How do you follow up a record that had the same impact on electronic music
that Nirvana's Nevermind had on rock? You solidify your arrangements with
real instruments and add stronger emotion to your vocals without diluting
the spirit that made you so successful in the first place.
It wasn't as simple as that but, after three years of wallowing in
bewilderment at the remarkable reaction towards their debut record Dummy,
this was the course Portishead charted in creating their self-titled
sophomore effort.
Portishead was never going to be a tour de force like Dummy, but three
years removed from trip-hop's mainstream birth, Portishead was still a gem
of the genre and a bold step forward for the group, if not an extremely
innovative one. Ambition and confidence filled the record, much in the
same way that despair and despondency filled the aura of Dummy.
From the startlingly expressive opening moments of "Cowboys" and the jazzy
arrangement of "All Mine," you realize that Portishead is a band, not a
faceless electronic "collective." Producer and unofficial fourth member
Dave McDonald is the man responsible for giving Portishead its many shades
of Bristol gray. The lush yet harrowing musical textures
show that Barrow and Utley have as much prodigious natural talent
for writing music as anyone in Britain today.
The star power of Beth Gibbons grows to epic proportions with every
bile-flavored lyric she hisses. The growth of the band's sound meant that
Gibbons need not shelter her voice as much she had. So while Dummy-like sampled
tracks such as "Only You" still define the Portishead sound, a torch song
like "Mourning Air" clearly places Gibbons among those few with pure raw
vocal talent. As long as that voice can lament, Portishead will
forever have a captive audience.
If you like Portishead, check out:
Portishead Dummy
Portishead PNYC
Massive Attack Mezzanine
Massive Attack Blue Lines
Broadcast The Noise Made By People
PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love
