The Album Review Club - Week #134 - (page 1701) - Dummy - Portishead

I am known to love me a mood album. And boy does this one nail it. And sustain it. Usually find 80s synths and hiss-drum sounds off-putting, but in this case they don't distract and they work quite well in places. His voice is somewhere between springsteen and currie. Pleasant and soulful. They are not afraid to linger on moments, are bold enough to savour the pace, and I love that. Once you ease into it, there is so much in there to enjoy, and really milk the mood of it. While some of the songs themselves are on the longer side, the overall feel of it works, and at 38 minutes in total, they have been clever in not overdoing it.

Really really enjoyed this one, needs more than the 3 listens and it will get it. A band I have been familiar with of its place and time, amongst a group of similar bands, but have never properly delved into. A big fat 9 from me.

Been well busy and not kept up with the chat here, so will now look back at what other fuds make of it.
 
Sorry everyone I've been insanely busy recently and just not really checked BM much, if at all, for the last few weeks.

I finally got a bit of rest the last couple of days and saw the thread had a new album so had a listen to it. Spotify described it as Scottish folk-ambient so I was a bit intrigued!

I really liked this - it couldn't tell when it was made as it could've been someone today making this. The production is 80s-ultra-slick but it's also quite a 'human' album too. I enjoyed all the tracks on it and will definitely come back to this again.

It's a 9/10 from me too!
 
Saddleworth2 said:
What I guarantee is that the more you play the album the less 'anonymous' a number of songs will get. And the songs are about love bro. Relationships, their heady beginning to the inevitable breakdown. Buchanans vocals are perfect for the songs that he writes.
I liked your use of the word 'longing'. I still feel it for this album decades after it was released. I genuinely can't think of another I feel the same way about.
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Hats - The Blue Nile

As I was listening to this album more times over the weekend (3x has long ago been exceeded), I was hearing more of the lyrics and was coming to these same conclusions about what the songs were about. I figured I'd use @Saddleworth2's quotes above because it well summarizes what what I was going to write about.

I was going to note that I wasn't initially a fan of Paul Buchanan's vocals, but after repeated listens, I do find that it well matches the mood of the album that the band was trying for. And that's really what matters in this case.

The ironic aspect is that this album is full of songs all near or completely eligible and relevant for 2 Playlists recently from that thread:

BimboBob - How Are You Feeling?
BimboBob - Love

Hmm, anyone notice a theme(maker) here? ;-)

When I went back and looked at my #1 new song from the Love playlist, it wasn't hard to recognize what got that:
  1. “Soul Boy" – The Blue Nile, a strong vocal song that doesn't try too hard, but wow, does it deliver a mood
That track was off of 2003's High, and surprise, surprise! - it was nominated by none other than @Out on blue 6.

I then noticed my Big Winner was:
“I Don't Believe In You” – Talk Talk. Just a fantastic moody piece with nice wailing guitars. A shame I missed this in the mid-80's.

I've since listened to The Colour of Spring (numerous times too) and I do like that a bit over this week's selection, but they both have their places and their distinct moods.

I'd point out that the love found, enjoyed, lost, and questioned on how to go on is all within the sequencing of these songs, so I can see where the "listen to this as a whole" is recommended. Of the 7 songs, only one doesn't mention the word "Love" and that is the initial track "Over the Hillside". The rest of the album proceeds through the story of love brought about from that initial song that claims "I can't go on and I can't go back".

This selection has received many accolades both here and among many critics and musicians. It's hard to believe this album was made in mere weeks after 2-3 years of wasted efforts in the studio once the band had to rewrite and rethink what they wanted to put together after their successful debut album. For me, this is an 8.9/10, just sorry I missed it the first go-round.
 
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GoatersLeftShin said:
Sorry everyone I've been insanely busy recently and just not really checked BM much, if at all, for the last few weeks.

I finally got a bit of rest the last couple of days and saw the thread had a new album so had a listen to it. Spotify described it as Scottish folk-ambient so I was a bit intrigued!

I really liked this - it couldn't tell when it was made as it could've been someone today making this. The production is 80s-ultra-slick but it's also quite a 'human' album too. I enjoyed all the tracks on it and will definitely come back to this again.

It's a 9/10 from me too!
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Agree with your take that this album sounds like it could have been written today, I felt similar listening to it. The only difference I think might be that bands today might not have the cajones to stop at under 40 minutes and might have been drawn into trying to stretch it out to close to an hour with some filler that would have imo weakened it.
 
Coatigan said:
Agree with your take that this album sounds like it could have been written today, I felt similar listening to it. The only difference I think might be that bands today might not have the cajones to stop at under 40 minutes and might have been drawn into trying to stretch it out to close to an hour with some filler that would have imo weakened it.
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I don't think that point should be understated. I don't see myself enjoying this selection if there were a few more filler tracks that take away from the short, yet complete work.

My score was also based on the speed at which they put together this album. According to Paul Buchanan, "we knew exactly what we were doing. We actually recorded the rest of Hats super quick... Honestly, half of Hats was, like, a week." It probably was a blessing they didn't have more time to tinker around with filler ideas. Still, an amazing timeline in retrospect.

After being sued by Virgin records when the years of material and recording prior produced no 2nd album, I wonder how the legal matter ended up after this was released and it became a UK classic?

One final note from me, I never did call that toll-free number in the US back then to get my free CD of Hats that AMI (US distributor) put into Billboard magazine as a promo ad. I suppose I was still too poor from just paying for university to be subscribing to Billboard at that time, much less musically ready to listen to this. ;-)
 
I didn't start listening to this until Saturday but it has had more than the three outings necessary to form a view.

I would have to agree with most of the positive comments that have been made so far but then I am inclined towards this sort of melancholy mood music. The suggestion from @threespires that it forms part of a typically Scottish tradition has some merit to it. I think it was @Saddleworth2 that nominated The Crossing by Big Country that also leans that way. (My entry in this field Doll by Doll's Gypsy Blood, although more varied in tone I think also fits the bill although it was less people's cup of tea!)

Musically it reminded me at times of the Associates first album, the vocals are not dissimilar. The Associates lyrics are more oblique though so there the comparison ends. And then there are the comparisons to Talk Talk's The Colour of Spring. If that has any validity it is the two slower songs on CoS that are relevant here because otherwise that album has a much different tempo. I remember my only criticiss, such as they were of CoS were of those two slower songs but typically over time they have wormed their way into favour as has Spirit of Eden which is a more realistic comparison.

So it is with Hats that it's a slow burner. Initial plays I had it on quite a low volume but to be honest it's not something I would want as background music, I think this is music that can engage on a deeper level than that and cranking the volume up a bit, not too much inevitably increases the impact.

By way of a change I had the spotify top tracks on and the bulk of them were from this album but the others were represented by songs that again had a very different tempo.

Minor irritations with the vocals. Overall they suit the music but there are very slight hints of the plaintiveness spilling over into a sort of whining. Not enough to put me off though.

I'm kind of on the cusp with this. It has a sound and feel that suggests that given more listens it could become a favourite for when I'm looking for a certain something. Tomorrow though it gives way to probably something completely different and there's a chance I'll forget all about it. That suggests it's not quite got it's tentacles in fully yet. It's comfortably a 7, potential for more, would be iteresting for me to come back to it in a few weeks and see where it sits with me.
 
journolud said:
I didn't start listening to this until Saturday but it has had more than the three outings necessary to form a view.

I would have to agree with most of the positive comments that have been made so far but then I am inclined towards this sort of melancholy mood music. The suggestion from @threespires that it forms part of a typically Scottish tradition has some merit to it. I think it was @Saddleworth2 that nominated The Crossing by Big Country that also leans that way. (My entry in this field Doll by Doll's Gypsy Blood, although more varied in tone I think also fits the bill although it was less people's cup of tea!)

Musically it reminded me at times of the Associates first album, the vocals are not dissimilar. The Associates lyrics are more oblique though so there the comparison ends. And then there are the comparisons to Talk Talk's The Colour of Spring. If that has any validity it is the two slower songs on CoS that are relevant here because otherwise that album has a much different tempo. I remember my only criticiss, such as they were of CoS were of those two slower songs but typically over time they have wormed their way into favour as has Spirit of Eden which is a more realistic comparison.

So it is with Hats that it's a slow burner. Initial plays I had it on quite a low volume but to be honest it's not something I would want as background music, I think this is music that can engage on a deeper level than that and cranking the volume up a bit, not too much inevitably increases the impact.

By way of a change I had the spotify top tracks on and the bulk of them were from this album but the others were represented by songs that again had a very different tempo.

Minor irritations with the vocals. Overall they suit the music but there are very slight hints of the plaintiveness spilling over into a sort of whining. Not enough to put me off though.

I'm kind of on the cusp with this. It has a sound and feel that suggests that given more listens it could become a favourite for when I'm looking for a certain something. Tomorrow though it gives way to probably something completely different and there's a chance I'll forget all about it. That suggests it's not quite got its tentacles in fully yet. It's comfortably a 7, potential for more, would be iteresting for me to come back to it in a few weeks and see where it sits with me.
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For me it needs repeated listens over a period of time to fully appreciate it. Hope it works the same for you mate.
 
I want to write a solid review here but I am not sure I'll have time given work priority that popped up. As such, will come back if I can, but if not, a 6/10 -- I liked the lilt, thought it was original, as an atmospheric record it works; OTOH not especially interesting or winning; I'd play it again as background but not for pleasure; the songs are more sound shifts than distinct entities as befits other semi-ambients.
 
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