Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 05:42:47 +0100 From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen (larsi@IFI.UIO.NO) Subject: Re: {nothing to do with} Love Spirals e-mail address * kelli-jeanne * writes: > the song that plays on the radio and mtv sounds like a james bond > theme. i can't see why they are so appealing, but i guess some > people need that sort of mellow muzak in their lives... Get thee behind me, heathen! (What does that mean, anyway?) Well, actually, I can understand why people wouldn't like Portishead. It wouldn't scare your parents. It sounds a bit like jazz. And... uhm, I'm out of reasons. To me, "Dummy" is among the most powerful albums released last year. Every song is *close*, it's a very private album. It's the kind of album you can snuggle up in your sofa and drink tea to. (Kinda like "Mouth by Mouth", in a way. Or Colourbox.) It's a very convenient album for people like me who has very little other music they can play while having guests. It's quiet. You can dance to it. You can sing along with the lyrics. You can do the dishes to it. It's the kind of album that makes me want to run out and buy twelve other albums just like it, but I can't, because there are no other albums like it. -- (domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.) larsi@ifi.uio.no * Lars Ingebrigtsen Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 09:30:04 +0000 From: "A.J. Norman" (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) Subject: Re: Portishead 12, 95 11:56:20 am Steven W Schuldt wrote: > The thought of some clueless goon strapping on the headphones to grab a > snippet of one track in a bustling suburban record shop and deciding > that Portishead are hype drives me BATSHIT! I was in Nottingham's Virgin shop just before Christmas, and someone decided that "Dummy" would be a nice album to play over the store's over-loud speakers. I swear the floor was physically shaking - after about 30 seconds it was replaced with Chris Rea or some other commercially acceptable shopping muzak. There are some *very* low frequencies on that album. -- Andrew Norman, Leicester, England // nja@le.ac.uk // 13/01/95 On my walkman this morning : Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet We rise. - One wandering thought pollutes the day; Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 11:06:16 +0000 From: "A.J. Norman" (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) Subject: Re: Portishead Dummy Canadian Release 95 10:03:07 pm "Scorpio M." <99barwik@LAB.CC.WMICH.EDU> wrote: > > On Sun, 22 Jan 1995, Robert A. Szkolnicki wrote: >> And FYI, the Canadian disc has two extra tracks. The song list is as >> follows: >> 11. Glory Box >> 12. Sour Sour Times >> > Is there anyway that there is a single with the two extra tracks on > it? I already have the cd that was released in the States and as > already mentioned it is sans the two extra tracks. If poss. could you > record it for me or even look around if you have a chance for these > tunes? The extra tracks are actually "It's A Fire" and "Sour Sour Times". They are available on UK CD singles. "Numb" had five mixes of that song (including one called "Tribute to Monk and Canatella" which is a long jazz instrumental with a crackly version of "Numb" added to the end). "Sour Times" came in two forms - one with "Pedestal", "It's a Fire" and "Theme from To Kill a Dead Man", one with five mixes, including "Sour Sour Times". "Glory Box" has four mixes of the song (the track called "Scorn" isn't a new song - Portishead have a habit of giving remixes completely different names). Those of you with this week's Melody Maker can see the swimming pool where I learned to swim (there's a postcard from Portishead on the inside pages). -- Andrew Norman, Leicester, England // nja@le.ac.uk // 23/01/95 On my walkman this morning : Leonard Cohen - The Future Nought may endure but Mutability. Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 18:35:41 +0100 From: Andrew Norman Subject: Spiritualized, Portishead etc. Speaking of limited editions, bought the new Portishead single today ("strictly limited white label" according to the shop), 12" only, "Cowboys" with an instrumental version on the B-side. It will apparently be on the next album, and sounds very like Eartha Kitt. In fact, I wasn't quite sure what speed to spin it at. A little less gloomy and smooth than "Dummy". -- Andrew Norman, Leicester, England andrew@riverrun.demon.co.uk http://www.riverrun.demon.co.uk/ Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 23:22:24 -0500 From: Jeremy L Orr Subject: Re: Scala/Seefeel, Trio, HNIA, Sundays, Portishead! I'm not real impressed with _Portishead_ yet. I don't see why everyone is saying that it's such a big departure from _Dummy_, either. It pretty much sounds like more of the same to me. They do some pretty nifty tricks with mixing the samples and the live performances, and other studio trickery like the drums only in the left channel or having the usual odd distortions on Beth Gibbons' voice. But the only big changes I can see are that (a) Beth's vocals are even more affected and contrived than ever before, and (b) they've forgotten how to write a song. The excellent production doesn't mask the fact that it sounds like they're picking their chord changes from a hat as they go along, and they're just not quite working out. I found myself giving the stereo odd looks the whole time the CD was playing. Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 22:51:34 +0200 From: Emiel Efdee Subject: Head of a Portis >Looking forward to Portishead. Me too. So I bought their new one last friday and what can I say... The= first two tracks 'Cowboys' and 'All Mine' are somewhat different than the= rest of the album. The rest is just like I thought a new Portishead would= sound: sad songs, nice drums, strange sounds and the usual vinyl ticks and= cracks (a popular sound effect these days - even tanya donnely used them on= her latest pretty deep 7" single... but... this could also be my record= player). Packed in a simple black and white digipack (first edition) with= movie-title-like typography. The cover photo looks like a still from a new= Portishead film. Just like Dummy... Good album.=20 Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 10:40:51 -0700 From: Jens Alfke Subject: Review (sort of): Preliminary shopping report PORTISHEAD "Portishead" (Go!/Polygram) -- I didn't grab a copy the moment it was released, having read a negative review; but I'm glad I finally went for it. While similar to the first album, it's simultaneously louder/less fragile, and less accessible; there's more tension and more release. Beth Gibbons' singing has moved from the coy Billie-Holliday-isms of "Dummy" into a more belted-out style that, it must be said, is at times reminiscent of early Grace Slick, but I mean that in a *good* way. (BTW, there is a very good cover story on the band in the latest issue of Pulse, including some very good description of their Zelig-like production techniques, so if you're in the vicinity of a Tower Records pick it up.)