Wow Portishead is still alive and kicking? I pretty much gave up on this break-through trip-hop band years ago when you know, they weren’t DOING ANYTHING. So it’s been a long time coming since 1997 when the band released their self-titled sophomore follow-up to “Dummy” which was released half an eon ago in 1994. Fortunately the wait was worth it, groove-laden tracks and sultry singing aside, the band has displayed an uncanny ability to redefine themselves in these modern days with even a nod in the direction of the acoustic world on “Nylon Smile”. Beauty shrink-wrapped in plastic indeed.
Big tits and acting ability can get you far in Hollywood, but they don’t mean shit to the wonderful world of sound waves. Scarlett’s husky voice might have SOUNDED ON PAPER like the perfect fit for covers of the whiskey-throated Tom Waits but “Anywhere I Lay My Head” (which by the way lacks the crucial subtitle of “(on Scarlett’s bosom, results in neck cramps”) is a sorted affair of pop interpretations with only one original song that was co-penned with the help of producer and multi-instrumentalist (he played darn near everything here) by none other than TV on the Radio’s own David Andrew Sitek which was a yawn not a delight. How can lips that perfect by so flawed?!? Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner also lends a hand to her debut. Now, I’ll leave you with what should have been the cover art…
