Third

This album is so cool. What else sounds like this? It's bursting with ideas! To me this album has a clear point of view, it sounds like impending danger, like fear of the future. It's dark and anxious. I love it

If my anxiety had a soundtrack it would be this album. No thanks.

J'ai bien entendu toujours horreur de Portishead. Rien ne colle entre la voix, les instruments et la mélodie mais venons-en à l'essentiel. Vous savez probablement que la dernière mise à jour du générateur et sa fonctionnalité permettant de voir quels reviews étaient les plus "likés" du site a propulsé mon nom de robbelvédère en haut de l'affiche. Ma notoriété dépasse aujourd'hui très largement le cadre de ce site et il ne se passe pas un jour sans que l'on m'arrête dans la rue. "Robbelvédère ! Robbelvédère ! J'ai adoré ton review d'Abbey Road !" entendais-je encore ce matin. Et c'est là que ça coince. J'ai rappelé à la charmante demoiselle qui prononça ces mots que ma carrière ne se résumait pas à ce simple review et que j'en avais rédigé pas loin d'une cent-cinquantaine tous plus inspirés que les autres. Je me sens aujourd'hui comme doit probablement se sentir Jean-Marie Bigard quand on l'arrête dans la rue pour lui dire à quel point on aime son sketch de la chauve-souris. "Et mon sketch de la merde qui tombe dans la cuvette, c'est de la chiasse pour vous ?" doit sûrement penser l'intéressé. En bref, je vous conseille vivement de ne pas vous arrêter à mon "hit review" et de lire les autres avec la même attention.

You're in for a real treat if you enjoy bleeding from your ears.

Triphop-a-riffic!

One of few albums I've heard being so weird yet really pulling it off. Industrial, apocalyptic yet soft. 4.5 on first listen.

This album was boring. I like ambient beeps and boops, but these beeps and boops bored me

Music to play while you and your friends sneak into a graveyard in high school

Such a cool and unique sound, so much anguish. Every song can be interpreted differently by everyone. There are some very sweet moments like Deep Water. Singing isn't the most controlled, but contributes to their authenticity

Has some significance as the soundtrack to a romance of mine many moons ago that died on its ass, but that doesn't make me any more disposed to accept the dreaminess they peddle so insistently as anything more than a cloak for emotional inarticulacy they find too expedient to grow beyond and lethargy they're too comfortable disguising with bursts of what appears to be energy but only because they build to it from a near stationary starting point.

Such a unique style. This album is like a soundtrack to a dark, confusing dream. A great application of electronic instruments to create a feeling of uneasiness.

i really like this damn sound. kind of free jazz pop music.

A faixa inicial me surpreendeu, já que começa com uma fala em português. A banda é inglesa. Falava sobre a "regra dos três". Li que é de um capoeirista de Bristol. O som é incrível! A fala também. Várias experimentações sonoras. Rico demais.

Tough listen. Really hampered by the vocals. I'm sure there are people out there who are into this but it's so mopey and dark. The instruments aren't awful (albeit maybe a bit boring) but yeah, not great. 3.5/10 (1.75/5)

Absolutely love this album.

super chill hunter and the rip are bops

Talk about bleak... this seems like the perfect accompaniment to my increasingly frequent moments of despair. The lead singer ranges from worn to desperate accentuated with occasional banshee moments. Some highlights: “The Rip” has a lovely vocal performance and really wonderful synthesizers. I love this song. Ends in such lushness. “Deep Water” is an odd ukulele piece in the album that still felt strangely in place as the most positive-feeling song here. I like it. “We Carry On” is a fast, relentless song that may be the best option if you wanted to dance to something on this album. I loved it. The out of tune guitar strumming leads into a section where the song feels on the verge of flying apart, but I found it very satisfying when it did not. “Magic Doors” feels like one of the more personal feeling songs on the album. I love its odd beats, the accordion, and the vocal performance. What a brilliant song! “Threads” closes the album with the lyrics “I am one, Damned one, Where do I go?” It’s got quite an ending with a lone bellowing, evil horn. Chilling. Where their debut album “Dummy” was something I could listen to as I worked, “Third” might be a little too ominous for that. It has now been 14 years since this album was released. I don’t know if Portishead will ever release another, but it would be interesting to see where they go from this dark place. I was very unsure initially how I felt about THIRD. On the second time through it came together for me and I fell in love with this album. THIRD is exceptional - and perfect for the world I’m living in.

Fantastic album. Haunting and somber.

I completely forgot about portis

"Third" is the third studio album and first in 11 years from Bristol UK band Portishead. This is quite the intense listen. It was a move away from trip hop on their previous albums and influenced and incorporating Krautrock rhythms, breakbeats, cathedral, Morrocan drums, soft rock, doo wop and science fiction/horror soundtracks. I can attest to that; there is so much going on throughout this album. In a nutshell, it's experimental electronic music. The one constant is Beth Gibbons' vocals giving each song a mysterious feel along with the music. And, Portishead is Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley. Each band member seems to play every instrument at some point: various keyboards, dums and pecussion, bass, guitars and more. The album start with "Silence" and a Potuguese vocal sample and foreboding keyboards. Some sort of drum loop going on. Maybe about the Golden Rule. "The Rip" was the second single and begins with a weird acoustic guitar. The vocals are haunting and seem to be about a broken relationship. The music transitions with synthesizers coming upfront sounding like the "Stranger Things" intro music. The albums' second half has two more of their released singles. "Machine Gun" was the lead single and starts with a mechanical rhythm, definitely sounding like a machine gun, which eventually gives way and builds with synthesizers and keyboards. It has cryptic lyrics and appears to be another one about a broken relationship. Their last single " Magic Doors" has a weird drum beat beginning and background synthesizers which eventually come to the forefront. Beth Gibbons' vocals dominate the song and again have a mysterious, cryptic meaning...sexual orientation? depression? Every song is unique on this album; I think I could listen to this 20 times and find something different each time with everything going on. I found this album fantastic and recommend it to anyone willing to take a deep dive into experimental electronic music.

Talent at its finest

Familiar with Portishead's early material but never got around to this album. Happy to say it holds up for me, this will enter my regular rotation.

good songs

Better than expected. A pleasant surprise with the vocals. Those melodies were cool.

Better than I remembered

I’m on a train and some of the sounds in the album confused me bc I couldn’t tell if it was the song or the train. I think the combo of the instrumental and the voice is interesting and I like it.

I enjoyed it. Nothing stood out but it was soothing to listen to. Would give it another, more thorough listen, perhaps.

The singer sounds like a ghost Sounds like the type of music you'd hear coming from a dodgy nightclub. No thanks - avoid 2 ⭐️

Didn’t enjoy the vibes of this one. Not my thing.

Um

1.5

Album: Third Artist: Portishead Year: 2008 Album #: 300 (264 rated) first impressions: I feel like this is supposed to be an influential album and artist so...I was looking forward to it, but now I'm looking forward to the end. This just seems like if Radiohead decided to make songs without traditional structure and more synths and truly grating, mewing vocals. after listening through: the song "Plastic" is honestly one of the worst tracks I've listened to as part of this project; "Deep Water" is like, the origin story of the awful twee ukelele hiphop YouTube covers of the early 2010s? The rest is like, the Social Network Soundtrack mashed up with Kid A, but replaced with the vocals of the woman who sings at 8 am mass at my parents' church. post-reading reviews/wiki: ...did I listen to the same album people love? I guess I really just don't like Trip Hop. recommended for: someone who hates melody in their music and just wants.. slightly unpleasant noise.

Strange and electronic, and not for me. Felt like it was tracks by Massive Attack but under LSD. Not much in the way of replay for me, and definitely not for my listening pleasure

I never really knew why I never got into Portishead back in the day. Now I know why. I just could not get into this at all.

I can't for the life of me work out what the point of this is, let alone why it would appear on a list of albums I need to hear before I die. There's bugger all meaningful structure, no ups or downs, amazingly little substance and it's not particularly musical or even dissionant enough to raise an eyebrow.... it just exists. for 50min. Is anyone out there dull enough that they'd list this as their favourite album ever? Thank fuck I had a couple of other things on the boil while this played, because if I'd had nothing else to do I think I'd still be sitting there waiting for this to finish. What a boring, absolute non-event of an album. 1/5.

Reminded my Why I don’t like Portishead…

Do you remember that girl you noticed, The one in the city centre. She was dressed like Stevie Nicks meets Primark, In a crowed of 20 something olds. Shouting at a government with no general direction!. You walk up to this woman with your secret weapon of a medium Toffee latte from Costa. You pretend to care about what ever this collection of sandals are shouting about. You get woman’s name...it’s “Meadow” because why not. “Meadow” will go out for a drink but not for any old drink but for a drink to a little place she knows! . A little place with a band, a band filled with “Meadows” friends. You get to the underground bar literally..it’s a cellar in A 1960s St Katharine Docks ..Taylor Woodrow apartment redevelopment cellar. You sit with “Meadows” crossed legged on the floor, on a cushion, while an Ale in a jam jar is placed on the old cable drum table in front of us. As I start to feel out of place within the weed filled walls, Walls painted with that fidel castro silhouette all over ( because it’s 2009 and it’s original!...from the Gap ) I think even though “Meadows” looks the double of Mélanie Laurent, I can’t do this and her Ecology Degree I have to leave now before it’s too late. it’s too late. “Meadows” friends are on the turned upside down Biffa Bin stage. Celeste...Arlo & Ziggy are on!!! Celeste starts moaning like ET after too many drinks during a Quiet Man convention..Ziggy is kicking a broken wind chime & Arlo is banging his left nut on a burnt out old Tuna can with his woman’s Study’s degree. Just before I leave and go back to my natural resources consuming life, Drinking a Scotch and Back to searching for Tulisa from N-Dubs, “Meadows” informs me it is not about the music and it is about how it make you feel. I feel like Music is about the Music and I have to leave. This Albums makes me feel how you feel reading this about this album about how this Album makes me feel about Music or pretend to like Interstellar

This was the musical equivalent of prepping for a colonoscopy.

BAD.

Not for me

Yeah this ain’t it

no

Constant dissonance, depressive soft spoken and sometimes drifting out of key. Minor differences between songs. If you enjoy that, this is for you. But this was not for me.

Not a fan

Discordant and tuneless. How the mighty fallen

Not my thing. At all. *Yawns*

I never listened to this third album. Never knew it existed. I wasn't missing much. Don't like it.

Every song seems like a song that’s not even close to being done. Her vocals seem like placeholders and instrumental sections go on for too long with not enough change.

Did not enjoy.

Creepy vibes, weird instrumentals, jarring transitions. I get what the album was going for, and it isn't enjoyable to listen to. Each song has a theme and they all suck. The music is painful to the ears, and the vocals sound stagnant and bland throughout. I thought maybe the premise alone would keep it from a 1 star review, but the longer it went on, the clearer it became that wasn't the case. I certainly won't be going back to this anxiety inducing melodrama anytime soon.

Really imteresting!

After being very enthusiastic about Dummy and Portishead, I was very pleased to hear that there was to be a new album, Third by Portishead. I quickly bought the album. However, I was disappointed when I heard it. The trip-hop I was expecting was not played. Yes, I thought, not bad, but I prefer the previous stuff. And so I put the album aside and didn't listen to it again. As part of this project, I listened to it again and have to admit that I did the album an injustice. It is great. In fact, it's no longer trip-hop. It's different, more experimental. In the first track in particular, I like the disharmony and arythmia at the beginning, which then dissolves. I also really enjoyed the surprising endings. A nice contrast to the multiple fade-outs. Really great.

Two albums in a row called Third

Maybe the apex of trip-hop. Solid songwriting and exquisite production from beginning to end. The weakest songs on here are still really good.

Great!!!!!

I think I liked the previous Portishead album better, but this was still really good 5*. sounds like St Vincent

I didn't realize that: A. This is only Portishead's 3rd album. B. They only had 3 proper album releases. C: Third was released 11 years after their last proper album. Off-hand I knew of "The Rip" which is an awesome, sad depressing Portishead song through and through, but is a bit of an outlier from the rest of the material on this album. I don't think I heard this album when I knew what Krautrock was, but I can absolutely hear the influence on the sound in terms of rhythm and repetition. It's interesting that this album isn't trip-hop at all, and yet still sounds completely like Portishead. Portishead holistically just works so well, especially in this context: harsh electronica in contrast with the sultry delicate vocals of Beth Gibbons is dynamite. There really isn't a miss on this album, I haven't heard much of this in almost 10 years so I'm glad to rediscover this one.

god please don’t let it be their last…

Albumazazazazo

Dreamy and melancholic, this one hit all the right spots. I like the atmospheric instrumentation and the overall vibe

Great comeback album - strange, industrial and yet true to Portishead

Trip hop classic

Favorite YET!

Imagine a band making two albums that defined a genre, disappearing for 11 years and then coming back with a completely different sound. Few bands could pull that off quite as well as Portishead. 'Third' is a haunting Krautrock and soundtrack inspired record that throws their trip hop roots to the winds. And it works, largely with the help of the flawlessly beautiful voice of Beth Gibbons. She sounds equally strong and vulnerable and it compliments the nervous droning of the music, as well as providing relief from it. If only Portishead would ever give us a fourth one.

Dreamy but haunting, chill but anxious. It's not a particularly energetic one but it's certainly interesting - It's like Björk meets Radiohead, with a really nice blend of electronic and acoustic going on throughout. Might seek this out on vinyl some time, it's certainly the kind of record I'd play on a gloomy and melancholic day like this. Favourite: Small

YOOOOOO easy 5 koszos eklektika többször elgondolkoztam, hogy fül ingerlése vezethet-e orgazmushoz

I will trip hop all day.

The Rip.

This album deserves 4* for The Rip alone. And then it gets an extra star for all the rest. I remember when this came out that I was unjustifiably unhappy that it didn't breathe the same atmosphere as 'Dummy.' Dummy was triphop and this felt more like an electronic rock-album. But after so many years, this album has slowly taken its place next to Dummy and I think both albums are about on par with one another. For different reasons. Where Dummy had that ominous and bleak sound; this album is intense, confusing and intriguing and might in 20/20 glasses be seen as one of the better comeback albums I know. A fascinating and compelling 5* album.

The Rip.

When this came out - it was over a decade from the previous Portishead release - so the thirst for it was massive. I remember thinking to myself I love this, but is it because I've been waiting for this so long or is it because it's actually good? And now, approaching TWO decades later, it stands in its haunting intensity with a reply to my now, in hindsight, rhetorical question, brushing it aside with it's brilliance. The music of the band in its trip hop heyday had its slickness ported to 2008, and even if their records have always stood the test of time, at least to me, this sounds considerably more modern. I had the opportunity to see the band live, and old Portishead, middle Portishead and 'new' Portishead are a seamless beautiful stunning experience of silence, space, and intensity. With Beth Gibbon's haunting singing on top, which is probably the immediate actual draw, this band is magical.

I'm glad I didn't skip this, which I was tempted to do after hearing their earlier stuff. Fuck I hate trip hop. But this is magnificent: slow, moody, muscular, weird. I swear that it sounds like Kate Bush at times.

Such an amazing album not as good as Dummy but still brilliant

I listened to this a couple of years ago and wasn't too impressed. I guess I was expecting the pioneers of hip-hop to stick to their sound. But I suppose that sound was 14 years in their year view mirror by the time of this release. This time, I like their new sound, a little edgier, lots of acoustic guitar, and it's generally hard to groove to. The songs are well written, and Beth still has a very special voice.

Dark. Brilliant. An album that is showing a band ready to transcend Trip Hop.

Big fan of Portishead.

Not a huge fan of Portishead's 90s albums, but this blew my socks off. You can feel the influence of Radiohead and Goldfrapp (both of whom were probably influenced by Portishead), as well as the beginnings of Geoff Barrow's work with Beak > and his soundtracks. I admire the way it doesn't sound like other music of this era, too.

Spectacular album. I was thinking about this band & album the other day. Most of the songs were already marked as my favorite, so it was an anticipated listend. I ended up enjoying this album four times in one day - it's that good. Trip hop with gorgeous vocals...it almost veers into industrial/Goth territory. 100% up my alley. Love love love this album. 5 outta 5.

vds

Loved this. Gibbons' vocals astonishing as ever and the move away from the trip hop leads to big, epic, sinister sounding tracks which just bellow from the speaker. Fascinating soundscapes, really impressive.

So, so close to being perfect. It is distinct from their previous two studio records in that this is not quite a trip hop LP, but rather a unique experimental, claustrophobic monster of its own. Beth Gibbons gives a showstopping performance on vocals as usual, but the way this whole album was produced and put together is so ominously but greatly arranged, it's truly beautiful and haunting. Not one of my all timer records, yet it is very deserving on this list. I'd give this 4.5 stars if the site had the option.

They had an amazing debut album, the samples, the voice, the atmosphere, the drama. Live they were even more brilliant. Two albums and they stopped. When this comeback album came out, I was fearing disappointment. More of the same, like Morrissey became a true disappointment? But Three was louder (Machine Gun), weirder (Deep Water) and even more moving (the Rip) than what they did before. And live Beth sang even better than ever. Easily my favorite Portishead album and definitely 5 stars

i've already listened to this album twice this week anyway so that makes this the..... 3rd. but for reals i listen to this regularly.

Totally weird. Songs cut out unexpectedly. Droning jams are contrasted with ukulele. It's awesome.

Liked the previous two albums of Portishead as well, but Third is of a completely different level, less trip hop and more electronic pop music. One of these rare albums that sound experimental and accessible at the same time. Especially like the way it is influenced by electronic music from the 70s as in Machine Gun. And The Rip must be one of the best songs ever - great built up.

Love love loved this

Meandering and brooding. A very strong return from Portishead and a fabulous album with a slightly weak intro. Overall a low 5 for me.

This is also one of my favorite albums. Machine Gun is my most beloved song on here.

first album that's come up that i've heard before wooo! haven't listened to this one in a whiiile and it's even better than i remember it-- so foreboding and anxious and yet such a satisfying listen. the sequencing and transitions are flawless and the overall dark atmosphere makes the lighter moments like the rip even more transcendent. prooob my fave album that's come up so far! standout- the rip

This is the kind of music you can put on for like 12 hours and sort of just forget about. I mean that in the best possible way. I couldn't remotely hum any of the songs, and I can't imagine being like "let's go to a Portishead concert"... But I loved it!

Dun, diverse, sobering, sultry, ominous, and always interesting.

I was not overly enthusiastic about this album at the time, but after a few listens today I was very impressed. Machine Gun is still my favourite song.

Love this, my favourite Portishead album - so many thrilling tracks with just the right level of experimentalism

So good

This album, with the plainest name and plainest covert art, is packed with interesting sounds and grooves. It's been a while since I head their debut, "Dummy". While the elegance of that is still evident here, the soulful samples and the chill, seductive atmosphere are stripped down. Making this a dark and anxious album. The messiness and the overly loud drums made it more ominous and uncomfortable. And I freaking love it. For me, the antidote for the robotic genre of electronica is to make it portray the mess of human emotions, dark or otherwise. Portishead's music is such a wildly adventurous one.

Very good third album, perhaps slight less accessible than their fist two albums, which have owned, but just as good. 4.5.

Already one of my favourite albums and one of my favourite bands so this is going to be easy. When you've listened to something so many times you find it easy to envelope yourself in the mood and I can understand why some find the music an overly intense wall to immerse yourself in. It's worth the plunge though.

Imam jedan veliki problem, a to je što mislim da bih u nekim trenutcima stavio ovaj album ispred njihovog inače najboljeg albuma Dummy. Jednostavno ti instrumentali su bogom dani + Bethin glas, dakle, svršaona. Stvarno. Morat ću opet Dummy nakon ovog albuma poslušat jer ovo je baš onako udaranje žestoko and I fucking love it. Sitnica koja mi smeta je ta što su dvije pjesme ako se ne varam prekinute, nemaju taj prijelaz s pjesme na pjesmu i to zna bit iritantno, ovo ostalo je top.

Perfect 90’s pop alternative, all the 90’s musical tropes

Just amazing