Music : Third

Rating: - heart felt pain
Honestly it will take a few listens but there is a lot going on here. Saw them live in Edinburgh an the set was fantastic the raw power of all the elements together was hypnotic and painful. Once youre familliar with the cd youll really appreciate the satisfying alternative it offers to the more familliar stuff thats out there

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Rating: - You Can Polish A Third.....
Portishead's Dummy was quite an achievement - rarely does a band come from nowhere with their debut and blow people's minds with a truly original sound. The second album, whilst perhaps sounding more 'live' on a few tracks, was essentially more of the same - which is no bad thing when your music is as unique as theirs. But there comes a time when a truly great band must prove their genius by going in a new direction, and somehow succeeding in retaining the vein of quality. Radiohead did it, Bjork did it, and now Portishead have done it - they just did it more emphatically....

Third is an album that took ten years to come. Barrow, Utley and Gibbons have done an admiral thing - they have spent many years cultivating the record, probably writing and rewriting, recording, binning and re-recording, to eventually have an album's worth of songs worthy to appear on a Portishead album. They have also, by the sounds of it, been listening to a LOT of different types of music along the way. Because no matter what people tell you, this is an EXTRAORDINARY record which, with the exception of two songs, sounds nothing like their first two albums.

Of course, Gibbon's voice is unmistakable, and that in itself makes it Portishead. But the way she uses it is different - gone are the melodic choruses from songs like All Mine and Sour Times (believe me, they are melodic compared to THIS album) - instead Gibbons' voice is now used almost as an instrument, another sonic layer, the subtle beauty of which may only hit you after several listens.

As well the vocals, the instrumentation on Third is very different from the previous albums. No scratches this time around, few breaks - instead, very harsh industrial drumming (Machine Gun)and doomy, proggy guitar riffs (Silence). There is even a moment, with stand-out track, The Rip, that you could dance along to in your bedroom, although you might want to paint your walls black first - because Third is one of the darkest albums you're likely to hear this year.

No band that I can think of has created a follow-up album like this - every song is unique, they are all superb, and it is nothing like the earlier albums. Moreover, despite Barrow et al's obvious desire to do something new, Third still feels organic when you listen to it - it isn't the sound of pretention, it's the sound of perfection.

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Rating: - good to be back
It is amazing to think that it was over a decade ago that Portishead's Dummy landed almost from another planet and transformed my student listening. It is easy to forget that before it became middle-class dinner party music their debut was a confident, fully formed and exciting new sound. The band have always been honest about the difficulties in maintaining that impact with subsequent work but by any measure it has been a long time to wait for a follow up to the eponymous Portishead album. There have been hints about a more aggressive sound and there is certainly something harder, harsher and menacing about this album. Beth Gibbons work away from the band has shown the wide range her voice is capable of and so I am gald to her some of that in evidence on this new album.

Opener Silence has skittering drums and menacing guitars which slowly build and it is over two minutes before Gibbons' unmistakeable voice comes in. This is definitely a darker sound. Hunter lulls us in with that familiar Barry-esque film score sound and then subverts it with dark guitar chords. Nylon Smile has a more familiar ring to it, albeit with faster drums and Gibbons' plaintive cry 'I don't know what I've done to deserve you/ I don't know what I'd do without you'. It is a much softer voice which begins The Rip with acoustic guitar and that melatron but then halfway through an amazingingly held note brings in synths and drums to take it somewhere else. Plastic is a track which sounds like it is being hunted by a helicopter overhead, very unsettling. And that menace continues onto Carry On with a sound like an alarm and an almost tribal drum beat under the dissonant melody. As the track builds, in drops a bass guitar riff that Peter Hook would be proud of. That is followed by Deep Water, a short ditty on ukelele with a bluesey vocal sample which seems to have evaded Moby's clutches. Then we're straight back into staccato beats with Machine Gun a track which shows the continuing influence of 80's synths on today's music. Small is nearly a ballad until 70's organ stabs come in and guitars. Magic Doors has an almost eastern like flavour to it and the album finishes with the superb Threads, its beautiful melody surrounded by those menacing guitars again. 'I'm always so unsure' sings Gibbons before it turns into a holler which is replaced by a synth's repeated note like that vast bass note used to communicate with aliens in 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind'.

I'd love to see the middle classes try to use this as dinner party backing music. It isn't easy listening, which isn't to say it's hard, far from it. But it's good to hear Portishead back and sounding confident once again. It was always going to be a must have for Portishead fans but this album might just interest a new generation in their individual sound. I look forward to an appearance on Later...with Jools Holland especially because that will bring me right back to that moment I first heard them all those years ago.

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Rating: - I still listen to my Portishead albums
... now and then and, for me, they are still a landmark. I don't understand how anyone else has managed to listen to this legally unless you're all 'with the band'. I haven't heard it illegally as I want to make sure that the artists get their due and can carry on making the music I love. As I haven't heard it, I've given it four stars based on the reviews I've seen. Hopefully, I'll be able to come back later when I've bought it and give it five.

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Rating: - So you think Portishead can't go any darker!?
Ok, so I was able to listen to the album a few times round and I must say I really like this album.
I have loved Portishead for many years and the last album "Dummy" was one of the greatest albums ever made (my opinion).
Just when I thought Portishead couldn't get any darker than any material they have released, then I was proven wrong! This album is very dark with new sounds and wonderful vocals from our most loved "Beth Gibbons".
I have played this album to other die hard Portishead fans and they are just not getting the album or finding it to "Trippy" "Dark", I think the thing they have to understand with Portishead is they like to do things in different ways, experiment with new things, if you understand this then you will love the album.
Tracks like "The Rip" is a nice mellow track which I love! For some reason I'm well into the track "Deep Water" its amazing how Portishead can sound so mellow and tranquille with nothing but a ukulele then boost into the next song with a hard bendy drum riff with crazy sounds from out of this world.

This is a fantastic album 10/10 for it all. Some people I know will buy this album and be slightly disappointed with this album but anyone who really knows Portishead will understand and think this is a spectacular album.