I really really liked Dummy, the debut LP by Portishead released in 1994 but which really only got noticed in mid-1995 when the single Glory Box captured the attention of the record-buying public. It seemed so different in so many ways. I think I used the word 'captivating' when trying to describe it to someone who hadn't heard it. It's an album that I can still occasionally return to and find myself enjoying, despite being put off it for a while after a wholly underwhelming live performance by the band in Edinburgh around the time they had found commercial success.There was a hiatus of some two years between the band releasing the last single off Dummy and the next new bit of material. I remember going into a record shop and seeing the new CD single on sale for the bargain price of £1.99 at a time when most went for around double that price. I took it home, played it and was disappointed. I tried again the next day, but still I was left cold.
But I must have been in a minority, for All Mine turned out to be the biggest chart success the band would enjoy, climbing to #8 in September 1997.
And with that, I suddenly found myself going all cold on Portishead. I've never paid much attention to anything they've done since and I certainly haven't bought anything else.
Just in case my original views and actions had been a bit extreme, I dug out the single again the other day and gave it a listen with the thought that I might, now that I'm that bit older and a bit more tolerant, change my mind.
mp3 : Portishead - All Mine
Nope, still don't like it.
Having said that, the b-side is reasonably listenable:-
mp3 : Portishead - Cowboys
mp3 : Portishead - Cowboys (instrumental)
Oh and All Mine also had a particularly creepy and disturbing promo....
As ever, feel free to tell me I've got this totally wrong.
5 comments:
I happen to think Dummy was the best album released in the '90's. Matter of fact, being the same age as you, I credit this album for breathing life back into my music listening days, I had become so bored with the post-Nirvana crap I heard around me.
I do like their second album "portishead" as well as NYC and I have even found a few gems in "Third".
I love Machine Gun. I also like The Rip...songs where her voice is not so shrill.
Third is a swell record; spicy, more immediate, with added growls in all the right places. You're missing out, JC
This was the third single released in 1997, Cowboys was originally released as a taster for the Portishead album. I think that they were all really good and as Tricia says, the third album released a mere 11 years after the second album is even better.
I suggest you get on Spotify and give them a listen as you really are missing out JC.
I like this album -though I still prefer Dummy.
The video is disturbing, having goolged it, it appears to be based on a 1968 Italian TV show. There's something about the clips in the hotel corridor that's just a bit too close to the Shining to be comfortable...shudder...
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