Portishead's first album, Dummy, was released in 1994. 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 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.

Despite the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States (where it sold more than 150,000 copies even before the band toured there). Dummy spawned three singles, "Numb", "Glory Box" (which was used in the 1996 film When the Cat's Away) and "Sour Times", and went on to win the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 1995.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 419 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Tracklisting:

1   Mysterons        
2   Sour Times      
3   Strangers    
4   It Could Be Sweet      
5   Wandering Star      
6   It's A Fire    
7   Numb    
8   Roads      
9   Pedestal      
10   Biscuit    
11   Glory Box