Portishead

Along with Massive Attack's "Protection" and Tricky's "Overcome," Portishead's "Roads" represents the apex of UK trip hop, a genre whose short life span belies how influential it was. Dummy didn't start it all (that'd be Massive Attack's Blue Lines); what it did was deliver the sweetest fruits of trip hop --“ languid strings, loping beats, desperate, aching vocals, an addictive narcotic pall throughout -- to the masses. Many a good cry was had to this album.

From tape loops and live strings, Fender Rhodes riffing and angelic singing, these English
subversives construct très hip Gothic hip-hop. A junkie for smoky atmosphere,
keyboardist Geoff Barrow selects offbeat samples (Johnny Ray, Lalo Schifrin, Wayne
Shorter) while Beth Gibbons croons through the intentional murk, copping glamorous
Astrud Gilberto attitude. Songs like "Roads," "Glory Box" and "Sour Times" come a... More >