Portishead : Third
 

If you are expecting the apparent ambience of their previous work, then you will be sorely disappointed. Sure there are moments of exquisite tenderness when Beth Gibbon's voice is laid bare over a sparse rhythmn but this is an album that has moments of abrasiveness and sheer in your face
despondency. Plastic is abrupt, atonal and dark. Machine Gun is an abolute assault on the senses with it's monotonous beat piledriving you into submission and Carry On's complexity and guitar riffs are hypnotically beguiling. Hunter is the antithesis of this replete with a simple acoustic guitar motif that is Portishead at their most serene.

I have played this album at least a dozen times and it really does take that long to appreciate what the band are doing and where they are heading. This is a must have classic in ten years, of that I have no doubt.

HOLY CRAP THEY ACTUALLY RELEASED IT!!!!!

maybe there's actual hope for a new my bloody valentine album within the decade too. i'll have to try to get my hands on a copy before i actually comment on the album. was kind of anticipating it about 5 years ago though...

No. it's not out for three weeks yet :D

naughty naughty, boyz

It is common knowlege, even to the band in todays Metro newspaper!

i heard a brilliant song on Jools Holland, it may well be that 'machine gun' one. Really enjoyed it

Finally got round to listening to it.
I wouldn't say its as massive a departure from Dummy as everyone seems to be suggesting it is, its a tad more dark though which is always good, reminds me a bit of Mezzanine.
We Carry On is probably my fave at the mo, the beat and guitars are so sinister and brilliant. Machine Gun is abrasive but rewarding and i love the opener Silence as well (the silence at the end is annoying though).
Overall, not as easy as Dummy but i predict a few more listens will result in me liking it more. Pretty damn good.

Although nowhere near as good as Mezzanine, I thought exactly the same upon listening. It does get better with each listen but it is not an album that you can just throw on. you have to be in the mood for it.

Machine Gun:

i finally got to listen to it today and frankly i think it's a mess. it sounded like no one knew what was going on until the last track. nothing seemed to be working together, overall it sounded forced to me - like a contractual obligation.

what i really don't get is gibbons' vocals. she's capable of doing more than that trademark whisper. she proves it on the live in NY disc. the band obviously took some departures so why didn't she? if anything it's the fact that she stills sings EVERY song like it's the mid 90s that makes me dislike what i heard the most.

It's like there was no time between releases, meaning their last stuff was as timeless as Third is both current and true to form.

Agreed. I dont get what the deal is with this band. Frankly i find this album ad. Not that there other stuff is any good though. There so much more music of this genre that surpasses this.

I hated this album. I loved Dummy, and parts of their second release were good, but I didn't feel Third. They just didn't grow up, and I was sorely disappointed.

Which genre? This album is not even the same genre of music as their previous releases. Not sure how you mean.

See above. It's not even the same genre of music. This is nothing LIKE Dummy at all.

I seriously don't get what people are talking about sometimes. I understand not liking it, hating it even, that's all fine, but accusing it of being anything BUT a total shift in direction for this band is ludicrous. It doesn't fit in with their previous releases at all. The only thing to tie them together is Gibbons' vocals. Nothing else.

And I don't see why anybody would suggest that this album was forced??? They didn't have to release anything at all. They'd been working on this record for absolutely ages. Years.

It may be a different genre, but that doesn't justify the lack of growth. Gibbons still complains about the same things, and the music doesn't flow. It doesn't make sense. It builds an atmosphere, but atmosphere doesn't make a lackluster album great. It gives it a redeeming quality, but it's still lackluster. I would have forgiven Third if they hadn't been working on it for over a decade.

I didn't think it was that amazing.. though maybe it'll grow on me. I just think it sounded rather sloppy at times, and not particularly exciting. I still prefer their second album.

Ummmm...it's in the style of the confessional singer/songwriter? That's kind of always been the point of Portishead? Of course she sings about the same things! It's not like there are an infinite amount of things to be confessional about, it's quite a specific domain of expression. Seriously. At least come up with a sensible criticism.

I'm guessing you didn't read the rest of the post. If I wanted to hear someone being upset about themselves for whatever reason, It wouldn't be Portishead in Third.

I don't know why it took me so long to get this album, but it blows everything else from 2008 out of the water IMO. Nothing even close.

Maybe because it's out of your comfort zone? That's not a criticism at all BTW. There is so much great music out there you just gotta take a chance now and again!

I've been trying, my Radiohead plays are way down from what they used to be lol ;)

I still can't get into this album.

It's quite excellent. It's been a while since I've listened to it though.

I just listened to it through my grand spankin' new Skullcandy Hesh headphones and while I'll admit it was a decent album, it wasn't anywhere near as good as Dummy and their Self-Titled. I'll give it a few more tries but I wasn't blown away by anything.

It's dark and it's eery, but doesn't really touch on their first 2 albums.

Not exactly the most inviting or generous album: in fact, at points it is off-putting. But the themes of the album, chief among them a rather shrill existential angst, do not lend themselves to the realm of bright, sunny pop. Definitely not a party starter, then, but rather an album to listen to on a cold, frosty mid-winter's morning.

The song vs song thread titillated a renaissance in my attention to this album. I think its on par with Dummy, though very, very different. It took me a long time to get, i kept putting it off for some reason, but once i had it it was instant love, a standout release of 2008. To those admonishing its flow, to me thats part of its beauty - at times it is jarring, abrasive and awkward, i'd like to think that was what they were going for. Portishead are one of the best bands to emanate from the UK for 20 years, this album more than crystallizes that.

Could not have said it better myself. It would have been all too easy to make a commercial album but the gap between releases typifies what sort of band that they are and yes it's a disjointed album but this will be a classic in a few years for sure.

If only they had left out Deep Water...

It's a tad out of place, granted, but it's a pretty little song. The album is naturally disjointed anyway. I think it's great as it is. The last four songs in particular are spectacularly good.

Out of place is saying it nicely but yes, it has not place on that album IMO. It's not particularly bad, though it isn't by any means great, but is so abhorrently different than everything else on third.

Magic Doors would probably be my favorite right now, but it changes every week.

So its abhorrent (wrong word surely?) why? Because its acoustic? It retains the same mood and evokes the same emotion as the rest of the album, if anything i love the contrast between it and Machine Gun, i think it works really well.

Really? Deep Water is markedly different from the rest of the album, but I feel it still maintains the theme/mood/sound of the album.

It's just me nitpicking, but it sounds like something I'd here walking into a 3 star Hawaiian hotel.

This is actually the first Portishead album I've listened to. I really didn't know what to expect on my first listen. After finishing it I thought it was great, different style of trip hop. "Machine Gun" is definitely one of the best songs released in 2008 in my oppinion. Her vocals are really haunting, but it's a fear I like to embrace.

In hindsight this is probably the best release of 08 in my opinion.

Glad to see you've come around. Easily the best of 08, with or without Deep Water, which I've warmed up to a bit. It's really amazing to go back and listen to Dummy, another A+ album, and hear how different it really sounds.

I still prefer Dummy, but this band has been consistent over their 15 years or so with creating some of the best dark, ominous music out there.

'Consistent' seems a little odd as they've really only released 3 albums. But whatever. Very good album, still.