Portishead albums aren't really made up of songs; they're more like dry, desolate musical landscapes with the occasional notable feature. All their sound is built on the basic foundation of the James Bond film score sound with cold, dispassionate vocals on top. This makes it hard to distinguish most of their songs, but it also means that when something different pops up, you notice immediately. On "Sour Times," it's the shimmering backing music and Elizabeth Gibbons' lonesome chorus of "Nobody loves me / it's true / not like you do"; on Wandering Star it's that that four-note bass line, on Biscuit it's the eerie vocal sample amidst decaying horns that sings "It's over" again and again (which, for those who are interested, always brings to mind chapter 30 of Walker Percy's The Moviegoer); and Glory Box has that great backing track lifted from Isaac Hayes' "Ike's Rap III," also used to good effect in Tricky's "Hell Is 'Round the Corner."

Track listing:
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