|
| 
 enlarge | Artist: Portishead
Category: Music
New (6) Used (2) from $18.82
Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 1194564
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.8 x 0.4
UPC: 602517664012
EAN: 0602517664012
ASIN: B0016455AY
Release Date: May 13, 2008
|
| Customer Reviews:
 STOP IT!!! August 6, 2008
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
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
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
3 out of 7 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.
Stick with it, kids.. July 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Okay, I pre-ordered this one and was going to review it almost instantly... I'm so very glad I didn't. At first, with the (Portugese?) opening and off-center bass, you realize that there's no way this is going to sound like their previous stuff (in ways both good and potentially bad), but go with it - the more attention you give it, the more you can hear. The way certain songs don't seem to flow into the next one seems to be offset by the way other songs do - almost like a suite of sorts later in the album that seems almost perfectly suited for (no idea if I can say this on Amazon or not, but I'm copying this and re-pasting it just in case I get censored) as music for taking "medicine" to.
Paying attention to the sounds pays off - I swear to (insert deity of choice here) that the first round of percussion on "Machine Gun" sounds in a way softer than the rest of it, on "Small", half of the keyboard (if that's what it is) strokes sound deliberately fudged, "The Rip" is, hands down, one of the most, if not the most beautiful song that they've ever done (I'd press "repeat" 2 or 3 times each time I played the CD when I first got it, and seems, as well, almost tailor-made for a KCRW late morning playlist) and, going back to "Machine Gun", the sounds at the end are bugging me because I can't figure out what obscure late 70's/early 80's movie they remind me of... but in a good way - like there was this movie that I wrote off because I couldn't quite grasp all of the themes at the time I saw it.
I guess that's probably the best analogy for the album in general as well - don't dismiss it and it will grow on you like most albums you end up never wanting to live without.
But then, since both of my boom-generation parents like Portishead, it might be genetic as well.
|
|
|
Copyright 2006 - CD Shopper | |
