Music : Third

Rating: - WORK OF ART
This album is not pop music it is a work of art.Above anything that is out ther right now.

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Rating: - dark and moody
What a excellent album, in these dark and moody times we now have the soundtrack!

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Rating: - ThURD
This record is rubbish.I was more dissapointed with this record then i was with mogwais last album mr beast.Another over hyped album by a once great band.
After seeing all the five star reviews in the press i thought this record was going to be an absolute classic.Its not.The music is just cold and brittle.My advice is buy Beth gibbons solo record "out of season" instead .A thousand times better then this pap.

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Rating: - Anti climax.
Quite simply self indulgent plop. Dissapointing after the long wait. Perhaps it would have been better to retire.

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Rating: - Portishead - Third
I'll start this review with a) a confession and b) a confession.

a) I have never heard Portishead's self-titled second album. I'll rectify this sometime soon.

b) I'm somewhat wary about writing my first online music review and giving the subject the maximum score available. But, my god, this record deserves it.

This is something that I've been contemplating for a while now. What makes an album great? Does every track have to be excellent? Or does it simply have to take you on a great journey? Or must it do both?

The signs point to the third answer. And the third answer is fitting of Third.

I can only imagine how long the 11 years since their last studio album have seemed to the Portishead faithful. Mostly because in 1997 I hadn't even discovered Blur yet. But it's most certainly been worth it.

Perhaps the most important thing to write here is this: Third WILL split opinions. And it has. But all it takes to love it is time. And a willingness to be uncomfortable.

To say that the record is bleak is to do it a disservice. I'd much rather call it pessimistic. This is Portishead on the march to an uncertain destination (personified by We Carry On). Indeed, the overall message of the album is unclear. It seems to have songs dealing with all the standard issues music can deal with. Paranoia (Hunter), love (Nylon Smile), death (The Rip), it's all here and it's all beautiful.

My first experience with this work was Portishead's recent appearance on Later with Jools Holland. Ever since that show, the drumbeat of Machine Gun has been firmly burnt into my brain, like the Arctic Monkeys' Fake Tales of San Francisco before it. On repeated listens, I'm starting to hear connections with Europe's The Final Countdown (because The Terminator theme was too obvious to mention), but don't let that put you off. There's Kraftwerk in there too

The writers of the negative reviews that can be found on Amazon clearly didn't listen to The Rip, a magnificent eulogy. I'm tempted to call it Track of the Year, but that would be too hasty of me. Let me simply say this: it's the most beautiful thing Portishead have ever created. Considering that the same group have given us the likes of Glory Box and Only You, that's quite an achievement.

So what of the `journey' that I mentioned at the start of this review? I'd liken it to The Sopranos. It's a journey that's simply too long and involving for one piece of art to show all of it. But one thing's for sure. I can't wait to see where they go next.