Dummy (album)

Dummy
Studio album by Portishead
Released	August 22, 1994
Recorded	1993–1994, State of Art and Coach House Studios
Genre	Trip hop
Length	45:29
Label	Go! Beat
Producer	Portishead, Adrian Utley
Portishead chronology
Dummy (1994) Portishead (1997)
Singles from Dummy
"Numb" Released: 6 June 1994 "Sour Times" Released: 1 August 1994 10 April 1995 (Re-release) "Glory Box" Released: 2 January 1995

Dummy is the debut album of the Bristol-based group Portishead. Released in August 22, 1994 on Go! Discs, the album earned critical acclaim, winning the 1995 Mercury Music Prize. It is often credited with popularizing the trip-hop genre and is frequently cited in lists of the best albums of the 1990s. Although it achieved modest chart success overseas, it peaked at #2 on the UK Album Chart and saw two of its three singles reach #13. The album was certified gold in 1997 and has sold two million copies in Europe. As of September 2011, the album was certified double-platinum in the United Kingdom and has sold as of September 2011 825,000 copies.

Album information

Building on the promise of their earlier EP, Numb, it helped to cement the reputation of Bristol as the capital of Trip hop, a nascent genre which was then often referred to simply as "the Bristol sound". The cover is a still of vocalist Beth Gibbons from the short film that the band created—To Kill a Dead Man—which originally got them signed due to their self composed soundtrack.

In addition to the already released "Numb", the album spawned two further singles: the UK #13 hit "Glory Box" and "Sour Times", which reached the same position, on re-release in 1995. On 3 December 2008, Universal Music Japan released Dummy and Portishead as limited SHM-CD versions.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly	A−
Almost Cool	(10/10)
Q
Rolling Stone
Sputnikmusic
Slant Magazine
Bloody Disgusting
Piero Scaruffi
BBC	(very favourable)
The New York Times	(very favourable)

It won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize, beating stiff competition which included PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love, Oasis' Definitely Maybe, and Tricky's Maxinquaye.

• Mojo (p. 62) - Ranked #35 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics."
• Mojo (1/95, p. 50) - Included in Mojo's "25 Best Albums of 1994."
• The New York Times (1/5/95, p. C15) - Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94.
• NME (8/12/00, p. 29) - Ranked #29 in The NME "Top 30 Heartbreak Albums."
• NME (12/24/94, p. 22) - Ranked #6 in NME's list of the 'Top 50 Albums Of 1994.'
• Q (12/99, p. 82) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
• Q (6/00, p. 66) - Ranked #61 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums."
• Rolling Stone (5/13/99, pp. 79–80) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
• In 2003, the album was ranked number 419 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
• Spin (9/99, p. 140) - Ranked #42 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
• The Village Voice (2/28/95) - Ranked #14 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.

The album is the subject of a title in Continuum's 33⅓ series of books, published in October 2011.

Track listing

1. "Mysterons" – 5:02
2. "Sour Times" – 4:11
3. "Strangers" – 3:55
4. "It Could Be Sweet" – 4:16
5. "Wandering Star" – 4:51
6. "It's a Fire" – 3:49
7. "Numb" – 3:54
8. "Roads" – 5:02
9. "Pedestal" – 3:39
10. "Biscuit" – 5:01
11. "Glory Box" – 5:06

• "It's a Fire" was included on North American and Australian editions of the album, in between "Wandering Star" and "Numb"
• In some Canadian editions, a bonus track, "Sour Sour Times," was added to the end of the album.

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
Australian Album Chart	23[citation needed]
Belgian Album Chart (FL)	18[citation needed]
Belgian Album Chart (WA)	12[citation needed]
Dutch Album Chart	15[citation needed]
New Zealand Album Chart	21[citation needed]
Norwegian Album Chart	29[citation needed]
Swedish Album Chart	20[citation needed]
Swiss Album Chart	26[citation needed]
UK Albums Chart	2
US	79

Credits

All vocals by Beth Gibbons. All tracks produced by Portishead with Adrian Utley and engineered by Dave McDonald.

"Mysterons"

• Geoff Barrow – Rhodes piano
• Clive Deamer – drums
• Adrian Utley – guitar and theremin

"Sour Times"

• Geoff Barrow – programmer
• Neil Solman – Rhodes piano and Hammond organ
• Adrian Utley – guitar

• "Sour Times" samples Lalo Schifrin's "The Danube Incident" (Schifrin) and Smokey Brooks' "Spin It Jig" (Henry Brooks, Otis Turner).

"Strangers"

• Geoff Barrow – Rhodes piano
• Clive Deamer – drums
• Adrian Utley – guitar

• "Strangers" samples Weather Report's "Elegant People" (Wayne Shorter).

"It Could Be Sweet"

• Geoff Barrow – Rhodes piano
• Richard Newell – drum programmer

"Wandering Star"

• Gary Baldwin – Hammond organ
• Geoff Barrow – programmer
• Clive Deamer – drums
• Adrian Utley – guitar

• "Wandering Star" contains portions of "Magic Mountain" (Papa Dee Allen, Harold Ray Brown, Eric Burdon, B. B. Dickerson, Gerald Goldstein, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard Scott) as performed by Eric Burdon and WAR.

"It's a Fire"

• Gary Baldwin – Hammond organ
• Geoff Barrow – drums
• Adrian Utley – bass guitar

"Numb"

• Gary Baldwin – Hammond organ
• Geoff Barrow – programmer and drums
• Clive Deamer – drums
• Adrian Utley – bass guitar

"Roads"

• Geoff Barrow – programmer and strings arrangement
• Clive Deamer – drums
• Dave McDonald – nose flute
• Neil Solman – Rhodes piano
• Strings Unlimited – strings
• Adrian Utley – guitar, bass guitar, and strings arrangement

"Pedestal"

• Geoff Barrow – programmer
• Clive Deamer – drums
• Andy Hague – trumpet
• Adrian Utley – bass guitar

"Biscuit"

• Geoff Barrow – Rhodes piano
• Clive Deamer – drums

• "Biscuit" samples Johnnie Ray from "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Johnnie Ray).

"Glory Box"

• Geoff Barrow – programmer
• Adrian Utley – guitar and Hammond organ

• "Glory Box" samples Isaac Hayes from "Ike's Rap II" from Black Moses.

External links

• Geoff Barrow Interview
• The Bristol Sound
• Portishead's Dummy: A 33 1/3 Book