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| Third | 
 enlarge |  from £8.03
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 42 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2
Category: Music
Artist: Portishead
Publisher: Universal
Studio: Universal
Manufacturer: Universal
Label: Universal
Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 49 minutes
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 602517640139
EAN: 0602517640139
ASIN: B0014C2BL4
Release Date: April 28, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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| Tracks:
| • | Silence | | • | Hunter | | • | Nylon Smile | | • | The Rip | | • | Plastic | | • | We Carry On | | • | Deep Water | | • | Machine Gun | | • | Small | | • | Magic Doors | | • | Threads |
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| Similar Items:
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 Well worth the wait. May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This will be no long rant. Buy this album and keep playing it. After a few spins you won't be able to turn it off. In a word, brilliant.
 The very definition of the word 'grower' May 10, 2008
When I first spun up this album I have to admit I was disappointed. After such a long gap, thoughts of a radical change of direction are furthest from the listener's mind- we just want to be back in that student bedroom in 1997 listening to "Elysium" whilst we get stoned out of our minds with our campus buddy. And I fell into this trap instantly.
After hearing "Machine Gun" I was intrigued enough to want to recreate the 90s by being able to sit down and listen to a new Portishead album. That was an experience in itself.
"What is this?!?" I asked myself- and you should know I'm no stranger to disjointed 'uncomfortable' music, being a fan of the likes of Autechre, Aphex, Joy Division, Zappa- and I felt a little disappointed. I assigned it 3 stars in my head, but thought I was being generous. I found it even more paranoid, fractured and the soundtrack to the bleakness going on in Gibbons' tortured mind than their last one- and whilst I was in awe of this, I wasn't getting that so bleak it lifts you up vibe at all.
But I persisted, and on about the third listen it came alive. In horribly vivid black and white, like Bergman on acid. There it all was: the unmistakable Portishead sound- buried, certainly, but it was there under the rubble; this was Portishead in the 21st century- the Dark in the darkest of times; the suffering of man, the encroaching paranoia; the suffocating hopelessness that threatens to engulf us all if we let it; but also there is fight, there is anger- this is a militant record.
A more uncomfortable and yet rewarding listening experience cannot be found at the moment. It is this paradox that makes "Third" a serious contender for album of the year already, and perhaps the most successful 'comeback album' of any band in the last couple of decades, arguably.
My favourite tracks are "Silence", "The Rip", "Plastic"; "Machine Gun" and "Magic Doors".
If you want something to put on whilst you and your wife entertain your friends, this is not it. If you want something that sums up the times, leaves you a little disturbed and exhilarated, then THIS IS IT.
Half a star deducted for the slightly-too-quirky/irrelevant "Deep Water". So I'm really giving it 4.5, even though I can't on Amazon.
 lifeless and dull May 10, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Loved Portishead since they released their first album , but this new release, after an 11 year wait, is the biggest disappointment I've heard. You can say they're being "experimental" not relying on tried and tested sounds but this album sounds cheaply and quickly produced. I've heard better productions on home demoes on Myspace and there are thousands of them out there. The sounds are the mainstay of bad electronica easy to produce on synthesisers but " it gives that cold, disjointed ,disillusioned with life etc etc" yeah yeah! getting a good sound on an analogue synth can be difficult ,I know I own two. Listen to Skinny Puppy and you can hear dystopia and they make it sound amazing . Listening to them in the 80's and you be amazed how fresh it sounds.They still sound amazing today and don't wait 11 years to make an album.
Third's songs are dull never minding the sound. They are like listening to a constant whinge. NME probably loved it but to me it sounds like a band having to produce product quickly or the record company will drop them them because they have been doing bugger all for over a decade!
Fantastic, and gutted when it finishes... May 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I think this is a fantastic album. It does take some hard listening but on a few track, get your foot tapping and it won't stop, and then when the track finishes, you feel disappointed. Yes, a couple of tracks aren't to my tastes and it does have a specific audience thanks to the dark tunes and beats. When the CD finishes, it leaves you feeling that it should be 3 hours longer. It is truly a great CD.
A deliciously dark grower May 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read a lot of reviews that have dismissed Portishead's Third for being too dark - let's just get one thing out of the way first: it's supposed to be.
If you don't like dark, dreary, 'I'd slash my wrists if I wasn't so busy playing an instrument' music, then stay away from this. And also, be prepared to invest some serious time on it. You're not just going to fall head over heels in love with it instantly.
For me, that's where the album's strength lies - every time I listen, it gets better and better. I won't lie - when I first heard Machine Gun, I was bitterly disappointed. I only kept listening to it to show people Portishead's terrible new effort, and after the third or fourth listen, I found myself loving it. The rest of the album firmly follows suit.
Good on you, Portishead, for tryin something so different - it took a lot of balls to abandon the sound of the first two albums, and it pays off in bucketloads.
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