FEATURE:
Strangers
Portishead’s Dummy and the Landscape of 1994
_________
ONE of the most distinct and extraordinary…
debut albums of the 1990s turns thirty on 22nd August. In terms of what was around it, you can’t say there was anything like Portishead’s Dummy. It is hard to link Dummy to any other album from 1994. In many ways, 1994 was one of the most eclectic and weird years for music. Think about the chart songs that were around that year. Think about the best-selling and biggest singles of 1994. Wet Wet Wet, Whigfield, Doop and Mariah Carey are high in the mix. It was a big year for Pop music. Not just the more commercial variety that was in the mainstream and making the charts. In terms of what was happening away from the more commercial centre, you had Britpop growing and starting to form. Bands like Blur and Suede breaking through. Rock bands such as Oasis. Grunge and Alternative Rock were making a statement in the U.K. in addition to the U.S. Portishead’s Dummy received huge acclaim and won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize. It is often credited with popularising the Trip-Hop genre. In terms of British music, Dummy was a rarity. No real compatriots and competition like in mainstream Pop and Britpop. I think about bands like Green Day, Weezer, Soundgarden, Hole, Manic Street Preachers and Beastie Boys releasing incredible albums. You could say that there are fairly common threads or links between albums these groups released. Vastly different to most of the top forty, you also had this periphery bands and albums that could not really combine with what was happening elsewhere. In many ways, Dummy did not have a place.
Rather than it being alienated and this curious thing, it was a remarkable album that almost ignited a genre. A sound and sonic palette that few had heard or were used to, I think some were cynical and critical towards Portishead. However, there were so many glowing critical reviews. Recognising what an important and seismic debut it was. Introducing something new and exciting to British music. Much more cinematic, deep and interesting than a lot of what was seen as the ‘defining’ sound of 1994. Bands like Oasis. I guess one could say Massive Attack shared something in common with Portishead. Their album, Protection, was released a month or so after Dummy. Darker than Dummy, I feel that there is a bit of similar D.N.A. between Portishead and Massive Attack’s albums. Albums that are so individual and unusual can often be met with criticism or a lack of interest. That was not the case with Dummy. There are a couple of reviews I want to bring in before I round off. I am so pleased that Portishead’s debut album was greeted with acclaim and embrace. Critics recognising what a work of genius it is. This is how AllMusic assessed Dummy:
“Portishead's album debut is a brilliant, surprisingly natural synthesis of claustrophobic spy soundtracks, dark breakbeats inspired by frontman Geoff Barrow's love of hip-hop, and a vocalist (Beth Gibbons) in the classic confessional singer/songwriter mold. Beginning with the otherworldly theremin and martial beats of "Mysterons," Dummy hits an early high with "Sour Times," a post-modern torch song driven by a Lalo Schifrin sample. The chilling atmospheres conjured by Adrian Utley's excellent guitar work and Barrow's turntables and keyboards prove the perfect foil for Gibbons, who balances sultriness and melancholia in equal measure. Occasionally reminiscent of a torchier version of Sade, Gibbons provides a clear focus for these songs, with Barrow and company behind her laying down one of the best full-length productions ever heard in the dance world. Where previous acts like Massive Attack had attracted dance heads in the main, Portishead crossed over to an American, alternative audience, connecting with the legion of angst-ridden indie fans as well. Better than any album before it, Dummy merged the pinpoint-precise productions of the dance world with pop hallmarks like great songwriting and excellent vocal performances”.
I was eleven when Dummy came out. I definitely felt like it was a bolt from the blue. I guess I was aware of Portishead just before the debut. I knew about Massive Attack. In terms of what I was listening to, it was a combination of British Pop and Rock together with Dance and Pop from Europe. Mainly chart music and bands like Blur and Beastie Boys. Dummy was a real revelation. Some might say Dummy defined 1994 in some ways. I think that it really stands out as atypical and this real revelation. It arrived in August 1994. At this time, there was such a weird and wonderful blend of artists. Hard to imagine that we’d get anything quite like Dummy. We did have some warning. Numb arrived in June 1994. Sour Times at the start of August. Consider how Dummy won the 1995 Mercury Prize and saw off stiff competition from the likes of PJ Harvey and Tricky. You can see the accolades and positive reviews Dummy received. Even so, I do wonder whether today people see it as one of the best and most influential debut albums of the 1990s. There is a lot of talk about other bands and albums. Not as much attention on Dummy. It is an album that may not have been typical of what 1994 was about. Given the explosion of respect for it, I do think more features should be written. More podcasts recorded. I want to bring in a review from NME. Even though there is some questionable language and odd praise, the big takeaway from the NME review is how they recognise Dummy as ahead of its time. Like Björk (Debut) and Massive Attack (Blue Lines), Portishead released a debut that was very much of the future:
“POOR PORTISHEAD. The town, I man, not the slo-mo sound sculptors who have made this innocuous seaside hideaway sound so relentlessly tragic. For this is, without question, a sublime debut album. But so very, very sad.
'Dummy' unspools with melancholic majesty. From one angle, its languid slowbeat blues clearly occupy similar terrain to soulmates Massive Attack and all of Bristol hip-hop's extended family. But from another these are avant garde ambient moonscapes of a ferociously experimental nature. In other words, seriously spooky shit. But terrific shit all the same. Geoff Barrow's hugely evocative compositions earn constant comparisons with soundtrack gods Ennio Morricone and John Barry, although this is no smartarse spot-the-reference sample show. Most of these dislocating noises are played directly onto vinyl and then scratched back into the mix, creating deep and textured ambience instead of second-hand special effects.
Besides, it is Beth Gibbons' soulful sobs which really put Portishead on the emotional map. She can be Bjork or Billie Holliday, but the numb heartbreak is her recurring theme, culminating in the almost unbearable refrain "nobody loves me" from funereal current single 'Sour Times'. Both Barrow and Gibbons are products of lonely, loveless childhoods, so titles like 'Mysterons' and 'Wandering Star' as much products of other-wordly isolation knowing trash-culture obsessions - the shadowy underside of human behaviour distilled into weeping strings, spectral there vibrations and haunting silences.
Portishead's post-ambient, timelessly organ blues are probably too left-field introspective and downright Bristolian to grab short-term glory as some kind of Next Big Thing. But remember what radical departures 'Blue Lines' 'Ambient Works' and 'Debut' were for the times and make sure you hear this unmissable album. This may not be the future, but it is a future - one where Portishead is a desolate exquisitely beautiful place to visit.
9/10”.
I hope more is written about Portishead’s Dummy as it turns thirty. On 22nd August, we celebrate a truly awe-inspiring debut album from Beth Gibbons, Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow. I still think it sounds like nothing else. If acclaimed and a commercial success (Dummy reached two in the U.K.), it is clear that 1994 was such an unpredictable and inconsistent year. I often define it with Pop music. The start of Britpop and this influence from the U.S. All sounds tremendous and popular, though very little had the same sort of atmosphere and allure as Dummy. If you were not aware of Portishead before 1994, Dummy changed that. These perfect strangers created a masterpiece. A band respected because of their work and music rather than personalities, scenes and hype. Often cited as one of the best debuts of the 1990s and greatest albums ever, the magnificent, monumental, hugely smart and accomplished Dummy…
WAS no sucker!