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Third | 
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| Artist: Portishead
Label: Mercury
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $3.99 (29%)
New (50) Used (13) from $6.99
Rating:  136 reviews
Sales Rank: 32
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
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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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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| 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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 131 more reviews...
 THIRD, FOURTH, they can go till 100 !!!! July 1, 2008
What a masterpiece, great voice and beats...Protishead deserve a great medal for been the pionner of this paradox music...
 It is hard to comprehend where their heads were at ? This is not the Band I Once knew..... June 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a little lost on this one ? I have absolutely no idea what they where thinking or doing ? I have been a fan of this band since 1994's masterpiece "Dummy" and even liked "Portishead's (2nd). For years I couldn't understand for the life of me why they never returned? Well, it is pretty self explanatory they had nothing left in them to give. When I heard that this was finally the year the actual release was coming.. I was excited. For years there had been many groups that duplicated their sound or right out claimed to be Portishead. I listened to this album three times and never went back which isn't a good sign. This sounds not to far off from the Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man project ! So what was the need in having the group you can barely tell their present !
There were so many fake albums on the net and so many groups that copied or remixed old songs. Well, you would think that Geoff would sit back and say ..we have to make a impact? Well we were all wrong horribly wrong in fact it had the opposite effect ! This album sounds very spare and it lacks alot of production quality. The songs are spare and they sound unfinished and only replications of previous work. Nothing new nothing fresh nothing innovative. "Nylon Smile" is possibly the only track on here that really stands out. If you want a good album that was inspired by this band. And sounds like this one should have sounded and has amazing vocals ? Go and pick up a group named "Sissy" the album is entitled "All Under". Even pick up a friend of mine named "Costanza" Sonic Diary. You will not be disappointed this is what Trip Hop is all about (creativeness). Portishead I think paved the way for a fine genre but if this is the most they can give. They will soon be nothing more than a novelty act or completely irrelevant. Someone couldn't have said it better: If this wasn't Portishead this album would have been overlooked.
Arish
Portishead June 24, 2008
A very "Portishead" CD, yet still innovative. Rather dark with an underlying 60's B-movie feel to it.
Great return and atypical in many ways June 23, 2008
In many ways "Third" doesn't sound anything like previous Portishead stuff: it lacks strong trip hop tones/themes, some songs veer on experimental instrumentation, and the music is lyrically quite bleak (I know this could be said of their other stuff, but at least in the past there was some lightness to it). This isn't the type of album that's an easy listen, nor one that has standout tracks per say but rather, it is an album to be enjoyed in its entirety. More rock and electro-clash than anything, the album boasts some complex arrangements but suffers because of Gibbons. A strong vocalist in her own way, in other Portishead work she was the glue keeping the tracks together; here, you could almost not hear her voice, she's so overwhelmed by the instumentation going on with her. (A strong argument could be made that you could take her out entirely and still have the same songs.)
Not sure it shows the progress of 10 years, but "Third" is a great if challanging listen.
 Tainting of a Legacy June 21, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The first album in over a decade from Portishead is a puzzling disappointment. Did they suddenly forget that they make trip-hop somewhere in the last 10 years?
This album is meandering and and dull, but many apologists will classify it as "experimental." This is a prime example of how fame or notoriety can make people will themselves into liking something. If this album were released by a no-name group it would be slammed, but because it happens to be a "Portishead" album it receives immediate praise.
Where are the drums? Where are the haunting yet catchy melodies? I WANTED to like this album and even gave it some repeat listens to see if it would grow on me, but no matter how much you spray perfume on crap it still stinks.
Another thing about this release that leaves a bad taste in my mouth is that Portishead seem to have become elitists. In the recent Remix Magazine interview they basically slam tons of artists saying that their music sucks, directly naming names. They then proclaim how they are they one of the few keeping it underground. This self congratulatory attitude makes me despise this release even more.
Either their success has gotten to their heads or they just plain lost it with age. This is my #2 huge letdown of the year after the latest Indiana Jones film.
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