Dummy

I can't say that this is my thing. I guess because R&B isn't too much of my thing either. Not this kind of electronica either. I liked 'Wandering Star'. It was good, yeah it was fine.

Interesting sound. I had never actually heard Portishead's music and was surprised by the soft sounds and musical lilt. Not bad.

Great album but I feel roseland ballroom is just so much better

It was hauntingly beautiful. If I was feeling a little down I would love to listen to this and just wallow (honestly!). The melodies are beautiful and emotional and the singers voice adds beautiful complexity to the songs.

This is a good album. It gets 3 stars because it's not quite as great as the albums I've given 4 stars to

Great album. Good beats and vibes. Didn’t like the voice as much

There’s background noise that sounds like you’re playing well-worn vinyl that really adds to the hazy atmosphere and is very cool. Listen to this on a cloudy day and relax.

Another one of those albums that I more or less enjoyed listening to, but didn't get a strong impression from.

Not my taste but creative

An easy listen. I liked it but something's missing for me.

It’s is two separate things to “get” an album vs. to “like” an album. I get this album. I really do. There’s no more needing to beat me over the head with it. But I still don’t like it in the way everyone else does. There are other albums that go for this same aura and do it better

I loved most of it!

Favorite Track: Roads

I like the style. It’s sort of jazzy and mysterious with dubstep randomly creeping in, and I love the sound of the singer’s voice against the background. I don’t have anything bad to say about it, but also don’t feel I really love it. Happy to give it a try though.

Nothing that stood out besides picking out a sample and seeing the influence this band might have had on future artists and engineers. Chill vibes the entire time and good background music. Middle of the road for this one.

Enjoyable but not as extraordinary as I first remembered. A solid 3.5/5.

This is a definite vibe that you have to be in the mood for. Overall a good album, though a really homogeneous sound.

Bored to tears, tbh. It was musically very nice, but the genre just didn’t do it for me at all.

I dig the overall vibe but this album has almost zero range. All of the songs sound the same! This group would work better for me in a mix with other songs and artists.

a bit repetitive

Not my thing. I get what’s it’s doing, but I really just wanted it to be over.

Some songs were great, while others were so-so. Well, this is more of a 3.5, it doesn’t rise to the level of four for me.

The beats and singing are cool, but I don't think this album has aged well. In the era of DAW productions, I often hear tracks that sound similar to this. 3.5

Smoke drifting across a room ... caught in light coming from under a very closed door. Listening at a wall Delicate ghost shapes. But something is burning. It's good.

This album sounds how sleep deprivation feels. Soundtrack of doomers. It’s one of those albums where I really haven’t listened to anything like it before. I had to keep retyping my review as my opinion kept changing. Initially I hated it but it grew on me as the album progressed, and more again with a second listen. Really loved Roads so that earns it a star alone. I was reminded of Gorillaz in places. Very bleak and atmospheric. If I was feeling depressed and wanted to feel more depressed I would put this album on. It’s like the antonym of Getz/Gilberto. I’m not sure how often I’ll be in the mood to listen to this, but without a doubt it has expanded my musical horizons. Will revisit.

Each song is fine in its own right, and it was a little more sonically interesting than most electronica I've heard, but still ultimately suffered from being sluggish and unchanging

Liked it! But almost all the songs sound the same.

Pretty good. Interesting. Can hear a lot of different influences. Dynamic sound and an enchanting voice. Not sure what I was expecting, but this one surprised.

Weird. I dig it. A lil too 'poppy' for me. But def on the weird side. Which I kinda like. Hmm prob a 3/5.

Perhaps if I had lived in the UK during the early/mid-90s and saw the rise of Trip Hop through predecessors like Massive Attack, I'd have rated this higher. Looking at it from 2024, though, it feels more like an artifact of its time and place. It feels like Evanenesence—and not in a good way. It's not a happy album, that's for sure. A few decent tracks (Sour Times, Glory Box) seem to rise above the rest of the sadness throughout the album. I also perked up a few times when I recognized samples during songs—Weather Report, for example, popping up at the start of one.

3.8, very shipwrecked sound track

Chill listen. Sounded very similar after awhile. I would punch out more to boredom than annoyance, which I guess is the difference between a 2 and a 3 here. 2.5/3

A lot of this sounded alike, but the vibes to chill out to were still abundant. Better than Massive Attack. Best when listening with headphones.

Cool but kinda boring

Definitely below expectations

I love the 90s, but the last few weeks have been pretty 90s heavy. This was ok but it all kind of blends together. I’m pretty sure many of these songs were played in the background of lesbian seductress scenes in cheesy 90s movies.

Better than I expected.

I'm shrugging less emphatically

It was okay. It wasn't really my taste, but it sounded nice.

Not a bad listen but there was something about it that silently screamed 'LOOK AT ME AND HOW COOL MY MUSIC IS!' when really all I wanted to do was close my eyes, and listen to music.

Good for what I listened too, but slow for the morning

Meh. Boring mood music

Best Song: Glory Box. This is purely based on the quality of the chorus and the breathless, smoky quality of the vocals. Worst Song: Wandering Star. The extended outro did nothing for me. The vocals really were what most intrigued me about this album, and there were too many extended instrumentals here. Overall: A chill, relaxed album. I had never listened to Portishead before, and I don't know what I expected but it wasn't this. Enjoyable for evenings and rainy days.

A very noir grungy vibe. Glory box is cool and sexy, whole album is a rainy day aesthetic

People usually seem to put Portishead and Massive Attack next to each other for comparison, and while I can see what they mean, I think that it's also not really spot on. On paper I should prefer Portishead, and I do like the overall sound and feel of the album, but somehow their songs don't manage to grab me entirely. I think the singer really hits the spot and adds so much value and emotion to the songs. But compared to Massive Attack, I feel like there is some energy missing overall on the record. The sick basslines and rap sections they have there really makes a difference. In the end it's going to be a strong 3 for me. I have heard this album before and didn't thhink much of it. It grew a tiny bit on me when listening to it again, but I don't see it becoming something I really come back to that much.

Sour Times is a favorite song. The rest of the album was alright to me but I’d like to come back and listen

Album was a vibe, cleaned the house to it and caught myself scrubbing to the beat 😂

Not what I expected, but enjoyable.

Alright

Pretty chill. Enjoyed it.

Was a bit feverish and this album made me feel like the feverdream continued while I was awake. Not the most pleasant experience, but great music so 3/5

uh its alright i guess 3/5

This is an album that requires you to be (whether temporarily or perennially) in a gloomy mood to fully appreciate. If you are, it's a 4. If you're not, it's a 2. I'll split the difference.

The opening track "Mysterons" reminds me of Björk's "Hunter" (although the Björk song was 3 years later). Haunting, but slightly depressing, with the last track, "Glory Box", verging on almost being joyful.

The whole album is too less diversified and too much downbeat. Sounds more like lounge- or film-music to me. favourite: "Sour Times", "Wandering Stars", "Glory Box" 2,5

Really enjoyed Sour Times and Glory Box, but the rest of the album dragged for me. Not unenjoyable to listen to, but just didn’t catch me. With Glory Box it’s funny to see another older song being rehashed for modern pop with Alessia Cara. Had no idea the beat to her song was a sample.

Very 1994 and a testament to what it meant to be cool then. But sounds falsely dramatic 30 years on. Many cool moods get set but then nothing else happens. Appropriate music for cocktail lounges and international flights (business class preferred) in the mid to late 90s, but generally not other places, times. One wonders if winning the Mercury Prize is actually a negative indicator of aging well. 3

Really enjoyed, didn’t know how much they’ve influenced some of my favorite music

I liked this a lot more than I thought it would!

I continue to enjoy the "triphop" genre, but have appreciated a few of the other albums a bit more than this one.

I enjoyed this but didn’t find it particularly memorable. Some solid songs and some less memorable tunes. I like but don’t love trip-hop.

Sultry spy movie sounding tones. This all reminded me of early 2000s movies and I enjoyed it

sexy

Alright

I listened to a little more than half of the album. I had heard good things about portishead in the past. I didn’t dislike like the album but I definitely expected to like it much more than I did. Might dive a little deeper into their discography. 3.3/5

Really cool album. Moody but has a groove to it. The singer reminds me of Fiona Apple, which is awesome. Will probably have to revisit this down the line to gain more appreciation.

Fine.

Really interesting/unique. Would listen again. It's like if Mazzy star was produced by Dr Dre in a weird way

I like the chill vibe of the album, and it’s pleasant to the ear. However, it’s very monotonous, so by the end of the album I get rather bored. There can’t be too much of a difference in bpm throughout the album, surely? Roads, with it’s beautiful vocal melody and efficient use of strings, Glory Box, which is more adventurous and Wandering Star, with added bass to give the beat some more punch, break out of the average mold and secure the 3 stars. But man, it most be a boring band to watch live!

1994 was the peak of rap production in my opinion so I’m a sucker for the beats on this album, though I’d much rather hear the Pharcyde rap over them than this girl sing over them.

2.9 Overall good vibes, It gets a bit repetitive at times for me.

Some really good stuff but I didn't like your voice at times and the album was far too long. High highs and low lows

ok, some solid "chill hop" tunes here

Never gets out of first gear. Every song is slow. That annoying wack-a wack-a of the turntable LP being spun and the snare drum on beat two throughout (at least its timbre is changed once in awhile). The song “Numb” is numbing, as are a few others. Now….all that being said….there were some interesting lyrics sung by an interesting (often beautiful) voice. In fact, the voice saves this album and makes it listenable. Not great….but not terrible either.

Moody album, sets the atmosphere of bar late at night when everyone is drowsing and smoked out. Stand-out: Wandering Star, Glory Box

I was in to this album in highschool because I worked at a record store and we played it in the store a lot. For nostalgia purposes it’s a 3.5.

Dit album door de jaren heen een aantal keer geluisterd, maar kom er nooit echt echt in. Vind het wel oké, paar leuke nummers erop maar trekt mij niet.

👍🏻

Favoritlåt från albumet var Glory Box Albumet får 3/5 stjärnor. Gillade att det var en tjej som sjöng och hela albumet hade en bra vibe

More electronics get skins of boring

So, apparently I like Trip hop. Interesting...

6/10 not my vibe but I can tell the production and the heavy lyrics can be for many people. Gives off SAW vibes

Some incredibly dreamy/nostalgic/nightmarish soundscapes are created in this album. At times they feel perfect and you get wholly lost in them. At other times they feel muddy and discordant, leading to a jagged listening experience

Epitome of this sound and this era. Consistent if nothing else.

Soundtechnisch nicht mehr ganz auf der Höhe aktueller Produktionen, aber schon sehr stilprägend und ein Einfluss für jede Menge andere Musik.

Good

Now I finally know what they sound like, was not bad

no se fumada psicotropica, canta una pava triste. Techno raro relajao bien? no se no es mi royo pero enjoyable

This album has recalibrated my '3' rating. I regret not giving Imagine a 2. This album was perfectly fine, and I enjoyed listening to it but likely wouldn't revisit it. Glory Box and Sour head stood out but the other tracks felt same-y. This may be because I have never listened to trip-hop and wasn't quite able to get past the top layer of the songs.

Very sexy and sultry. I definitely liked it more than Third.

A very light 3 for me

kinda creepy vibes

I don't know what I expected but this was not it. Overall very good for what it is. It's not my preferred style of music but I liked it. I probably won't seek this out again but I'm glad I listened to it.

Good not great for me. I really liked the overall sound of this album, but it got kinda boring by the end of it.

Interesting style, but rather dull.

Fun and familiar

Never heard Portishead, and I was definitely surprised once I hit play. Positives: Great voice! Relaxing music, but also a bit melancholy. The mixing is great and the soundscapes used are very immersive. Negatives: Each song is a bit too similar. Especially with the drumbeats. I listened to about half the album then skimmed through the rest because I got extremely bored. I can't listen to this album as a whole, but the music itself is pretty good. Final score: 3 stars- Decent music, unfortunately not entertaining enough as a collective. Might listen to individual songs again.

Meh. Quality is fine. Just not that interesting. Low 3

It was good, need to listen in doses. Her voice...

No me gusta que las bases tengan un sonido uniforme durante toda la canción, pero me parece interesante que toda la melodía la aporte la voz (una buena voz, por cierto). Me resulta algo cansino el album, pero no me desagrada.

So fucking good. Especially the first and last song. I want to rate it better, but I just didn't connect as much to it as I thought I would. But it's so good.

Either a 2 or a 4. Never a 3.

Mysterons grabbed my attention immediately with the haunted beats and vocals, and I immediately recognized Sour Times and really enjoyed it. Their sound is different and works for extremely well when they’re at their best. I didn’t find Dummy to be consistent all the way thru, there were lulls, at some points was straight up annoying like on It Could be Sweet but overall it was an interesting listen with some really creative tracks with chill vibes. 3 stars

I didn't think I was familiar with this band, but I did recognize Sour Times. Moody, female vocals, soft and spooky melodies.

Ultimately not for me. It was a little like listening to enya w heavier drums/synth-y beats. I think they’re doing what they’re doing well! I would put this album on if I was trying to host a sexy vibe-y cocktail party, or something like that.

Solid work and a good entry into trip hop type production

Ta guapo

3,5

War OK

Boring and repetitive. Way too brooding and moody. That being said, it was ok and wasn't overly annoying.

My second listen (popped up on a friend’s list the other day and he was already a fan, so….)….not sure I’m getting all of it; I see the appeal, but it’s not what I’d reach for ordinarily…definitively British, and I like the melodies and approach, but for me something is missing and I don’t know what

Very psychedelic

Low to Mid-tempo. Cool beats to sample. Sounds very 90s

Too dark for my preference

Good background music

had some good beats/scracthes

Good background music

Worth a listen, definitely different vibe and really interesting possibly early sample based music. Stuck a very niche chord in my brain, but overall, a good experience.

Smoky and mysterious vibe since it came out. Always enjoyed.

Not the genre of music that I gravitate toward, but it was listenable.

Mer 2000-talspop än väntat.

If the lazy silkworm-spun guitar melodies of Mysterons and Glory Box were alive in 1800s San Francisco, they'd lie repose on a chaise lounge in a seedy opium den on the Barbary Coast, eyes glazed over in a state of blissed-out euphoria. Portishead surely earns its moniker as progenitor of Air, Handsome Boy Modeling Club, and the litany of lesser-than downtempo darlings of the late 90s and early aughts.

Meh

Always liked this album.

trippin on that hop i have had this vinyl for so long

Good album. Couple of outstanding tracks.

Helt klart en viktig skiva. Antagligen den främsta trip-hop skivan nånsin. Tycker dock genren blir lite för släpig till slut. En stark trea.

Ganska tråkigt

Cant stop thinking about Bill Bailey and part troll...

Talented but not my style.

Goede instrumenten, trippy vibe (misschien goed op drugs), fuck niet echt met de zangeres tbh

Kende Glory Box al (vgm van Heineken reclame haha), echt een top nummer imo! Roads ook opgeslagen Verder leuk, beetje spooky vibe soms maar heeft niet echt een wow factor Daarom 3 sterren, zou 't album alsnog wel draaien misschien maar would not buy denk ik

Great beats, great vocals. This album has such a cool vibe, it’s chilled whilst being a little haunting. Really cool atmosphere.

Fantastic. 8/10. Loved Biscuit and Glory Box, obviously. Excellent voice, very different from what I've heard.

JJ said this is exactly like smoking week in someone's basement in 1994 and she was so right. People have been telling me to listen to Portishead forever so I was excited to listen, but I didn't like it as much as I hoped. Mellower than I expected and it was fine, just didn't really blow my socks off. Maybe me from the late 1900s would have loved it but we'll never know.

niet af kunnen luisteren, ik had het idee dat ik op een bezem door de lucht scheerde

Jaa idk man, Britten

This is the ultimate chiller hip-hop album. I don't consider myself a viber, but this was cool enough. A few instrumentals off this wouldn't be out of place on Deltron 3030.

Iha jees!

They're really nailing the atmosphere they're going for here. I wish I could say it was the kind of atmosphere I enjoy, but it's not. The whole vibe here is very dark and moody, which just kinda bums me out. I do love the theremin on the first track, sounds very spooky. It's a Fire has a pretty beautiful sound and melody. Absolutely can't stand the "jazzy gal" voice on Glory Box. Overall though, I have to give credit to how singular the vision is here, and how well the production and instrumentation is put together. It feels way ahead of its time.

Good

Chill but has that annoying DJ record scratch sound throughout

Not expected. Pretty mellow.

Another one that I can hear is good but isn't for me. The waify female "can't you see" stuff... nah

72/100 but doesn't deserve 4*. Rating out of 5 is dumb.

All I can say is that "Dummy" is way better album than "Third" and that last song is straight out of James Bond movie.

Sounds like what I'd think NIN would sound like. Good atmosphere, but also kinda slow. 4.5/10 Good instrumentals

Lush trip-hop beats and a 90s Bond longer singer's voice. Another full soundscape of a time, the mid 90s in Britain.

I enjoyed this album, quite a unique sounding artist, unfortunately the problem I have with portishead is the unique sound you hear on this album is the same one you hear on every one of their albums. Not to say it's bad, it's decent but I would have liked it more if they changed the music up a bit. High 2/low 3

It's fine.

Much better than the name and cover makes it out to be

Dreamy...

Ok

Chill maar hmm

Familiar with the hits from my childhood. Pretty good.

Pretty interesting experience, though the songs dont really stand out to me

Pleasant voice. Not much variation, but served fine as chill background music. Better than anticipated.

Pretty relaxing and nice to work with it on

Surprisingly pleasant. I wouldn’t mind listening to this again, but wouldn’t actively put in on.

Feels like Battlestars "All along the watchtower" but with occasional disc scratching thrown in.

Solid background music

Not bad , not my style

49 Based on this scale: 1 - 0 to 19 2 - 20 to 39 3 - 40 to 59 4 - 60 to 79 5 - 80 to 100 Interesting album. The vocals didn't really move me, but the compositions were pretty good.

I didn't know what to expect, but was surprisingly pleased at what I heard. TBH, the name of the group and the name of the album are such that I would never have bothered to listen. It's not "great", but certainly not bad.

Har ikke så mye å si. Det var bra, men ikke helt min greie. Tror ikke jeg ga dette albumet den oppmerksomheten jeg skulle ha gitt det. Skal uten tvil høre igjen, mulig det er bedre ved flere lyttinger.

Ville veldig gjerne like fette, men tror jeg må høre mer. Vibet ikke helt, av en eller annen grunn.

This album checks off a lot of my favorite music boxes: moody? yep. ethereal? oh yeah. haunting voice? for sure. steady but not overpowering backbeat? give me more! This album has mastered the art of the chill vibe. And yet. It's just not really my thing. I can appreciate it, I'm enjoying listening to it now, but I won't come back to it. A little of it goes a long way. For me it's kinda like Mazzy Star - someone would put it on, I'd think ooh I have to check that out at home, and then I would never follow up because it's just a little too precious.

Cool style

Good start, but got slow and depressing at the end

Different. Enjoyed it!

Super chill. Not something i would normally listen to but really good. 3 stars.

I liked it! Nice background music.

I dig the lo fi hip hop beats and the scratching. Her voice is also nice but I'm not sure if all of it put together fully jives with my white boy sensibilities

Decent

This album cover looks like it was taken straight from The Poughkeepsie Tapes. On top of the synths and electronics of this one, it made for a creepy but cool listen. It felt a little repetitive as it went on, but I enjoyed it.

Very good listen. Smooth, funky, and untraditional.

Electronic, ambient, trip hop, I'm not sure what to define this as, a mix of a few genres. It wasn't bad. The songs sounded similar, overall it was a decent album

Wandering Star slaps. It gives early 90s. It's a bit slow and creepy, but I can listen to it while I work. Fun record sounds.

First time hearing Trip Hop. I didn't even know such a genre existed. When I heard this genre I imagined it would be kinda like mgmt songs for some reason. I didn't t expect this at all and more that a trip it kinda felt like a spiritual journey for some reason. I loved it more than the previous album but not as much as other albums I heard. Nevertheless I have a feeling that this album will grow on me as I listen to it more and more.Soo I give it a moderate 3

Some really good tracks and some boring ones.

Great vibe for a rainy day, heard that one song a million times. 2.5/5

Somewhat familiar, very chill and cool. Top tracks Sour times Roads Glory box

Mysterons et sour times sont bien Strangers est claquée It could be sweet et wandering star Bof It's a fire est bien! Numb non Road elle est bien en vrai Pedestal rien de spécial Biscuit non Glory Box incroyable ofc Résultat final 3/5 Je donnerais 2.5 si je pouvais. Vraiment carry par Glory Box, le reste va d'ecoutable à nul donc bon

Wish I liked this more than I do. Feel like this is a fave album for many people whose music I like. + Sour Times + Strangers + It Could Be Sweet + Glory Box

It's a really unique album and sound. Neat that they found a sound that was so tailored to them.

A pretty cool and unique vibe. A understated haunting broody electronic beat with a cool siren of a voice. Sour Times stands pretty far above everything else... the rest maintains the vibe, but everything is samesy enough that the album probably serves best as background music.

I did not enjoy the female vocal on this album.

Very chilled album. Sounded a bit repetitive though.

lofi indie rock, its alright.

Some kind of chill electronic pop. Nice.

I liked mysterons and glory box the most.the rest, while enjoyable sort of blurred together.

Pleasantly surprised although it is reminiscent of walking dark streets at night after suffering some personal tragedy.

Good, but I definitely prefer the triphop we heard yesterday

slow pacing + the singing style makes it an album i’m not super interested in. the instrumentals also don’t really do it for me. i can enjoy some slower songs, but this album isn’t working.

It's fine. For me personally, this album gets let down by the extreme overrepresentation of this genre, because it quite clearly is the best one of all these 90s UK electronica acts. But I'm pretty jaded at this point, and electronica still has a hard ceiling with me.

Her voice is beautiful. And it reminded me of some other music I had forgotten about.

Felt a bit dated to me. Decent enough but I felt a bit forgettable too. Not sure if it was the vocals, or the sultry sexy spy movie vibes, but I think it's probably influenced so much modern music that I unfairly hear it as jaded and dated. Did have some decent beats, synths and songs. 6/10

Very sixth form vibes from this album

Heavy but with surprisingly uplifing female vocals.

Saatan olla liian hövelillä päällä, ja teoriassa tämän asteinen masistelu on liian optimistista, mutta nämä kappaleet herättävät musiikillisia kysymyksiä. Saattaisinpa jopa palata muutamaan.

I know this is a big album for a lot of people but I never really came across it until now, aside from seeing the album cover in lots of record stores. I didn't dislike this one but it also didn't hit me that hard. I found that it kind of just played in the background without many standout tracks. Standout Tracks: Sour Times, It's Fire, Glory Box

From the opening, cavernous drums and theremin (!) of “Mysteron” to the fading strains of Beth Gibbons’ iconic “give me a reason to love you”, “Dummy” is mysterious, sensual and serene. In 1994, the album cemented Bristol as the home of trip-hop, three years after audiophile Geoff Barrow had formed Portishead with Gibbons (they recorded demos in Neneh Cherry’s kitchen, while Barrow was working on her second album). Thirty years on, “Dummy” stands as the critical pinnacle of the genre. Aside from the odd drum sample here or scratch effect there, to my ears it sounds strikingly contemporary, not dating much at all since 1994. There are some interesting recording and engineering techniques going on here: all made analogue, the band recorded their own music onto vinyl and then manipulated it via tape deck. Records were walked on and scuffed before being sampled, and broken amps were used, all in pursuit of a vintage sound. The sonics themselves are really well done, with a good use of space: arrangements are sparse and minimal, with a nice focus on the low end to allow Gibbon’s hushed, ethereal vocals to float above. However, despite the impressive technical input, many of these songs leave me cold. It’s a good sonic atmosphere but the smoky, noir-spy-fiction feel doesn’t do a lot for me when strung out over a full album. By the time it gets to the extended trumpet solo in “Pedestal”, or the warped vocals of “Biscuit”, it’s all a bit too much of a snooze. Song structures are flat, endless oceans with little variation in dynamics or tempo. I ended up realising the warmer, lusher tones of Goldfrapp’s early work (which I can now appreciate must have been heavily influenced by Portishead) appeal to me more. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy any of “Dummy”: beyond the undisputed triumph of “Glory Box”, I enjoy “Strangers” for its colossal drums and creeping dread. And “It’s A Fire” is an unsung gem, playing out like a moment of clarity in all the fog and haze. Direct and sincere, it keeps a sweet melody at its heart without revealing all its secrets. I would have appreciated a little more of this. “Dummy” deserves its place in music history, but for me it’s more a place to visit once in a while and admire than set up roots in forever.

Pretty niche genre of not quite pop, not quite rock, not quite electronic, even not quite hip hop in some places. I liked it, but wasn’t crazy about it.

Weet dat 't goed is, maar nooit helemaal mijn ding geweest. Toch 3 sterren uiteraard.

Waar is machine gun als je erop zit te wachten?

Nice background stuff.

Rock solid album, one of the best ever

An unusual mix of soulful with dark and moody. Well crafted songs with a restrained use of scratching and sampling, which gives the songs a grittiness without making them feel heavy handed. Not every song lands, but when the get it right, it's splendid. Fave Songs: Sour Times, Glory Box, Mysterons, It Could Be Sweet, Roads, Wandering Star

Everyone can agree on this album. It's perfectly average.

This is refreshing after Steely Dan yesterday. I'm gonna feel bad if I give this the same score, though. I should have rated yesterday's album lower. This is a subwoofer album, that's for sure. The bottom line: Portishead's "Dummy" is a slick rainy night, foggy and crisp all at once.

I listened to this while working on an essay, and it was impressively good study music. It's calm, slightly creepy, and very much the same from song to song. I didn't even notice when one song flowed into the next.

C'était quand même correct, l'instrumentation m'envoyais des petits vibe de Gorillaz par moment.

C’est pas pour moi mais ça m’a permis d’avoir une introspection sur mon opinion de la musique moderne, faque je lui donne un point bonus EDIT DU FUTUR: C'EST VRAIMENT PAS SI PIRE QUE ÇA FINALEMENT, PEUT-ÊTRE QUE J'ÉVOLUE ENFIN

not bad just not what i would listen to

Batter than what I was expecting. I thought this was going to be somewhat painful to listen to but I didn't mind it.

Agobiante... opresivo... Un 3.

This is a great debut from Portishead, there are so many samplings, loops and techniques such as skating with and walking on vinyl to give it a distorted sound, along with playing through a broken amplifier, gives this album such a unique sound. All without the use of digital recordings. With the trip hop sound makes me feel that I'm walking through a laneway on a gloomy rainy evening, coupled with just the sound of your footsteps and the odd passing car. Best: Glory Box Worst: Biscuit 3.5 stars

Review history indicates I really hated the prior offering from this band. This didn't rub me the wrong way nearly so much, thoughbits a style I could simply do without.

Honest review would be 3.5 stars. Reminds me of Bjork a lot

Great in parts.

Good but not great.

Really influential. I can literally hear the Glitch Mob samples and inspiration from this one, but it’s not the greatest sound.

Chill, sleepy at times

Highlights: "Mysterons," "It Could Be Sweet" This was contributing to a very fresh subgenre, maybe piggybacking Massive Attack's Protection, but while it's hard to find precedent (ATCQ, likely), it's easy to see influence. I wouldn't be surprised if this spurred Björk's development on 1995's Post, Beck's move away from Primus and Ween sounds to what we hear on Odelay, and any number of mournful '90s alt hits glazed over a breakbeat -- Dido, Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, etc. For all that, though, its striking impression is already spread very thin by 50 minutes. The dusky, plaintive brooding gets monotonous quickly. So at least it's consistent?

Very loud and tense whilst also being quite chill and laid back. Very excellent vocals. Very good use of silence/instruments dropping in and out. The synthesisers all sound very simple, however this very "bleak" landscape does a lot of favours to the duality of the sound that they're going for. Some beautiful use of strings too.

Beautifully put together album, good to work to

Skön groove med den rätt unika instrumentella delen av mixen. Ganska moody.

To me, Beth Gibbons is not the hypnotic sex goddess others hear. Don’t remember the music being so rich in drums and scratches, nice stuff but I’ll take prime Tricky over it any day.

Sad but good.

some songs cool

INT

3.5 really enjoyed it!

already listened to it, it's dark, it's good

Never heard of Portishead before, though I realised while listening that I knew their song “Glory Box” from somewhere - I think it was used in an ad or something. Definitely a weird album, I’m not usually into stuff this experimental-sounding. Fav tracks: Sour Times, It’s A Fire, Glory Box Least fav tracks: Numb, Roads, Pedestal While I liked some tracks, most didn’t do it for me.

I was familiar with a few of the songs, but had never listen to the album in its entirety. Favorite songs: Roads, Glory Box. Very trippy vibe. I could imagine listening to this album while driving while it's raining or snowing on the highway at night.

No es mi genero favorito, sin embargo tampoco es un album que aburre, todas las canciones son diferentes y cada una tiene algo que la destaca 6/10

Have known about this album for years, but never got into it. Still not totally into it but it's growing on me. 3 stars.

I haven’t listened to Portishead for a while, good music.

Heard so much good about this one Hmmm I expected indierock for some reason. Wth. This is boring af "Roads" kind of turns it around though. Yeea the strings are so needed on the other tracks. 3 That and "Glorybox" were the only good songs.

Cool slick nighttime music

i want to rate this 4, but the upbeat not dark trip hop stuff just isnt good. it isnt good okay? i dont like it. but, boyo, does the dark stuff slap like a dude slapping the side of a dog. good boy! anyway, i get why youd like it. i like it. the dark shit. strongest thee song opening in a minute, yo.

OK - little bit 'background' but might possibly listen again...

The first time I heard this was late night watching the 1995 movie Tank Girl which features the song "Roads" in a truly magnificent shower scene. I have no idea how the movie holds up today, but the Portishead song stayed with me as one of the best timed songs with great keyboard, spare beats, and a singular voice. I immediately bought the album and loved it. it Could be Sweet is a solid track as well. Wandering Star. There are quite a few nice ones and they are cohesive and flow well together. Portishead is no longer a sound I long to hear often, but there were a couple years when I certainly played and heard this album a lot. The talent is obvious.

Not my thing, listened but didn't pay attention. Well made, good sounding however.

Some amazing songs but overall the sound isn’t really what a typically enjoy. I can see why it’s considered a classic in the genre, though. Standout tracks: Strangers, Wandering Star, It’s a Fire

Decent, a bit weird in a direction I enjoy.

Not sure what to make of this one

it was okay, will probably not revisit again, very haunting vocals

Trip Hop, beautiful female voice

This was pretty middle-of-the-road for me. It wasn't bad but I'm not sure what situation I'd want to listen to this album again. There were parts that I really enjoyed the feel but as a whole, it was just kinda there.

5/10

Dark and brooding

Electrónica.

Not bad, but yet another 90s electronic-type album. Not sure why there are so many

Put this on and hardly noticed or paid attention to it. Trip-hop I just think is not for me. I know this is supposedly to be the best of the era/genre and it seems pleasant enough.

It’s different, and some good tunes, but wears a bit thin after a while

It's ok I guess. 3*

Wanted to give it a 2.5. I liked it but it was slow and kinda not exciting. VERY catchy beats and rhythms and singing. Great songs and they were all unqiue, not some overplayed simular elements or nuthin. It was cool and I always respect the artists that start new trends or that popularize new ideas, just didnt completly catch me like I wanted it to but ALMOST

notes - half secret agent, half alien vibes - big influence on bands like radiohead - used to have this in my library years ago but unliked it bc i wasnt going back to it - definitely “mood music” fav - sour times - cool hammered instrument, great chorus melody - least fav - strangers - repeating dial-tone type sound that got grating by the end, less harmonically interesting than other songs 3.5/5

I liked a few of the tracks but could not get behind the whole project. Going to have to give it another listen.

Pretty good it's got a very unique sound which is cool. Strong vibe and feeling to the album. Some really cool moments but it can also get a bit repetitive and boring at points. Overall still a very competently done album with some particularly strong moments.

Slow, downbeat. Pretty good for sitting back and chilling.

Kinda oldish music, seems to have a cool dready vibe too, perfect for doing anything

Calm and trippy one, not my favorite type of music but still enjoyed it

meh, it's okay.

Wel zin in paddo's gekregen, maar geen fan geworden

3/5 I really enjoyed the first few songs on the album, it got off to a great start and then felt like it didn’t really go anywhere after that.

creepy...

good for background music while working

Some good songs such as It Could Be Sweet and Glory Box. Others were a bit depressing and dark. Not the best but some good songs

Cooler atmospheric electronic than I was expecting. Probably a 2.5/3 musically (a few standout tracks like Sour Times, Wandering Star, and Roads) but feels like a 3.5 because of the interesting style and influence. Definitely something I wouldn't have found without the list.

Kinda boring but not terrible. - a metalhead

Sure? Farmhouse, work annoying, lease stress.

I didn’t care much for the other portishead album but this one has a much different feel. The singers voice is a little eerie but also melancholic and relaxed. The production between the beats and instrumentals is pretty good. It definitely fits in its own sub genre of music. Overall though it’s good. 6.1/10

Much easier listening than the other Portishead album.

I don't always trip the hop, but when I do I choose Portishead. I think I like that live dilly of theirs better than this, but I still enjoy the overall listening experience here. Is it the cup of tea I want every day? No. No it is not. But compared to the other stuff we've been subjected to in this space I think this band is head and shoulders above the rest, due primarily to the voice of Beth Gibbons. She is good. She makes this work. I had the "Sour Times" single/EP and a Dr. No shirt back in high school. It was a good combo. I was only a few gadgets and a tuxedo away from starting my own cinematic universe.

Aight

Never really gave Portishead the time of day when first getting into music.. even after attending uni in Bristol..Tbh, not the greatest fan of their slow tempo beat sounds but will definitely save the album for future listening. I think I can see myself grow to appreciating them.

This will never be my thing. But I appreciate it more all these years later.

Cool album with one of the great closing tracks.

I had never listened to Portishead, so I wasn't sure what to expect and it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Termed as "trip-hop", I thought it would be more electronic and heavier and I wasn't expecting female vocals (Beth Gibbons). The music was nice and her vocals were beautiful, and at some point I thought I was listening to Sade. Not a bad listen, I'll have to listen again to fully appreciate it.

Dummy is good for a dreary wet day, which it is when I'm listening, there's an introspective to it and a pain in the vocals, which will always grab me. Fine, it wanders aimlessly for a while, but you can get away with it in an album like this, and Glory Box is a smashing closer. Easy 3/5.

Liked this a lot - it's a bit miserable and definitely not an album for all times and moods, but it's done really well and consistently good all the way through. Not often that an album ends with its best song, but this one did. Just falls shy of a 4, but not by much.

Not really a fan of trip-hop... most of the songs are just boring and lifeless. A few are actually pretty good (like Glory Box and Roads) but they don't make up for the rest of the album.

Eerie loveliness

There was a wider than usual range of how much I liked the songs on this album (wasn't paying close enough attention to write down the ones I liked, though). Interesting style, glad to have heard it.

I’ve always liked this album. My ex girlfriend played it a lot -1 star

Listened to on 4/11/22 3/5 Favorite song: Wandering Star Heavy emphasis on the beats - good vibes all around but some weird breathy lyrics. Background music for sure

Very moody music. Sounds like it influenced a lot of chill/trip hop today. My favorite song (and the only one I think I’d heard before) is Glory Box.

4/11/22 Background music. Should be in a spy movie. All songs blur together. Favorite song: Glory Box

Highlights: Wandering Star. Another album that was totally new to me, and I enjoyed it.

Entiendo que es bueno, pero aburre.

2.5/5 Not my music genre, still this was not bad. But after a while the songs all sound the same. It has a nice easy vibe and was not as bad as I thought it would be. Favourite song: - Wandering star

I don't know whether this is the best album to listen to while you're working or if it's the worst. Pros: it's very trancelike. Cons: It nearly made me fall asleep for that very reason. Fave track was "Sour Times," but there were quite a few good ones in here. But even with that being the case, there's a certain sameness quality that would deter me from regularly re-listening to this album from start to finish. A strong meh for me.

Quite a good record, and I really enjoy the style (trip-hop) but my preference is to Morcheeba and Massive Attack.

Strangers was sampled in a sick Mac Miller/Vince Staples song

Meh a bit boring

Decent album. I really enjoyed the more hip hop like tracks. Instrumentals for these but also the other ones were really enjoyable. However, slow tempo singing songs isn't my cup of tea but very atmospheric.

Not bad! I don’t really get the triphop genre but whatever this was was fine

It's cool i guess, really sad but cool drums and stuff