Never Happy

Portishead: Dummy

In the summer between transferring from York to Calvin, this music snob told me that Portishead were making the most exciting kind of music being made at that time. I was a little confused and turned off because to me it was obvious that that honor belonged to Spiritualized, but I was also intimitated enough to go out and find a used copy of Dummy. And I had to admit it was pretty good even though I never really got into the whole trip-hop thing. To be honest, Massive Attack probably won't survive a round where I'm choosing it. But Dummy has stood the test of time pretty well. Listening to it last night, I was really impressed with its vocals and production. The "spy" sound sometimes feels a little too affected, but the hints of soul are sweet. In fact, there were a few times it reminded me of His Name is Alive's Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth (an album I like more than I probalby should). Also, quite a few of the songs are just really good. Still, there are also a few so-so songs; this isn't a big deal, but the thing is that the so-so songs sound incrediby similar to the good ones. The whole record has a kind of cool feel to it, and after a while, I just felt like I was listening to the same thing over and over. Often, I like cohesiveness. A lot of my favorite records maintain a similar style throughout, but this album might just be too cohesive.

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time

I didn't know this album or this artist at all. I wasn't sure I liked her voice at first, but it didn't take long to grow on me. I read that she's often been compared to Billie Holliday, but I think she sounds a little more like Macy Gray (someone I like more than I probably should). The opening track "Something On Your Mind" has a really nice vibe to it. In fact, whereas Dummy feels cool, this album has a pretty warm feel. It also has a kind of timeless quality to it. I assumed it was fairly new. It sounds like it might have been popular around the time Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels..., but it turns out it came out in 1971. It also turns out that this is a record of mostly covers. I didn't recognize a lot of the songs, but I did recognize "When a Man Loves a Woman" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You). The thing about a cover is that if it isn's as good as the original, it needs to be different enough that it's still worth doing. In both these cases, I felt like the cover was just a pale version of the originals; I will say, it's hard to cover Motown. These two songs also feel out of place on the album--two pop/soul songs stuck in the middle of a folk album.

I guess I'm hard to please. If you're too consistent, I'm going to complain. And if you try something different, I'm going to complain. Either way you're screwed. But if you're Portishead, you're less screwed because I'm picking you for the next round. If nothing else, Wendell seemed to like dancing to your beats

I hope Kevin isn't the kind of vindictive person who wouldn't pick my album just because I didn't pick his. In other words, I hope Kevin isn't too much like me.