| 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 | ||||
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| Singles from Dummy | ||||
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Dummy is the debut album of the Bristol-based group Portishead. Released in October 22, 1994 on Go! Discs,[1] 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[2] and saw two of its three singles reach #13. The album was certified gold in 1997[3] and has sold two million copies in Europe.[4]
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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 [5] hit "Glory Box" and "Sour Times", which reached the same position, on re-release in 1995.[6] On 3 December 2008, Universal Music Japan released Dummy and Portishead as limited SHM-CD versions.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [7] |
| Almost Cool | (10/10) [8] |
| BBC | (Very Favourable) [9] |
| Bloody Disgusting | [10] |
| Piero Scaruffi | [11] |
| Rolling Stone | [12] |
| Slant Magazine | [13] |
| Slant | [14] |
| Sputnikmusic | [15] |
| The New York Times | (Very Favourable) [16] |
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.
The album is the subject of a title in Continuum's 33⅓ series of books, published in October 2011.[18]
| Chart (1994) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Album Chart | 23 |
| Belgian Album Chart (FL) | 18 |
| Belgian Album Chart (WA) | 12 |
| Dutch Album Chart | 15 |
| New Zealand Album Chart | 21 |
| Norwegian Album Chart | 29 |
| Swedish Album Chart | 20 |
| Swiss Album Chart | 26 |
| UK Albums Chart | 2[2] |
| US | 79[20] |
All vocals by Beth Gibbons. All tracks produced by Portishead with Adrian Utley and engineered by Dave McDonald.
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