Third | 
 enlarge
| Artist: Portishead
Label: Mercury
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $8.48
You Save: $5.50 (39%)
New (51) Used (10) from $8.48
Rating:  151 reviews
Sales Rank: 104
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 001114102
UPC: 602517664005
EAN: 0602517664005
ASIN: B0016HNOXQ
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: CD is absolutely BRAND NEW! Buy here with confidence!
| |
| Tracks:
| • | Silence | | • | Hunter | | • | Nylon Smile | | • | The Rip | | • | Plastic | | • | We Carry On | | • | Deep Water | | • | Machine Gun | | • | Small | | • | Magic Doors | | • | Threads |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk
Portishead's Third has been a long time coming, the result of a lengthy creative torpor 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:
 profoundly disappointed... August 8, 2008
infjdesign (Lawrence, KS USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I waited 10 years for this??? seriously..."The Rip" (ironic song title) is as good as it gets??? I never would have thought that Thom Yorke would make Beth Gibbons irrelevant...it looks like i am keeping my Radiohead and losing my Portishead...or at least this release...see you in another 10 years...
 STOP IT!!! August 6, 2008
Hugh Mann (Burbank,califonia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
That's right, STOP IT fellow reviewers!!! Stop comparing Portishead albums. Each album is unique, beautiful and distinctively Portishead: electronic, dynamic, ambient, driving, moody, poetic. If you had never heard Portishead music before (assuming you like edgy electronic rock to begin with) and were given the Third album as an introductory to their music you would either fall in love with it (or not) just as much as you would (or wouldn't) with either one of their other two albums. It's the substance of their music that should be qualified regardless of the time period in which it was produced. Having said that, Third is marvelously musically Portishead, It'll shut you down and turn you on.
 A new sound August 3, 2008
Phillip Macarthur (Sydney, NSW Australia)
Portishead has always kind of had a bit of a "dinner party" sound to it, the kind of music you can play in the background at a party and it be recieved well. Beth Gibbon's singing and lyrics of profound uncertainty, little claustrophobic feelings of unrest and lonliness are haunting, charming even nostalgic...
Third takes on a different sound opening with Silence there's still the sense of haunting and claustrophobia but the sound is more desperate, more active, the rest of the album is undeniably Portishead, but you'll hear more samples, more effects, more dischordant activity and while a good album I feel it should be treated as a separate work from Dummy and Self Titled this album has a distinct sound to itself.
dark, complete, and perfect. July 28, 2008
Aram Kirakosian (los angeles, ca)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
You ever find those albums by artists you respect that prove to you they're geniuses at work? Those albums that, while you're listening, stop you from doing, or even thinking about, anything else? This is that album. It's haunting, arresting, at times beautiful, other times creepy, and ALWAYS courageously out there. This album has balls. You'd think, after 12 years, they'd just get back together and do something for the money, and I'm so pleased to share that this is not the case.
To put it simply, if you liked Portishead back then, and you feel that your musical taste was somewhat effected by their previous work, you will love this evolution. 'Dummy' and 'Portishead' are timeless in their own right, and 'Third' just takes it leaps and bounds further.
Jeez, I usually have SOMEthing bad to say about new music these days, but not here. This is why I felt the need to review this one, because if I could influence just one more person to buy it and experience it, then I've done my part as a big music nerd/junkie. :) ENJOY!
Not worth the wait. July 28, 2008
fullyalive76 (Bemidji, Minnesota United States)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Like everybody else who was part of the generation blown away by Portishead's "Dummy" it's been a down-hill slide from the get go. I think positive reviews for this album are from hipsters or fans who will defend even the worst of a once loved band. Well the love is gone.
One thing I read again and again in "professional" reviews and little reviews like these on Amazon is that Portishead were unhappy with how their sound was copied and that they watned to "distance" themselves from the first album. Funny, I don't think any band was ever able to do what Portishead did. You can't tell me that albums from Lamb, Morcheeba and Hooverphonic sound like "Dummy". I think it's just an excuse for not being able to recreate the magic of the first album.
To be honest I find it hard to listen to just about anything that's come out in the last few years. Alternative music or whatever you want to call it is so focused on this hipster, White Stripes, indier than though trip that people forgot how to write a good song. Save yourself the money, put in your copy of "Dummy" that you have since you are reading this review and remember that Portishead stopped making music a long time ago.
|
|
|
