Sour Times

Portishead recorded “Sour Times” during the 1993–1994 Dummy sessions at State of Art and Coach House Studios in Bristol, with additional mixing at Moles Studio in Bath. Beth Gibbons sang the lead vocal, Geoff Barrow handled programming, Adrian Utley played guitar, Neil Solman added Rhodes piano and Hammond organ, and Dave McDonald engineered. Released by Go! Beat in 1994 as the second single from Dummy, it became Portishead’s breakthrough single after its 1995 reissue reached the UK Top 20. Contemporary critics singled out its cinematic tension and Beth Gibbons’ vocal performance, and the track also gave the group their only Billboard Hot 100 entry. The track remains one of Portishead’s defining recordings and a key example of the Bristol sound’s mid-1990s crossover into alternative pop. Its use of Lalo Schifrin’s “The Danube Incident” helped make its noir orchestral loop one of the decade’s most recognisable sample-based hooks.