The Return

Portishead used to be at the forefront of the trip hop movement.  Unlike most bands in the mid-1990s, the band (Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, and Adrian Utley are the core members) mixed elements of hip hop and rock and roll with the club and techno music that was popular in the underground.  They were able to effectively mesh the genres together to create a sound that was fresh and unique, carving the way for other bands that would follow, including Morcheeba, Sneaker Pimps, and Cibo Matto.  Portishead’s first two records, Dummy (1994) and Portishead (1997) provided them with modest commercial success but most of all grabbed the attention of the listening public.

After doing a successful show at the Roseland Ballroom in the New York City with the New York Philharmonic in 1997 and a tour that lasted into the first part of 1999, the band took a break to focus on solo projects and other things.  The movement they helped start stayed basically underground after they left, which is a shame since some of the music was really interesting.  In 2006 Gibbons, Barrow and Utley reconvened and started writing music again.  The resulting project created Third (2008), the album I’ll be discussing here.

#158 – Portishead, Third (Metascore = 85)

The driving force behind any Portishead album has been Beth Gibbons’ vocals.  Third shows this is no different.  Her vocals are still as haunting today as they were eleven years before.  The difference now is with age comes new experiences and the changes that inevitably occur.  Her lyrics are still spooky; not “spooky” in the sense of ghouls and goblins, but “spooky” in a depressing way.  There is hope, but that hope is being strangled by the failures of relationships and governments and other forces in this world.

Musically they have evolved yet retained that uniqueness that made them popular in the ‘90s.  Barrow still employs samples heavily, but the sound is fresher; obviously music (particularly underground) has evolved since their last record, so he was careful to use samples that would not make Portishead feel like dinosaurs in a robot world.  Guitar sounds haven’t evolved a whole lot since their last record, but Utley is still able to evoke that apocalyptic atmosphere prevalent in many of their songs.  Songs like “We Carry On” and “Hunter” reveal how they could still take their original sound and evolve it to the current music world.  They’re no longer in carbon freeze!

The last few tracks of the record hopefully represent the direction that Portishead goes towards in the future.  “Machine Gun”, “Small” and “Threads” are exceptional songs that make this album worth the price of listening.  This record you have to listen to at least twice before you start to understand it.  This being my third, I definitely like it more now than I did before.  I think the Metascore is fully justified, though I don’t think I would give it higher.  It’s a good record, but it’s not a perfect record.