Taking Sides: Portishead's "Glory Box" vs. Tricky's "Hell Is Round the Corner".

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Same melancholy string sample. Same desolate atmosphere. But which wins?

I vote for P'head, as Beth Gibbons' hemoraging heart has more emotional resonance. Martina Topley Bird's vocals are haunting, but Tricky's rhymes (or at least I'm presuming he wrote them) are too oblique to get as firm a stranglehold on the ear as Portishead's. Adrian Utley's guitar on "Glory Box" also trumps the slurry, slowed-down vocal sample on "Hell.."

But, hey, that's me....

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Both ace. "Glory Box" more ace, mostly because of Beth Gibbons.

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

A TIE! Beth's voice a beauty over the better arrangement with nice grimy bit, Tricky's rasp an evocative grimy wonder plus Martina on back-up, a winning combination. Oh, and a better intro. But still a tie.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I think "Glory Box" stands out more because of its album context - it's the best track on Dummy anyway and a total sonic switch-up to close it. "Hell Is Round The Corner", on the other hand, comes after a triptych of songs ("Overcome", "Ponderosa", "Black Steel") which just cannot be bettered... and it is awesome, just a little bit short of the three which precede it.

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Tricky, purely because Martina Topley-Bird's vocal was effortlessly sexy, whereas I felt like that was the one track on Portishead's first album that strayed too far into melodramatic torch-song territory. I always liked Wandering Star best.

― Ulan Bator, Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

If it were just MTB, Tricky would probably win.. but... "This is the beginning... of FOREVER! AND EVER!"... that's a great pop moment, that.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i was going to start this thread Alex!

i been listening to the brizzle early 90's thang alot recently, was it just a strange nit if synchronicity that they used the same Isaac Hayes sample? Tricky wins for me, party just cos he always does and partly just cos he i love the grit and dirt in tricky's sound and am ifascinated by his lyrics on that record. It's not my fave tricky song nor my fave Portishead one though.

"As i grow, i grow collective"

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"bit of synchronicity"*

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, always wondered abt that sample.

Can't choose really.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Isaac Hayes "Ikes Rap II" for anyone who doesn't know.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I'd been listening to both today. Being that the wife and child are still away, I went out last night with my friend Rob and am now CATASTROPHICALLY hungover, so I went on a long, painful, Bataan-Death-March-like walk around lower Manhattan today with ye olde iPod. Upon passing a friend of mine's place on Vestry St., I was instantly transported to `94/`95 -- when all we seemed to listen to was Massive Attack/Tricky/Portishead, so dialed'em up for a stagger down memorey lane. I think Maxinquaye has aged better than Dummy, but in terms of these particular tracks, I still side with Portishead, and Edward's dead right about that one drum break in "Glory Box" ("...THIS IS THE BEGINNING...OF FOREVER...AND EVER.."), which is truly the stuff of celestial wonder.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Where's your wife and Charolette?

― Aja (aja), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Texas

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree that the celestail wonder and the better production/arrangement should swing it, but Tricky's still has its own undeniable strengths and charms (and the guitar solo is a bit of a turn off now).

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Maxinquaye has aged better than Dummy

definatley OTM - ive been going through a similar listening trip, hence my mention of "Protection" (the track) in another thread today.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

the isaac hayes song is excellent too.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Smiles, everybody smiles!

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Portishead easy

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 12 September 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Portishead. For the same reasons outlined by The Lex at the top of the thread. Easily Beth's strongest vocals on "Dummy".

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

hell. tricky's crackly voice is the clincher. also the fact that it's surroundings are more appealing (ie. the surrounding tracks on the tricky album > the surrounding tracks on the portishead album, ie. maxinequaye > dummy)

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Sunday, 12 September 2004 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

A tie! I love both tracks. I was dissappointed that none of them made it to the '90s poll. I would have placed them one after the other in my ballot. Maybe Tricky by a bit because I don't like the guitar solo in Portishead's.

― daavid (daavid), Sunday, 12 September 2004 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW does anybody know what's the sample they used?

― daavid (daavid), Sunday, 12 September 2004 23:43 (twenty-one years ago)

see upthread, daavid

― rentboy (rentboy), Monday, 13 September 2004 00:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Portishead, although the "reduce me/seduce me/dress me up in Stussy" line is a strong challenger to Beth's shining moment.

Also, I like "Roads" and "Overcome" more than either.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Monday, 13 September 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Tricky, for sure. It just has a better crackly audio texture. and tricky has mystique (well, had...). that low-era bowie looking woman does not.

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Tricky for the way the voices intertwine; there's more of a polyrhythmic (or maybe polymelodic, or some combination of the two) push which makes it fresher to me. But yeah, both are great.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess I'd give a slight edge to "Glory Box," if only because I'm a compulsive thematicizer and Gibbon's turn-of-century take on the torch song is slightly more interesting than Tricky's urban paranoia. Plus, just her voice.

I'd thought this thread had happened before. I still love the "Scorn" mix.

― Dare, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought P used "Ikes Rap III" and Trickykid used "Ikes Rap II."

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

was it just a strange bit of synchronicity that they used the same Isaac Hayes sample?

not really, i mean the links between portishead and tricky are there for all to see, i think the 'head gave him props in their liner notes, etc. i think the 'stussy' line dates tricky, even though i still have stussy t-shirts, so beth wins. i like the fade-in too.

― HKM, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Neneh Cherry also used it the same year, possibly the year after for 'Woman' or 'Woman's World' or something similar. Not a bad song, although I'm not sure about Neneh's claim to have half of Ethiopia burning inside of her.

I know the sample comes from Ike's rap, but its also very similar to Python Lee Jackson's 'In A Broken Dream'. I'm not quite sure if its completely the same, but there isn't much distance between them. And I think that may have pre-dated Isaac Hayes's use of it.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 11:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, in answer to the question, Portishead. Beth Gibbons is fantastic. If I'd remembered to vote in the 00's pole, I think I might have suggested her album with Rustin Man.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Neneh's use of the hook was not a direct sample I don't think. ANyway I guess I pick Glory Box.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 11:29 (twenty-one years ago)

sixteen years pass...

I am revisiting this and I have to change my mind because Portishead's claustrophobic breathing effect in the middle 8th puts it over the edge for me. Tricky has some of that going on all over HIATC, but never quite captures the same sense of despair.

― daavid, Thursday, 3 June 2021 21:00 (five years ago)

It was Portishead for me back in the day

― like a d4mn sociopath! (morrisp), Thursday, 3 June 2021 21:03 (five years ago)

Seeing the breakdown of "Glory Box" live was a fantastic moment.

― Chris L, Thursday, 3 June 2021 21:44 (five years ago)

gotta be tricky for me, my brain thinks bomb-like

― brimstead, Thursday, 3 June 2021 21:55 (five years ago)

three years pass...

was 'tempt-ur-ess' really necessary

― mookieproof, Sunday, 17 November 2024 05:03 (one year ago)

Yes, it was.

― Tim F, Sunday, 17 November 2024 08:04 (one year ago)

tempt-uh-ress isn't it

― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 17 November 2024 08:23 (one year ago)

As to why they both used the same sample at the same time, he answers 20 years later, Geoff Barrow and Tricky were both getting stoned in Geoff’s shitty old car and listening to Ike’s Rap and both insisted for years that the other had ripped off their idea.

― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Sunday, 17 November 2024 10:24 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goICQUk6NYk
this one mixes ike's rap and jorge da capadócia (jorge ben)

― fpsa, Sunday, 17 November 2024 23:57 (one year ago)

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