"Sour Times"
Single by Portishead
from the album Dummy
Released1 August 1994 (1994-08-01)
Genre
Length4:14
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Portishead singles chronology
"Numb"
(1994)		 "Sour Times"
(1994)		 "Glory Box"
(1995)

"Sour Times" is a song by English trip hop group Portishead from their debut album Dummy (1994). It was written by all three members of the band and released as a single by Go! Beat Records in August 1994, accompanied by three bonus tracks: "It's a Fire", "Pedestal", and "Theme from To Kill a Dead Man".[2] It's music video was directed by Alexander Hemming. NME ranked "Sour Times" number 32 in its list of the 50 best songs of 1994.[3] Slant Magazine placed it at number 77 in its ranking of "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s" in 2011.[4]

Composition

The song uses a sample from Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident" from the 1967 album More Mission: Impossible. Portishead sped up the sample to a desired tempo which took Schifrin's arrangement up nearly a semitone, giving the song a dissonant kind of "hip-hop tuning".[5]

Release

"Sour Times" was released as the second single from Dummy on 1 August 1994.[6] It initially reached only number 57 in the UK Singles Chart, but after the success of "Glory Box" in 1995, it was re-released and peaked at number 13 in April.[7] It is also the band's only song to date to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, at number 53. "Sour Times" was the band's first entry on the Australian ARIA top 100 singles chart, peaking at number 66 in March 1995.[8] The B-side track "Airbus Reconstruction" was actually recorded by the band Airbus,[9] who were former school friends of Geoff Barrow.

Critical reception

Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report described the song as a "moody, mysterious and haunting production."[10] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel felt the "stalking" track is "a modern rock hit that could bloom into more for the English band, but the single's relative directness doesn't accurately reflect the more obscure path the group favors."[11] In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote "It's the kind of gloriously understated piece of melancholia that is normally supposed to appeal to students but is actually far too good to be wasted solely on that market."[12] Simon Reynolds from Melody Maker named it Single of the Week, writing "Portishead's second single "Sour Times" is absolutely brilliant, absolutely modern, and yet exudes, positively seeps, an absolutely British atmosphere."[13] Upon the re-release, Melody Maker editor Michael Bonner wrote "Beth Gibbons' nicotine-stained voice glides across a backing track as dark and sexy as a midnight stroll round Paris. Sinister, shifting keyboard riffs sound like they only just missed the audition to soundtrack the next David Lynch film."[14] Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song four out of five, adding "Their first single, "Numb", was a non-starter, but Portishead make a quantum jump with this single. This is a melancholy, wistful and worthy successor to the widescreen meanderings of fellow Bristolians Massive Attack, with a soulful vocal and tense backing track that evokes Bond movies and Spaghetti Westerns in equal measure. A spinechiller, and a hit."[15]

Andy Beevers of Music Week stated "Hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed "Numb", the Bristol duo are re-releasing this single which first appeared as a very limited self-financed white label several months back. It is another moody, downbeat tune featuring melancholy vocals, although it is a less leftfield and more complete song than "Numb"."[16] David Quantick from NME wrote "Like the great second Specials album and subsequent singles, Portishead take film theme type strands and spooky tunes and make some kind of odd pop with them. "Sour Times" is as splendid as its title and a great creepy song."[17] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update declared it as a "tremulous gentle girl sighed doodling atmospheric Twin Peaks/From Russia With Love-ish 94bpm pop swayer".[18] Charles Aaron from Spin wrote "Figures it would take two pale British hip-hop heads to finally dream up some modern lounge music that doesn't sound totally deracinated or desexed."[19] Jonathan Bernstein viewed it as the group's "most wistful song", remarking that it's "fraught with anticipation of impending calamity, in part due to the employment of a theremin, the device the Beach Boys used to make "Good Vibrations" sound so spooky."[20]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Sour Times" is made of footage from Portishead's short film To Kill a Dead Man. It was directed by Alexander Hemming.[21]

Track listings

  • CD 1
  1. "Sour Times" (4:14)
  2. "It's a Fire" (3:47)
  3. "Pedestal" (3:41)
  4. "Theme from To Kill a Dead Man" (4:25)
  • CD 2
  1. "Sour Times" (edit) (3:25)
  2. "Sour Sour Times" (5:49)
  3. "Lot More" (4:21)
  4. "Sheared Times" (4:03)
  5. "Airbus Reconstruction" (5:08)
  • Although they bear new titles, all tracks on CD 2 are remixes of "Sour Times"

Charts

Chart (1994–1995) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 66
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[22] 29
Netherlands (Single Top 100 Tipparade)[23] 5
Scotland (OCC)[24] 13
UK Singles (OCC)[25] 13
UK Dance (OCC)[26] 28
UK Dance (Music Week)[27] 28
US Billboard Hot 100[28] 53
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[29] 5

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[30] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

The Blank Theory covered "Sour Times" on their Beyond the Calm of the Corridor release, which was featured in the trailer for Wicker Park.

"Sour Times" was used as the theme music to the ITV drama series The Vice, and also appeared in the films Assassins and Killing Time in addition to the TV shows Warehouse 13 and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

The song was sampled in the 2004 single "Teardrops" by the 411.

The name of Turkish social network Ekşi Sözlük was derived from "Sour Times". This network was founded as a part of sourtimes.org in 1999.[31][32]

English singer Marsha Ambrosius covered the song on her 2011 album Late Nights & Early Mornings.

References

  1. 1 2 "The 100 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1994: Portishead, "Sour Times"". Spin. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Portishead Sour Times UK Cd. Vinyl Tap. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Albums and Tracks of the Year". NME. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  4. ↑ "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s". Slant Magazine. 9 January 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  5. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher R. (21 August 2019). "Portishead's 'Dummy' is 25. The Band Asks That You Play It Loud". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ "Single Releases". Music Week. 30 July 1994. p. 25.
  7. ↑ "Portishead - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 221.
  9. ↑ "Airbus Band - Airbus Reconstruction Portishead Nobody Loves Me, Sourtimes". www.christopherfielden.com.
  10. ↑ Sholin, Dave (20 January 1995). "Gavin Picks: Singles" (PDF). Gavin Report. p. 54. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  11. ↑ Campbell, Chuck (27 January 1995). "Brownstone Effort Muddied by Producers". Knoxville News Sentinel.
  12. ↑ Masterton, James (16 April 1995). "Week Ending April 22nd 1995". Chart Watch UK. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  13. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (30 July 1994). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 29. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  14. ↑ Bonner, Michael (15 April 1995). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 34. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  15. ↑ Jones, Alan (30 July 1994). "Market Preview: Mainstream - Singles" (PDF). Music Week. p. 16. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  16. ↑ Beevers, Andy (23 July 1994). "Market Preview: Dance" (PDF). Music Week. p. 20. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  17. ↑ Quantick, David (10 September 1994). "Singles". NME. p. 42. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  18. ↑ Hamilton, James (30 July 1994). "Dj directory" (PDF). Music Week in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). p. 6. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  19. ↑ Aaron, Charles (February 1995). "Singles". Spin. p. 80. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  20. ↑ Bernstein, Jonathan (February 1995). "Uneasy Listening". Spin. p. 28. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  21. ↑ "Portishead: Sour Times, Nobody Loves Me". IMDb. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  22. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9092." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  23. ↑ "Portishead – Sour Times" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  24. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  25. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  26. ↑ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  27. ↑ "Dance Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 13 August 1994. p. 26. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  28. ↑ "Portishead Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  29. ↑ "Portishead Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  30. ↑ "British single certifications – Portishead – Sour Times". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  31. ↑ "Ekşisözlük adı nereden çıktı? – Etohum.com Blog". Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  32. ↑ Tufekci, Zeynep (16 May 2017). Twitter And Tear Gas : The Power And Fragility Of Networked Protest. New Haven. ISBN 978-0-300-22817-5. OCLC 984692647.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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