Grade: B
PORTISHEAD
"Portishead"
Atlantic. 11 tracks.
Portishead grabbed the attention of critics in 1994 with its relentlessly melancholy trip-hop opus "Dummy," which spawned the radio hit "Sour Times." The group's second full-length album continues "Dummy's" sad, somnolent tone, adding a layer of gaudy grandeur. The lead-off track, "Cowboys," is a cagey take on the James Bond theme of the '60s. Vocalist Beth Gibbons is an acquired taste ---her melodramatic mewling on such dirges as "Over" and "Mourning Air" will annoy some. But when she and the band lock into a gloriously gloomy groove, as on "Cowboys" and "Seven Months," all is forgiven.
By: Doug Hamilton