Product Description

Imaginatively-titled third studio album from illustrious Bristolians whose 1994 debut "Dummy" broke trip-hop all over the world with its artful, haunting and melancholy fusion of torch song, sinister atmospherics and slowed-down hip-hop beats. Coming a full ten years after their last album, the live document 'PNYC', this record sees them going back to the source, digging in the crates for weird and wonderful samplesfrom prog rock, free jazz, techno, industrial and funk on which to work their twisted magic, as well as incorporating some of the folk influence that pervades frontwoman Beth Gibbons' solo work.

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #214 in Music
• Released on: 2008-04-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 49 minutes

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

Morose Encounters of the Third Kind
This album is really on the pulse and that is the greatest compliment you can pay a band who haven't released any new material in over 10 years. 'We Carry On' is the surging adrenaline and panicking heartbeat at the centre of this very scary ride. It's the sound of our collective urban nightmare! 'The Rip' is an instant classic - just beautiful and yes, a bit sad. 'Machine Gun' and 'Plastic' wear obvious Aphex Twin and Burial influences but are still uniquely different to anything else out there. Comeback of the year.

Amazing
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.
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...