Third

Product Details

Artist : Portishead
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0602517640139
Label : Universal
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 2008-04-28
Running Time : 49minutes
UPC : 602517640139

ASIN : B0014C2BL4

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Silence
2. Hunter
3. Nylon Smile
4. The Rip
5. Plastic
6. We Carry On
7. Deep Water
8. Machine Gun
9. Small
10. Magic Doors
11. Threads

Customers who bought this goods also bought.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Portishead's Third has been a long time coming, the result of a lengthy creative topor following 1997's dark, distinctly underrated album Portishead. Importantly, though, they've shaken it. While the core trio of Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow, and Adrian Utley remains, this is quite a different band to Portishead's 90s incarnation: gone is the slo-mo turntable scratching and smoky jazz feel, replaced by heavy, brooding rhythms, vintage-sounding electronics, and spindly guitar. Still present, though, is that sense of emotional fracture and deep gloom. "Silence" opens with a dense drum loop which suddenly falls away to reveal Gibbons' voice, cold but magnificent: "Wounded and afraid, inside my head/Falling through changes". "Nylon Smile", meanwhile, is a fine example of Third's occasional folksy edge, an acoustic song reminiscent of Leonard Cohen that, around its midpoint, lifts off on a propulsive electronic rhythm, Gibbons holding one clear, hard note as synthesisers bubble beneath. At times, it's a harsh and foreboding listen: the electronic drums of "Machine Gun" might put off the listener hoping for smooth dinner party fare. But Third is a brave and forward-thinking return, and one great enough to justify its lengthy gestation. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Amazing (2008-09-09)

Look, if you've given this album a poor review then stop, put on a good pair of headphones, and listen to this album properly without skipping tracks. Quite frankly this is the most moving thing I've heard for a long time.

Awful Awful Awful. (2008-08-26)

As you might guess from the title, I don't like this one bit. Loved their first two albums, and the live in New York CD, and have been waiting for this third album for years. But it is awful to the point where I can't listen to it. It's like Eric Morecambe said - all the notes are there, but not necessarily in the right order. It gives me a headache every time I turn it on. What were you thinking Beth? Look out my copy on Amazon Marketplace! Erm, it's brilliant, you must buy it...

The gap between releases shows.... (2008-08-25)

We all know and love 'Dummy' and even quite liked the difficult second self-titled album but then we had to wait a long time for the 'Third' to show up - and I think that's it's problem.Any good band should progress over time and change their sound and Portishead have obviously done so in the years they have been away. Trouble is, we were all expecting something Dummy-esque from Third but having missed out on the evolution got an album which is pretty far from it.Some of the tracks are very hard to listen to (Machine Gun being the worst), others are fairly non-offensive yet ordinary and one or two are real gems and I wish they lasted a bit longer.I think that if I had heard the evolution from 'Portishead' to 'Third' I'd be more forgiving but this is so different (and hence I am so disappointed by it) that I can only give it 2 stars and hope that the next album is not quite so far away, either in time or sound.

Not exactly easy listening (2008-08-22)

Strange, bleak, dark and slightly unsettling. Haunting vocals as per usual, but none of the commercial friendly drum and bass beats of the earlier Dummy album. More noise - it made me question whether my stereo was faulty (it wasn't!). The last couple of tracks turning to rock. Some folk rock sounding stuff, with others (Machine Gun) sounding like it's come straight from one of the early Terminator films.

Not worth the wait (2008-08-19)

Fine, Dummy was so cutting edge that it sounded horribly dated horribly quickly. But it was wonderful. This isn't. It's harsher, more electronic. Not necessarily a problem in itself. Only they forgot to write any songs. They've gone all Radiohead - I imagine they felt they were too popular so decided to disappear up their own back passage to show how muso and serious they are. Disappointing.

Look for similar items by category

• Styles > Dance & Electronic
• Styles > Indie
• Styles > Hip-Hop & Rap

Related Link