Dummy Fingers

Portishead's Dummy vs the Stones' Sticky Fingers

Both of these albums are great. Which one is greater? I don't know.
Both are influential and classic.

Sticky Fingers come in the middle of one of the greatest streaks of outstanding albums ever. Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street. I have a hard time picking a favorite album from that group. Four amazing albums in five years....just imagine what they could have made if Keith Richards wasn't passed out 90% of the time.
Even an average Stones album usually has some killer tracks, and Sticky Fingers is no average Stones album. Stylistically, it's a little all over the map. But I like that. I like their attempt at a country song (Wild Horses). I like their attempt at blues (I Got the Blues). Moonlight Mile is one of their best album closers. I love the extended jam in Can't You Hear Me Knocking.

Dummy still sounds brilliant. As I mentioned in my last post, I listened to too much "trip-hop" in the past. I listened to Mo Wax artists way too much during my first two years in med school while studying...always in the background. I just re-listened to some Mo Wax compilations recently and some of the stuff sounds pretty dated. Dummy doesn't sound dated. Beth Gibbons voice can still send shivers up my spine. The music is chilling, spooky, ominous...but all in a good way.

I'm having trouble deciding between these two. I guess I need some better way to determine a seemingly tied battle. Probably the best way to determine this is which album sounds most like Will Oldham/Bonnie Prince Billy, since he seems to be the early favorite of this group.

Which artist is the most mysterious?
Definitely not the Rolling Stones...especially now. I love the Stones, but they definitely love money now. I'm going with Portishead on this one.

Which artist changes band names so frequently that it consistently frustrates anyone who is anal about organizing music (not that this applies to me)?
Neither.

Which artist is known also for their acting skills?
While Portishead makes cinematic music, Jagger has been in films, and Pirates of the Caribbean was based on Keith Richards.

On second thought, I saw Performance, starring Jagger, I'm taking that point away.

Most importantly, who sings about oral sex?
Brown Sugar may or may not be about oral sex (?and the slave trade as well?). Reluctantly, I'm giving the point to the Stones.

Winner, barely, the Stones