quoted 3 lines Elsewhere, everything's different -->Elsewhere, everything's different --
>if you heard 'Transfattyacid' on the radio, you'd think it was
>Portishead's new single.
Well, *I* wouldn't. :)
Prompted by statements such as this, I had a listen to 'Dummy'
right after a listen to 'Lamb' not too long ago. Even though Portishead
immediately rose to the top of my list when they first appeared,
I was unprepared for the complete excellence of their record, even
2 years later.
I found that I had mistakenly lumped Portishead in with the flood of
acts that make use of downtemp/samples. Fact is, 'Dummy' has a sound
that no one has stolen from it. I half-remember a statement like,
'Beth's vocals make Morrisey sound like a Hallmark greeting card' or
something to that effect, and I kept thinking that as the 'Lamb' vocalist
(not on a first-name basis with her yet :) ) kept using some few
blue-note riffs on track after track.
Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying 'Lamb' a WHOLE lot.
I mean, there are tracks on there that really melt my butter, eg
all the ones with the insane plucked/bowed string work, but..
There's a reason Geoff and Beth were referred to as 'the almighty Portishead'
on this very list when 'Dummy' appeared.
cheers,
Brad