Give Me a Reason to Love You
March 14, 2023 1:14 PM Subscribe
St Vincent and the Roots cover Portishead's classic "Glory Box" (YT link) - all part of a Love Rocks festival last week, apparently.
And, of course, the original (HD album version) and from their classic, amazing PNYC with a backing orchestra
St Vincent continues to be a delight, thanks for the post.
posted by crossswords at 2:15 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by crossswords at 2:15 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
So, I don't like Jimmy Fallon or St Vincent that much and I would have entirely missed this.Terribly good.
posted by es_de_bah at 3:39 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by es_de_bah at 3:39 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I remember looking up Portishead on the mid-to-early Web (mid-90s, say) and finding an FAQ that had the exact question I was after: "Where do I find more music like this?"
The answer was "Nope, you're not going to find it. But people who enjoy Portishead also like..."
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:52 PM on March 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
The answer was "Nope, you're not going to find it. But people who enjoy Portishead also like..."
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:52 PM on March 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
Is there an album or playlist of Portishead covers? I’ve played the original so many times it’s almost hard to concentrate on it. This is a great great cover thanks for posting, foxywombat.
posted by Rumple at 5:09 PM on March 14, 2023
posted by Rumple at 5:09 PM on March 14, 2023
Covers, as compiled at Secondhand Songs
John Martyn's version of Glory Box
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:21 PM on March 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
John Martyn's version of Glory Box
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:21 PM on March 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
At last, triphop has begun its slow crawl into the zeitgeist once again
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:21 PM on March 14, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:21 PM on March 14, 2023 [12 favorites]
A different John Martyn recording of Glory Box.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:29 PM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:29 PM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I did not even know about the NYC concert album so this post has moved me to a higher indifference curve already.
posted by grobstein at 7:05 PM on March 14, 2023
posted by grobstein at 7:05 PM on March 14, 2023
I love Beth Gibbon's voice, her vibrato is a unique instrument whose plaintive quality and soft perfection is a satin river of soft regular reminders that being human is a risk for reward scenario.
Here she sings Gorecki's Symphony of Sad Songs, in Polish, with The Polish National Radio Orchestra.
posted by Oyéah at 7:38 PM on March 14, 2023 [10 favorites]
Here she sings Gorecki's Symphony of Sad Songs, in Polish, with The Polish National Radio Orchestra.
posted by Oyéah at 7:38 PM on March 14, 2023 [10 favorites]
I wanted to like it but the strings are off-beat to the snare enough that it's like nails on chalkboard to me.
posted by Candleman at 8:00 PM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 8:00 PM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
"Where do I find more music like this?"
Used to be you would get obsessed with trip hop as a genre, go get the other Portishead cd, then go get the live Portishead cd, listen to half of a massive attack album on repeat for a week, then try listening to Goldfrappe and realize that you've made a terrible mistake, and really you're just a Portishead fan after all.
Their first two albums are in a small collection of Singularly Good albums. Alongside Aeroplane, the Postal Service's only album, and Youth Lagoon's debut album. (Ymmv, of course.)
posted by kaibutsu at 1:02 AM on March 15, 2023 [13 favorites]
Used to be you would get obsessed with trip hop as a genre, go get the other Portishead cd, then go get the live Portishead cd, listen to half of a massive attack album on repeat for a week, then try listening to Goldfrappe and realize that you've made a terrible mistake, and really you're just a Portishead fan after all.
Their first two albums are in a small collection of Singularly Good albums. Alongside Aeroplane, the Postal Service's only album, and Youth Lagoon's debut album. (Ymmv, of course.)
posted by kaibutsu at 1:02 AM on March 15, 2023 [13 favorites]
I wanted to like it but the strings are off-beat to the snare enough that it's like nails on chalkboard to me.
Trick I use for overcoming that kind of prohibitive frisson is deliberately choosing to lean into it.
Can you find an entirely new-to-you kind of music encoded in exactly how the strings and snare are failing to coincide? I bet you could.
posted by flabdablet at 1:21 AM on March 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
Trick I use for overcoming that kind of prohibitive frisson is deliberately choosing to lean into it.
Can you find an entirely new-to-you kind of music encoded in exactly how the strings and snare are failing to coincide? I bet you could.
posted by flabdablet at 1:21 AM on March 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
kaibutsu, you hit the nail on the head. It's like the tragedy of realising that you're a Velvet Underground fan, and don't care for all the people who started bands after those fateful gigs.
I also find that I enjoy about half of Mezzanine, a few select Tricky tracks (after all, he blatantly ripped off Portishead for one or two of them), and a couple of drips and drabs out there. But it's like tracking down SpaceWave music inspired by the original Blade Runner soundtrack: it's all missing something from the genuine article.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:16 AM on March 15, 2023
I also find that I enjoy about half of Mezzanine, a few select Tricky tracks (after all, he blatantly ripped off Portishead for one or two of them), and a couple of drips and drabs out there. But it's like tracking down SpaceWave music inspired by the original Blade Runner soundtrack: it's all missing something from the genuine article.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:16 AM on March 15, 2023
Eh...I have a theory of cover songs: if you're an artist and you're gonna do a cover, for godssakes put your own spin on it. This just sounds way too close to the original which is at best kind of impressive from a technical standpoint but otherwise feels like watching a wedding band cover Glory Box, which would be cool as hell at a wedding by the way, just not something I'd opt to seek out over the original! I think the John Martyn version posted up thread kicks ass by the way.
I really miss AV Club Undercover series where it was all bands offering their *take* on different songs, not just trying to play them to a T.
posted by windbox at 3:14 AM on March 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
I really miss AV Club Undercover series where it was all bands offering their *take* on different songs, not just trying to play them to a T.
posted by windbox at 3:14 AM on March 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
I was really obsessed with Olivia Coleman's cover of it for Children in Need three years ago. Here's also a behind the scenes look (with Phoebe Waller-Bridge!).
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:34 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:34 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
a few select Tricky tracks (after all, he blatantly ripped off Portishead for one or two of them
It's not really like that. The thing to remember is that was a scene - this was a group of people in Bristol who knew each other in fairly fluid circumstances, all expressions of a small, shared culture. When it became popular there were lots of people all over the world who began to imitate the formal characteristics, record companies/music journalists gave those formal characteristics a name - Trip-Hop! - and it became a genre. But genre is largely a marketing and filing concept, and of interest to people who want to do things "properly". I'd suggest with these sorts of cultural phenomena, if you're doing it properly, you're doing it wrong.
It's far more likely that they both heard the Isaac Hayes track in the clubs - quite possibly from a third party who was DJing - and liked it and it was a part of the general culture rather than one person nicking it from another.
At which point I'm quoted a specific story about Tricky nicking the sample from Geoff Barrow and am chastened. But I think the general point is true.
posted by Grangousier at 3:51 AM on March 15, 2023 [9 favorites]
It's not really like that. The thing to remember is that was a scene - this was a group of people in Bristol who knew each other in fairly fluid circumstances, all expressions of a small, shared culture. When it became popular there were lots of people all over the world who began to imitate the formal characteristics, record companies/music journalists gave those formal characteristics a name - Trip-Hop! - and it became a genre. But genre is largely a marketing and filing concept, and of interest to people who want to do things "properly". I'd suggest with these sorts of cultural phenomena, if you're doing it properly, you're doing it wrong.
It's far more likely that they both heard the Isaac Hayes track in the clubs - quite possibly from a third party who was DJing - and liked it and it was a part of the general culture rather than one person nicking it from another.
At which point I'm quoted a specific story about Tricky nicking the sample from Geoff Barrow and am chastened. But I think the general point is true.
posted by Grangousier at 3:51 AM on March 15, 2023 [9 favorites]
after all, he blatantly ripped off Portishead for one or two of them
Tricky started as part of Massive Attack, which was the biggest act in the whole Wild Bunch orbit in Bristol. (Though I still have love for Neneh Cherry, who missed the trip hop bus.)
Pitchfork on Maxinquaye relates how the Glory Box sample came in; really it's still Isaac Hayes with Portishead touches in that form.
If you like Portishead but other stuff labeled 'trip-hop' left you cold, try DJ Shadow if you don't know him (and maybe the Xen Cuts compilation from Ninja Tune, for more in that vein).
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:11 AM on March 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
Tricky started as part of Massive Attack, which was the biggest act in the whole Wild Bunch orbit in Bristol. (Though I still have love for Neneh Cherry, who missed the trip hop bus.)
Pitchfork on Maxinquaye relates how the Glory Box sample came in; really it's still Isaac Hayes with Portishead touches in that form.
If you like Portishead but other stuff labeled 'trip-hop' left you cold, try DJ Shadow if you don't know him (and maybe the Xen Cuts compilation from Ninja Tune, for more in that vein).
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:11 AM on March 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
I take issue with the suggestion that Tricky ripped anyone off - this whole contingent were from the Bristol scene at the time anyway, and Maxinquaye displays mind-blowing obsessions to detail in ways that Dummy never even got near. One Issac Hayes sample? w/e
A good time, though, I was helping build my university radio station at the time and I have very strong memories of all the music coming through. What a time to be alive!
St Vincent rules my life anyway so covering this with the Roots is pretty much the best thing I'm going to see all day. Maybe I'll skip GPT-4 today, it'll only be disappointing now.
posted by bookbook at 4:35 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
A good time, though, I was helping build my university radio station at the time and I have very strong memories of all the music coming through. What a time to be alive!
St Vincent rules my life anyway so covering this with the Roots is pretty much the best thing I'm going to see all day. Maybe I'll skip GPT-4 today, it'll only be disappointing now.
posted by bookbook at 4:35 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
DJ Shadow's Midnight in a Perfect World, if you haven't heard it.
And though Gus Gus' sound was generally a little different, Why and Is Jesus Your Pal could have been Portishead B-Sides.
There's also the Beth Gibbons/Rustin Mann collab, Out of Season. Tom the Model.
There's a lot more stuff out there that sounds like Beth in that later mode, crossing over into shoegaze.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:42 AM on March 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
And though Gus Gus' sound was generally a little different, Why and Is Jesus Your Pal could have been Portishead B-Sides.
There's also the Beth Gibbons/Rustin Mann collab, Out of Season. Tom the Model.
There's a lot more stuff out there that sounds like Beth in that later mode, crossing over into shoegaze.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:42 AM on March 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
I mean, there's also great chill stuff from the same time period like Zero 7 and Morcheeba.
We had the first Ultra.Chilled CD compilation in 2001, and we played the hell out of it. (We were 25 and thought chill music made us sound like adults. Still do.) Lots of good stuff on there.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:47 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
We had the first Ultra.Chilled CD compilation in 2001, and we played the hell out of it. (We were 25 and thought chill music made us sound like adults. Still do.) Lots of good stuff on there.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:47 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Hooverphonic, "Jackie Cane" live with an orchestra.
"Jackie Cane" would be a great James Bond song.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:21 AM on March 15, 2023
"Jackie Cane" would be a great James Bond song.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:21 AM on March 15, 2023
Yep. Chill, Nu Jazz, Downtempo, and many different subgenres from there. All still good.
Go! Beat
Shadow Records
Ninja Tune
!K7
Wider, and with other big acts, but Warp.
Also a lot of stuff on 4AD and some on Le Grand Magistery
Grand Central had some more in the hip hop direction.
Doubtlessly more I'm forgetting.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:22 AM on March 15, 2023
Go! Beat
Shadow Records
Ninja Tune
!K7
Wider, and with other big acts, but Warp.
Also a lot of stuff on 4AD and some on Le Grand Magistery
Grand Central had some more in the hip hop direction.
Doubtlessly more I'm forgetting.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:22 AM on March 15, 2023
Used to be you would get obsessed with trip hop as a genre, go get the other Portishead cd, then go get the live Portishead cd, listen to half of a massive attack album on repeat for a week, then try listening to Goldfrappe and realize that you've made a terrible mistake, and really you're just a Portishead fan after all.My journey was a bit in reverse in that I was 17 when Massive Attack's Blue Lines came out, and it became a staple part of my senior year high school soundtrack. Back then, in 1991, nothing else sounded like it, and trip hop was just starting to be defined. I was just starting to get into techno and indie music, listening to The Orb, Orbital and Prodigy, and a lot of my friends were into hip hop, and this felt like something between those two worlds fused with dub and reggae. Something like a British answer to De La Soul's alternative hip hop. The closest thing to it at the time was, like, the Stereo MCs and they were very obviously White boys coopting British Black culture like EMF.
Then "trip hop" would pick up a number of art pop groups that were basically a white woman singer with one or two instrumentalist dudes, one of whom may have been a DJ playing samples: One Dove, Everything But the Girl, all essentially falling in the niche carved by St. Etienne, who, themselves, are essentially The Pet Shop Boys but if Neil Tennant was a woman. And I liked that music fine, but it wasn't Massive Attack.
Then on the other side you'd see triphop spread out to include turntablists and sampler mosaic artists like Coldcut and the stable that they created in Ninja Tune Records, which also was interesting but often lacking lyrics or vocals, so not quite fitting either.
I was a junior in college when Dummy came out and that was so close! But it was jazz and not dub; so it didn't quite fit either but it came closest to scratching the itch. So while I adored Portishead as well, it fell into a very different box for me.
Which is all a long way of saying that trip hop has been this Miscellaneous section of sample heavy Black music made for White people to listen to in coffeeshops, and because so much Black music has been coopted it's become a very imprecise term.
Writing this also made me think of The Number Ones column about EMF's "Unbelievable" and PM Dawn's "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" where Tom Breihan notes that there was this magical moment in 1991 when Soundscan broke the industry's iron grip on the Top 100, and it allowed all of these alternative genres to flourish. It looked like UK acid house and alternative hip hop would become the sounds of the 90's, but grunge music edged that out instead, and when I look to trip hop, I look to that altered history version of the 90s where "Safe From Harm" would've been on constant rotation in 120 Minutes, and we'd had an MTV Unplugged with Prince Be from PM Dawn.
posted by bl1nk at 7:50 AM on March 15, 2023 [8 favorites]
As I recall, there was but one compilation album that had both Tricky and Portishead on it, and a rare Portishead track you could only get on it. (Also has the best remix of Bug Powder Dust on it.)
I can't find the source but from what I recall before Dummy was released, one of the guys in Portishead (Utley?) said in a recent interview that he gave a demo of Glory Box to Tricky and the next thing they knew they heard heard his song on the radio. They know he nicked it from them but no hard feelings, the work stand on it's own. I can't find the source though.
I think the Roots/St Vincent cover is pretty tepid. But I'm also of the opinion you can't compete with the precise instrument of sadness that is Beth Gibbons' voice. There's a short concert from last year and she's still got it.
posted by Catblack at 8:28 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I can't find the source but from what I recall before Dummy was released, one of the guys in Portishead (Utley?) said in a recent interview that he gave a demo of Glory Box to Tricky and the next thing they knew they heard heard his song on the radio. They know he nicked it from them but no hard feelings, the work stand on it's own. I can't find the source though.
I think the Roots/St Vincent cover is pretty tepid. But I'm also of the opinion you can't compete with the precise instrument of sadness that is Beth Gibbons' voice. There's a short concert from last year and she's still got it.
posted by Catblack at 8:28 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh, Catblack I was going to say that there's also Help, a charity compilation raising funds for children and families affected by the Bosnia/Herzegovina conflict, but that's Massive Attack + Portishead on the same album. The EP did have this Untitled Portishead track, but it's not as good or as notable as that as that remix on the Rebirth of Cool.
posted by bl1nk at 8:42 AM on March 15, 2023
posted by bl1nk at 8:42 AM on March 15, 2023
there was but one compilation album that had both Tricky and Portishead on it
There are at least two more, though I doubt either of those saw many copies make their way out of England.
posted by box at 8:48 AM on March 15, 2023
There are at least two more, though I doubt either of those saw many copies make their way out of England.
posted by box at 8:48 AM on March 15, 2023
ooo box, one of those comps has a superb live version of a Tricky song which I'd always loved. It was released on CD single for one of his tracks. (I saw Tricky and Martina live once. They were scheduled for a 45 minute set and played over 2 hours in a small club, it was amazing.)
posted by Catblack at 9:11 AM on March 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 9:11 AM on March 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
You were lucky. I saw Tricky twice. Once he was so out of it he could barely stand up let alone give a good performance and the second time was better but more random noise than music.
I have seen Lamb mentioned yet. They were informed with a lot of the same sensibility as the rest of the Trip Hop scene but ....happy.
posted by Candleman at 10:06 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have seen Lamb mentioned yet. They were informed with a lot of the same sensibility as the rest of the Trip Hop scene but ....happy.
posted by Candleman at 10:06 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I remember Cotton Wool being Lamb's big track.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:10 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:10 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Revenge of the Number version of Numb was on this EP.
The 'rare' versions of Sour Times were on this one.
Likewise, Glory Box.
The latter two were released together as Glory Times, in some markets.
A bunch of these versions were as used in Portishead's short movie.
They played them like that live when I saw them in '97 or '98, it rocked.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:38 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
The 'rare' versions of Sour Times were on this one.
Likewise, Glory Box.
The latter two were released together as Glory Times, in some markets.
A bunch of these versions were as used in Portishead's short movie.
They played them like that live when I saw them in '97 or '98, it rocked.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:38 AM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
thanks for the post, OP, and to everyone commenting with links & info.
I'm currently isolating with Covid--pooooooop--- so today's project will be "Whatever else has that band/group/movement done lately?"
posted by winesong at 1:49 PM on March 15, 2023
I'm currently isolating with Covid--pooooooop--- so today's project will be "Whatever else has that band/group/movement done lately?"
posted by winesong at 1:49 PM on March 15, 2023
These were a few CDs on constant rotation around that time for me:
Massive Attack's Mezzanine
Nightmare on Wax's Smoker's Delight
Morcheeba's Who Can You Trust?
EBTG's Walking Wounded
Thievery Corporation's Mirror Conspiracy (a bit later)
I am about to go on a road trip...getting my playlist squared away now, LOL
posted by Chuffy at 1:51 PM on March 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
Massive Attack's Mezzanine
Nightmare on Wax's Smoker's Delight
Morcheeba's Who Can You Trust?
EBTG's Walking Wounded
Thievery Corporation's Mirror Conspiracy (a bit later)
I am about to go on a road trip...getting my playlist squared away now, LOL
posted by Chuffy at 1:51 PM on March 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
For artsy covers, Nouvelle Vague is always nice...
posted by Chuffy at 2:01 PM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Chuffy at 2:01 PM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Chuffy, are you me?
posted by porpoise at 2:30 PM on March 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by porpoise at 2:30 PM on March 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
porpoise,
I don't think so, but maybe I should be!
posted by Chuffy at 6:53 PM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I don't think so, but maybe I should be!
posted by Chuffy at 6:53 PM on March 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I expected St. Vincent to let go a bit more on her guitar part, especially since she was playing a St. Vincent guitar, as she's wont to do.
Anybody got a spare $3,099.00?
posted by signal at 8:14 AM on March 16, 2023
Anybody got a spare $3,099.00?
posted by signal at 8:14 AM on March 16, 2023
For a recording of a live session I appreciate that this cover is looser than the original. I can't imagine the three different groups involved, Roots, St.Vincent & the assembly of strings, had much time to practice together so a more faithful rendition was probably a safer bet. Obviously I have a giant soft spot for covers generally.
My contribution to the trip-hop appreciation is going to be this Tricky/Bjork track, Keep your Mouth Shut from 1996, and not available on streaming services.
posted by zenon at 8:41 AM on March 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
My contribution to the trip-hop appreciation is going to be this Tricky/Bjork track, Keep your Mouth Shut from 1996, and not available on streaming services.
posted by zenon at 8:41 AM on March 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just popping in to say that due to this post I've had this song in my head for twelve days now, which has happened every few years for the past 25 years or so, and it's not a bad thing.
posted by mochapickle at 6:26 PM on March 26, 2023
posted by mochapickle at 6:26 PM on March 26, 2023
These were a few CDs on constant rotation around that time for me...I am about to go on a road trip...getting my playlist squared away now, LOL
Though somewhat different, if any the folks in here who vibe with that particular list going in the Thievery Corporation direction never listened to Yeasayer while they were together, you should maybe try them. If you also like the Talking Heads and Toy Matinee, then you need to.
Wait for the Summer
I Am Chemistry
Ambling Alp
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:23 PM on April 3, 2023
Though somewhat different, if any the folks in here who vibe with that particular list going in the Thievery Corporation direction never listened to Yeasayer while they were together, you should maybe try them. If you also like the Talking Heads and Toy Matinee, then you need to.
Wait for the Summer
I Am Chemistry
Ambling Alp
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:23 PM on April 3, 2023
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