Source: Independent on Sunday, 09-28-1997

At last! A replacement Dummy

One Of the many pleasures of the arrival of the new Portishead album is the hope that the characters in This Life might now
stop playing the last one, Dummy, which has pretty much been done to death in the three years since its appearance. The
group'sGeoff Barrow has even commented on the unwanted "fondue-party" factor attendant on its amazing popularity across all
known social boundaries. Indeed, so familiar had the formula of Dummy become that there was a real danger that any
follow-up would besuperfluous. But Portishead (Go! Beat, all formats) is both a seamless continuation of the group's signature
sound, and a deeper version of what went before.

Barrow still makes quacking noises with his turntables, Beth Gibbons still sings in a startlingly mannered way, though the
manners are so surprising - Shirley Bassey? Eartha Kitt? - that they sound quite unforced. The drum sound has been beefed up
intoa more dub-happy echo-layered thump, and the brilliant guitarist Adrian Utley is now acknowledged as a full member of the
band. Best of all, the songs more than stand up to comparison with their predecessors, and Gibbon's lyrics are even more
alluring.The closing number, "Western Eyes", is a killer, with an eerie sample conjuring up the ghost of Johnny Ray on Dummy
with perfect symmetry.

Elsewhere, on the opening "Cowboys", for example, the mood is more rock- friendly, in keeping with the movement of the
times, wherein "dance-music" acts like Prodigy and Massive Attack are busily transforming themselves into potential
stadium-stormersnow that audiences are less responsive to the notion of a couple of DJs and a boffin at a computer as live
entertainment. Portishead's great advantage here is that they really are a proper group - as their appearance on BBC2's Later
showed. Admirers ofthe dark, gothy charms of Nick Cave or PJ Harvey will feel even more at home with Portishead. And for
the rest of us, there's still a satisfyingly jazzy, funky and slack film-noir soundtrack to hold our fondue-parties to.

By: Phil Johnson