what do you know, this foundational album of trip-hop is really good trip-hop all the way down, I am Vibing

Moody, atmospheric, plaintive, love it. Trip hop at its best, and very much up my alley - I've listened to Portisgead loads over the last couple of years (so maybe I'm biased) and the musicianship on this album is still phenomenal. Hearty recommendation from me. Faves: Sour Times; Roads; Mysterons

If there ever was an album that I just NEEDED to re-listen to, it would be Portishead's debut album 'Dummy'. I listened it to about 4 years ago for the very first time, and while it didn't immediately click, it did make me feel something that very few records ever have. I mean this album nails its particular aesthetic on absolutely every song - those dreary guitars on 'Mysterons' and the following 'Sour Times' are nothing short of haunting especially when paired with Beth's ghostly vocals that sound like they're echoing out from the bottom of some cold well in the dead of night. I can't overstate how much this album clicked for me this time around, it has that definitive '90s trip-hop sound while simultaneously sounding like every modern-day electron-backed singer-songwriter artist, especially on a song like the cozy 'It Could Be Sweet'. The drum programming here, while synthetic, is what elevates this album to its uncanny peaks. The snare hits bash the mix on many of the songs here, especially on 'Wandering Star' - maybe the catchiest song here despite it being paired with some bone-chilling imagery. Maybe the best thing about this song though is how unabashedly golden-age hip hop those funk samples are, and how their upbeat nature almost clashes with the coldness at the song's core - it creates a strange dissonance that works in creating something wholly unique and even frightening. The song 'Pedestal' feels similar, hitting the listener with a little saxophone solo halfway through. This particular song feels like you're sitting in some sort of dilapidated, run-down jazz club in the middle of some rural town. The organ-driven 'It's a Fire', as its title suggests, feels warmer than anything else here but the thing I love about this album is that no song feels truly "safe", there's always something off with the tones, keys the band chooses to play in (especially in those dramatic string sections), and the lyrics. My two favorite songs however come near the end of the album. First is 'Roads' which has easily the best string arrangement on the entire album. The feelings of debilitating isolation and hopelessness expressed by Beth here are absolutely crushing - the song feels like standing at the top of a snowy mountain, in a storm, staring off into the distance knowing there's no way you'll ever be warm again. I also really like 'Glory Box', which has Beth switching up her vocal style to something kind of snappy, crooked, and almost conniving before her more typical lush style sweeps in on the chorus, again evoking those feelings of yearning under these squawking electric guitar hits. Albums like this just make you really happy to love music, but also really sad when get hit with the realization that nothing will sound like this ever again. Like DJ Shadow's 'Endtroducing', the sort of low-budget, imperfect mixing of it is what REALLY makes this album...its '90s-isms and its recording context. I'd say it's that fusion of artificial computer programming and sounds straight from the human soul in the samples and Beth's vocals - it's a fusion that can't be easily recreated because it feels as unintentional as it does intentional. But hey maybe there is more music that sounds like this, Portishead's two other albums could sure use a re-listen.

welcome to my controversial artist list, love this album (and the 2nd record), still pains me to think about Third and I dispute it's inclusion in the 1001 This is glorious, beautiful and hunting melodies from track 1 to the end

Already one of my all time faves. A perfect album. 10/10

That’s a 10. Unbelievable album

#296, this may be the first album where this list properly aligns with my own history of Essential Listens. Masterpiece at its time. It's been a while since I've heard it in full and when I put it on earlier, outside, with flimsy in-ears I was thinking that I might have worn it out too much, back then and how today I might prefer the grittiness of their "Third" or Gibbons' work with Rustin Man on "Out of Season", but that doesn't matter. "Roads" played and no, this is still magnificient. If you're reading this, make sure to check out "Scorn" from the "Glory Box" single. An outstanding way to make a remix. 10 out of 5 stars.

A timeless classic

Genre-defining album. Glory Box, Roads, ... so many good songs here.

Obviously a groundbreaking album that to this day sounds like a little else. The samples are so slick, the vocals are sexy as fuck, it's a 5 from me. Glory Box is obviously one of the best songs of all time, and just so gender as well - it's a song about embracing femininity and coming into yourself. What's not to love. Best Track: Glory Box Worst Track: It Could Be Sweet

Best Song: Glory Box Worst Song: It Could be Sweet

Really thought I wasn't going to enjoy this album, but boy was I wrong; it's truly fantastic. Beth Gibbon has a voice of an angel.

Stone Cold Classic. My favorite Trip Hop.

Familiar with a lot of these songs from when it came out. Perfect production choices, very layered and obviously laboured over. Vocals outstanding as to be expected. 'Roads' a standout.

subtle masterpiece

This album is an absolutely critical listen. From front to back it is perfect. It pushed the envelope for it's time, and very few albums or artists have come close since. It is still the trip-hop standard next to Mezzanine by Massive Attack. 5/5

Another album that unlocked a nostalgic portal that I wasn’t aware of, amazing band and lucky to have seen them live once headlining Latitude feat guest appearance from Thom Yorke. A 5/5 all day long, the influence can’t be understated

This was such an eye-opener in its depth, musicality, atmosphere... Everything. For some reason I hadn't listened to this album for ages, and relistening to it, it hasn't lost any of its impact and ages incredibly well.

I really really love Portishead, so I recognize my bias in my rating of this album. Dummy still feels fresh even 30 years after its release. The tracks throughout the album feel as though they’re soundtracking an obscure film or indie movie. Beth Gibbons voice really sets them apart from other trip hop acts that came after them. Incredible vibes from front to back. Stand out track: Roads and Glory Roads

A classic, takes me right back to 1994, the heartbreak of early love, of hearing new sounds that sound revolutionary to young ears, and that voice…

Unique, timeless. Cornerstone of all music collections

Tämähän on valloittava. Samasta laarista ammennetaan kun Massive Attack ja Moby 5/5

Instant classic mixing jazz/trip-hop/post-punk

If anybody asks what kind of music I like, Portishead has been the first band I've mentioned every single time since this was released in 1994. Saw them live back then in Wolverhampton and again in Australia 2011.

A masterpiece.

This is a really cool album. Enjoyed listening.

5/5 One of my favorite albums of all time. Every song is phenomenal.

It sounds simultaneously trippy, unsettling, otherworldly, ethereal, beautiful. The vocals fit the music so fucking well. I wouldn't have thought jazz inspired music combined with hip hot beats would sound this good, but it does. What an experience. Favorites: "Sour Times", "Strangers", "Roads", "Pedestal", "Glory Box"

Perfectly dark and moody, what could anyone not love about this album.

I had heard of Portishead but never listened to this album. Very dark and brooding. Her voice is perfect for the music. Would be a great album to listen to at 3:00 in the morning.

el goat del triphop

5/5

lepszego albumu triphopowego już nie będzie

I don't know what 'trip hop' means and I didn't like 'Dummy' straight away either, but today the album is one of my favourites. Beth Gibbons' voice is as bittersweet as almost any other I know. The instrumentation is "restrained" but still distinctive and wonderfully complementary. I am blown away by two of the samples they use, firstly this trembling melody, Zither, which reminds me totally of the Third Man and then Elegante People by Weather Report, I am an absolute Weather Report fan. If Portishead is a good example of trip hop, wow! What else is there to say, for me it's manna for the ears and soul. It's not medicine in the true sense of the word, but for me, currently in hospital after a serious operation, it's a healing and nutritional supplement. Give me more of it and it would be the devil's work if they didn't see me from behind here soon

Fuck yeah.

I usually don’t rate an album this high on a first listen but holy shit this is so good. I love this. It’s smooth but rugged. Serene but I can pinpoint the sound as an edgier time in music. It’s almost indescribable but you can really feel this shit. And what a feeling.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love trip hop!! This is my first experience with Portishead and I loved it a lot! Amazing record

Have this album. It is indeed a classic. Trip-hop at its finest.