August (1) 2024 - Management Special Album Choice
Aug 1, 2024 0:21:23 GMT
MartinT, John, and 2 more like this
Post by ChrisB on Aug 1, 2024 0:21:23 GMT
August (1) 2024 - Management Special Album Choice
Due to a no-show - I hope Barrington is OK - , we are having a Management Special for Album Choice this time around. Since it is also the end of a rota, I thought we would make it a twofer.
Firstly, we will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of 'Dummy' by Portishead and then we will take a look at 'Lives Outgrown' by Beth Gibbons, the singer in Portishead's first solo album, which was released just a couple of months ago, in May 2024.
Portishead - 'Dummy'
This album was released thirty years ago this month and has sold 3.6 million copies worldwide since then. I clearly remember hearing it for the first time in the kitchen of a friend's house and thinking it was interesting enough to get myself a copy.
I wonder how Album Choice contributors think it sounds now, thirty years later?
Accolades:
'Dummy' won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize, against competition from 'Definitely Maybe' by Oasis, PJ Harvey's 'To Bring You My Love', and 'Maxinquaye' by Tricky.
Melody Maker - Number one album of the year
Mojo magazine – No. 35 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics". Included in "25 Best Albums of 1994".
The New York Times - made the list of the Top 10 Albums of '94.
NME - No. 6 in "Top 50 Albums of 1994". No. 168 in '500 Greatest Albums of all time'.
Q Magazine's - listed in "90 Best Albums of the 1990s". No. 61 in "100 Greatest British Albums".
Rolling Stone – included in "Essential Recordings of the 90's". No. 131 on 500 greatest albums of all time.
Included in the book '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'.
The Wire - 1994 record of the year.
Apple Music – No. 67 in 100 Best Albums.
Reviews:
AllMusic
"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 ... 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."
BBC Music
"...quite simply one of the greatest debut albums of the 1990s"
"...the constituents that make up much of this collection are easily traced – back to dub, to soul, and especially to hip hop, but it's the manner in which the pieces come together that makes Dummy special to this day..."
"Imitators have come and gone, but no act has reproduced the disquieting magnificence conjured here except Portishead themselves".
NME
"This is, without question, a sublime debut album. But so very, very sad."
"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."
"Portishead's post-ambient, timelessly organic blues are probably too left-field, introspective and downright Bristolian to grab short-term glory as some kind of Next Big Thing.
"Make sure you hear this unmissable album."
Melody Maker
"...are undeniably the classiest, coolest thing to have appeared in this country for years..."
"Dummy, their debut, takes perfectly understated blues, funk and rap/hip hop, brackets all this in urban angst and then chills it to the bone."
"...musique noire for a movie not yet made, a perfect, creamy mix of ice-cool and infra-heat that is desolate, desperate and driven by a huge emotional hunger, but also warmly confiding..."
"Most of us waver hopelessly between emotional timidity and temerity the whole of our lives and Dummy marks out that territory perfectly."
Q Magazine
"...perhaps the year's most stunning debut album..."
"the singer's frail, wounded-sparrow vocals and Barrow's mastery of jazz-sensitive soul/hip hop grooves and the almost forgotten art of scratching are an enthralling combination".
Mojo
"Portishead make music for an early evening drinks party on the set of The Third Man. There is nothing kitschy about them either..."
"Beth Gibbons' voice has a genuine chill to it, and Geoff Barrow's background soundscapes are worthy of Lalo Schiffrin and Nellee Hooper."
Rolling Stone
"From tape loops and live strings, Fender Rhodes riffing and angelic singing, these English subversives construct très hip Gothic hip-hop..."
"Assertive rhythms and quirky production, however, save Portishead from languishing in any coy retro groove. Instead they manage yet another – very smart – rebirth of cool."
Los Angeles Times
"...a new world of sonic esoterica, lush and rich, yet delicate and haunting."
And now, on to the second part of this Album Choice...
Beth Gibbons - 'Lives Outgrown'
This 2024 album was, apparently written over a period of an entire decade. It covers topics that seem fitting for someone of age 60, including motherhood, loss, grief, anxiety, menopause, and mortality. The songs were directly influenced by the deaths of family and friends over a period of several years and a realisation of "what life was like with no hope".
How does this compare with 'Dummy'? Better, worse or just different? I reckon it would be interesting to hear what people think.
Due to a no-show - I hope Barrington is OK - , we are having a Management Special for Album Choice this time around. Since it is also the end of a rota, I thought we would make it a twofer.
Firstly, we will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of 'Dummy' by Portishead and then we will take a look at 'Lives Outgrown' by Beth Gibbons, the singer in Portishead's first solo album, which was released just a couple of months ago, in May 2024.
Portishead - 'Dummy'
This album was released thirty years ago this month and has sold 3.6 million copies worldwide since then. I clearly remember hearing it for the first time in the kitchen of a friend's house and thinking it was interesting enough to get myself a copy.
I wonder how Album Choice contributors think it sounds now, thirty years later?
Accolades:
'Dummy' won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize, against competition from 'Definitely Maybe' by Oasis, PJ Harvey's 'To Bring You My Love', and 'Maxinquaye' by Tricky.
Melody Maker - Number one album of the year
Mojo magazine – No. 35 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics". Included in "25 Best Albums of 1994".
The New York Times - made the list of the Top 10 Albums of '94.
NME - No. 6 in "Top 50 Albums of 1994". No. 168 in '500 Greatest Albums of all time'.
Q Magazine's - listed in "90 Best Albums of the 1990s". No. 61 in "100 Greatest British Albums".
Rolling Stone – included in "Essential Recordings of the 90's". No. 131 on 500 greatest albums of all time.
Included in the book '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'.
The Wire - 1994 record of the year.
Apple Music – No. 67 in 100 Best Albums.
Reviews:
AllMusic
"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 ... 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."
BBC Music
"...quite simply one of the greatest debut albums of the 1990s"
"...the constituents that make up much of this collection are easily traced – back to dub, to soul, and especially to hip hop, but it's the manner in which the pieces come together that makes Dummy special to this day..."
"Imitators have come and gone, but no act has reproduced the disquieting magnificence conjured here except Portishead themselves".
NME
"This is, without question, a sublime debut album. But so very, very sad."
"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."
"Portishead's post-ambient, timelessly organic blues are probably too left-field, introspective and downright Bristolian to grab short-term glory as some kind of Next Big Thing.
"Make sure you hear this unmissable album."
Melody Maker
"...are undeniably the classiest, coolest thing to have appeared in this country for years..."
"Dummy, their debut, takes perfectly understated blues, funk and rap/hip hop, brackets all this in urban angst and then chills it to the bone."
"...musique noire for a movie not yet made, a perfect, creamy mix of ice-cool and infra-heat that is desolate, desperate and driven by a huge emotional hunger, but also warmly confiding..."
"Most of us waver hopelessly between emotional timidity and temerity the whole of our lives and Dummy marks out that territory perfectly."
Q Magazine
"...perhaps the year's most stunning debut album..."
"the singer's frail, wounded-sparrow vocals and Barrow's mastery of jazz-sensitive soul/hip hop grooves and the almost forgotten art of scratching are an enthralling combination".
Mojo
"Portishead make music for an early evening drinks party on the set of The Third Man. There is nothing kitschy about them either..."
"Beth Gibbons' voice has a genuine chill to it, and Geoff Barrow's background soundscapes are worthy of Lalo Schiffrin and Nellee Hooper."
Rolling Stone
"From tape loops and live strings, Fender Rhodes riffing and angelic singing, these English subversives construct très hip Gothic hip-hop..."
"Assertive rhythms and quirky production, however, save Portishead from languishing in any coy retro groove. Instead they manage yet another – very smart – rebirth of cool."
Los Angeles Times
"...a new world of sonic esoterica, lush and rich, yet delicate and haunting."
And now, on to the second part of this Album Choice...
Beth Gibbons - 'Lives Outgrown'
This 2024 album was, apparently written over a period of an entire decade. It covers topics that seem fitting for someone of age 60, including motherhood, loss, grief, anxiety, menopause, and mortality. The songs were directly influenced by the deaths of family and friends over a period of several years and a realisation of "what life was like with no hope".
How does this compare with 'Dummy'? Better, worse or just different? I reckon it would be interesting to hear what people think.
